Nerf Guns

Deathmatch
Teams: Two or More
Objective: Eliminate all opponents.
Overview: A deathmatch is the most simple Nerf game and has the most flexible rules. The rules of most deathmatch games are adapted from video games like Quake and Unreal Tournament. The most common game type in NIC Nerf wars is 3-15 deathmatch, which features lives and respawning and creates brief games.

3-15: Players enter the game with three 'lives'. When a player is tagged, they lose a life and leave play for 15 seconds. After the time has elapsed, they can re-enter the game by moving outside of combat and yelling "clear". A player is permanently out when all of their lives have been lost.
4-20: This style has identical rules as 3-15, but each player is given four lives and counts to twenty. 4-20 creates a longer game than 3-15.
00-15: A "count-up" variant of deathmatch. Players do not use lives. When a player is tagged, they leave play for 15 seconds and the shooter records the hit. After a time limit, teams total their points and the team with the most hits wins. Results in 00-15 are often skewed when players inflate their totals or simply forget them.
Wingman: Identical to 3-15, but played with two-man teams. Also known as Tag Team.
Another form that was popular on the East Coast involves having a total of 10 hit points. When a player is hit, he or she continues playing without waiting and loses a hit point. When a player's hits reach zero, that player is considered out for the rest of the round. This style causes arguments when automatic or scattering weapons are used, since it's difficult to track the number of hits from a salvo.

Another version of deathmatch is for the players to have two to three guns, a side arm, a rifle, and a weapon of choice (Optional, depending on the number of players). Players have 1-3 lives depending on their skill ("Veterans" = 1 life, "Normal" = 2 lives, & "Rookies" = 3 lives). The players then make even teams, and begin by firing at each other from their side, while taking cover behind barricades (trees, bushes, couches etc.). If hit, the player will announce that they have lost a life, and will continue playing without pause. When one team is down to their last player, they have the option to charge at the other team's barricades, and get as many enemy players out as they can. A team wins when all the players on the enemy team have been eliminated. A fun way to make things better is a "Limb Survival": when you get shot in any of your limbs you lose it; e.g.: if shot in the leg, you have to hop. Getting shot in the spine, head or heart is an automatic kill.

Gunslinger Heaven
Teams: Two or more
Objective: Eliminate all opponents.
Overview: Gunslinger Heaven is a distant relative of Deathmatch that encourages strategy and daring moves. The game is played with two-man teams, and each player is limited to a single spring pistol. When a player is hit, they remove themselves from the game for 15 seconds and don a flag. When a player wearing a flag is hit, they're permanently eliminated from the game. If a player wearing a flag eliminates another player wearing a flag, the shooter may remove his flag and regain the extra 'life'.

Gunslinger Heaven is best played in a small area with plenty of cover, to prevent standoffs and keep teams from hiding. It creates very short and exciting matches, and is a common game at Nerf Internet Community wars.

Assault
Teams: Two or more
Objective: Prevent opponents from touching a territory or object.
Overview: Play centers around an objective, usually a building or object. The defending team is usually given a terrain advantage and time to entrench, and the attackers have more players or lives. The attacking players have a set amount of time to claim the objective or eliminate the defending team's players.

In many games, the attacking teams can re-enter play an unlimited number of times while the defenders have a finite number of lives. To add variety, the attackers may need to complete a challenge to claim the objective, such as removing batteries from a stopwatch 'time bomb' or taking a piece from a Jenga tower.

Defend the Core is a variant of Assault which uses a target as an objective. The attackers win by tagging the target with a dart. Defend the Core is becoming increasingly popular in NIC wars.

Capture The Flag
Teams: Two or more
Objective: Retrieve the opponent's flag.
Overview: This game is generally played with two teams. Capture the Flag games typically don't include permanent elimination, which moves the emphasis from the players to the flags. CTF is uncommon, as rounds tend to be longer than deathmatches. Multiple CTF variants are played.

Capture the Flag: The classic game. Each team has its own flag. A team wins by retrieving the opponent's flag and returning it to their own base. Often, a team must have their own flag in their base to win the round.
Center Flag Push: Also known as soccer. A single flag is placed in the center of the battlefield. A team wins by retrieving the flag and putting it in the opponent's base.
Center Flag Pull: A single flag is placed in the center of the battlefield. A team wins by retrieving the flag and putting it in their own base. These games often turn into footraces when quick players can outrun the opposing team and simply snatch the flag.

Battlefield selection is very important for a fair and fun CTF game. A good field is symmetrical and offers many routes to the flag, for balance and variety. In addition, plenty of cover should be available around the bases to allow each team to effectively defend their territory. Because this game involves plenty of running, the field should be fairly small.

Humans vs. Zombies
Teams: Two
Objective: Be the last human alive.
Overview: Humans vs. Zombies is a cross between deathmatch and tag. A group of 'survivors' attempts to survive a "zombie outbreak" by avoiding a growing number of 'zombies'. A small number of players begin as zombies, and the rest are survivors. Survivors can use weapons, but zombies can only tag players by hand. If a zombie touches a human, the human becomes 'infected' and joins the zombie team. Zombies can be stunned, but not killed, by being shot with Nerf weapons or hit by a rolled up tube sock. The last human alive wins. Humans vs. Zombies was originally developed by a handful of Goucher College students, and is common in Nerf Internet Community wars.

VIP
Teams: Two
Objective: Defend or tag the VIP as he moves to a base.
Overview: The game involves one VIP who attempts to move from a start point to a distant base. Two teams fight over him: The bodyguards who defend the VIP and the assassins who attempt to take him out. The bodyguards are generally loaded with better firepower, but are almost always outnumbered by the assassins. The VIP himself is generally very lightly armed, or not armed at all. The VIP is always killed with a single shot, and the others usually follow 3-15 elimination rules.

For an interesting reversal of the game, the bodyguards may be required to "rescue" the VIP before taking him to safety.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERF_wars