There are three ways you can get the gear required to play combat archery tag. You can go to a pay to play arena, you can rent all the equipment and obstacles from a rental company, or you can buy all the gear yourself.
On average, a pay to play archery tag arena will charge $30 per person per hour. If you rent all the equipment for an event from a rental company, the average you will pay is $250 an hour. If you buy all the gear yourself, you can expect to spend between $200 and $800 depending on the amount of players.
There are some ways you can reduce the cost of buying all the gear yourself though. And if you plan on playing more than a couple times a year, it ends up being cheaper to just buy the gear in most cases.
Pay To Play Arena Cost
A play to play arena is a place you can go to play combat archery tag that already has all the equipment and safety gear for you. You simply pay an hourly fee per person and use their facility for your combat archery games. I’ve called around and collected a bunch of the going rates in some major cities across the US. This will help give you an idea of what you can expect to pay at one of these places.
| Company | Location | Cost Per Person | Group Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery Games | Omaha | $25 / 60 min. | $350 for 50 min. 20 Players |
| Archery Games | Boston | $27 / 75 min. | $450 for 75 min. 20 Players |
| Archery Arena | Cincinnati | $25 / 60 min. | $400 / 45 min. 16 Players |
| Indoor Extreme Sports | New York City | $34 / 75 min. | Per Player 20 Players |
| Wasting Arrows | Reno | $10 / 15 min. | Per Player Pricing |
The pay to play arenas are a great option if you’ve never played combat archery tag before, and you’re not sure if you’ll like it or not. Some people want to just go to a place to try it out before spending money on a bunch of equipment. Especially if they’re not sure how often they’ll use it. At a pay to play location, everything you need to play will be included, just show up to play.
The drawback of going to an arena is that they can be hard to find. You might find yourself having to drive a few hours to get to your nearest facility. Also, if you plan on going more than just a couple times, it can end up costing more than just buying all the gear yourself.
Here’s a fun video of what you can expect at a pay to play combat archery tag arena.
Rental Company Equipment Cost
There are combat archery tag companies that will show up at your desired location with all the equipment and gear needed to play a game of combat archery. They will usually charge by the hour, but they bring everything you need to you. I shopped around and created a chart of what you could expect to pay in different parts of the US.
| Company | Location | Cost Per Event |
|---|---|---|
| Wonderfly Games | Maryland, DC, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, West Virginia | $295 / 1 hour $495 / 2 hours |
| AirBallingLA | Los Angeles | $350 / 1.5 hours $450 / 2 hours |
| BowMentum Archery | Illinois | $225 / 1 hour |
| Treehouse World | Pennsylvania | $675 / 2 hours |
The rental company is a great option for corporate events or birthday parties where you already have a wide open location available. They will bring everything needed to you, and in most cases provided an event coordinator to help with the course setup and game rules.
This option can get real pricey real quick. At over a few hundred bucks per hour, you could easily spend over a thousand dollars in one day. For that price, you could have just purchased all the gear yourself. But again, this is a great option for groups that want to use proper gear, but don’t want to deal with setting up and acquiring all the equipment.
Buy The Gear Yourself
If you plan on playing combat archery tag with your group more than a few times a year, this is the way I suggest you go. Just buy all the equipment once, and use it forever. Another advantage of buying the equipment yourself, is that the players can use bows that fit them better.
For example, smaller kids will have some trouble with the typical combat archery bow, and a youth bow will suit them better. Also, some players may already own a bow that they can use, which will reduce costs even further.
If you plan on buying all the combat archery gear yourself, expect to spend $200 to $400 dollars for every team of four. Keep in mind, this is a one time upfront cost, and you’ll be able to play combat archery tag whenever you want.
You can expect some minor maintenance costs of the equipment over the years. But for the most part, it’s an upfront one time expense to get everything you need to play. Consider replacing some obstacles and arrows here and there into your ongoing costs, around $20 every 10 times you play.
Combat Archery Tag Bow Cost
A typical combat archery bow used by the pay to play and rental companies will cost around $100. Here’s a link to a Combat Archery Bow on Amazon if you want to check the current price. But you don’t necessarily need to use those bows. A cheap youth bow will work just fine, like my favorite youth bow in my Recommended Compound Bows list for only $25.
The main thing to keep in mind when selecting a bow for combat archery, is that the bow has less than a 30 lb draw weight. Most of the typical combat archery bows will be around 25 pounds, and the youth bows can range from 10 to 20 pounds. This is a safety issue when shooting arrows at people, you shouldn’t be using a strong hunting bow for these types of games.
For younger kids, I suggest the youth bows. You’re already saving about $75 per person if you go that route. My wife and I use the youth bow as well because of the cost savings. But also, they work fine for these types of games. We’re not trying to hit a bullseye from a mile away, I’m just trying to shoot my kid in the head with a foam tipped arrow.
Combat Archery Tag Arrow Cost
Combat archery tag arrows costs will vary, but you can expect to spend around $40 dollars for every 6 arrows. There are cheaper options out there, but getting safe and well built arrows is worth spending a little extra in my opinion. Here are my favorite Combat Archery Arrows for reference of a good quality arrow to look for.
Keep in mind, that you will be shooting these at people. So a safe quality arrow should be somewhat important. You could usually get away with having 5 or 6 arrows per player, even less for some Combat Archery Games. You will be able to reuse arrows as you run around the course picking up arrows that were shot at you.
Combat Archery Tag Safety Gear Cost
The only safety gear you will really need is an arm guard, and a face shield or safety goggles. I recommend a full face shield over the safety goggles, but you really only need to protect your eyes. I prefer my nose and mouth be protected too, and the pay to play places will typically have you using a face shield when you play. You can find a decent face shield online for under $20 per person.
The arm guard may not be entirely necessary with the lower strength bows. But for under $15, why not just use one. Here is my favorite Archery Arm Guard for reference. The risk of the bow string hitting your arm is increased a bit in combat archery. You will be taking shots at different angles than you would if you were simply shooting straight on at a target.
If you have a hard time finding an arm guard that fits you, or you just want a custom made arm guard, check out my How To Make Your Own Arm Guard article where I walk through a step by step build of an archers arm guard.
Combat Archery Tag Obstacles Cost
The cost of obstacles for you could be zero, depending on where you’re going to be playing. If you have a wooded area you can use to games like capture the flag, you may not need to buy obstacles at all. But if you’re playing in an open backyard or open field area, obstacles can make the game more fun.
You will typically spend around $30 to $40 for about 4 or 5 inflatable obstacles. Just browse through the Inflatable Obstacles on Amazon to find a set you like. Most of the obstacles I’ve found were designed for nerf wars or paintball tag, but they will work perfectly for combat archery tag as well.
Reducing Archery Tag Costs
As you can see there are a couple simple ways to reduce the cost of playing combat archery tag. Just to recap, if you’re going to play more than a few times, buying the equipment yourself can save a lot of money.
Consider getting youth bows instead of the typical combat archery bows to save around $70 per person. As long as the bow has less than a 30 lb draw weight you should be fine.
Shop around for inflatable obstacles and face shields, they will typically be the cheapest items you have to buy. Getting all the gear and equipment yourself will have a bit of an upfront cost, but will save you a ton of money in the long run.