Battle Sports expands to Montreal, opens Sports de Combat

When Battle Sports first appeared in Toronto back in 2015 they set out to become the best location in Toronto to do Archery Tag (or Dodge Archery, Battle Archery, Combat Archery, whatever you want to call it).

At the time there was quite a few competitors also appearing, saturating the Toronto market with archery tag / battle archery locations.

However by offering the best deals, the best archery equipment and the best value for dollar, Battle Sports quickly beat out its competitors.

So it should come as no surprise that they are now expanding to Montreal and have opened a new location called Sports de Combat.

Sports de Combat
5335 Avenue Casgrain, Montreal
(SW of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park / Parc Sir Wilfrid Laurier)

Sports de Combat Offers the following...

Montreal's Largest Indoor Archery Range - $15 / hour if you have your own archery equipment. (If you don't have your own equipment, you can rent it for $10 per hour.)

Montreal Archery Lessons - $40 for a 90 minute group lesson.

Montreal Combat Archery - 30 minute beginner practice + 60 minutes of Battle Archery.

And for Francophones, archery lessons / combat archery are also available in French.

Honestly, we are impressed they managed to create the largest indoor archery range. That alone is a feat.

There are also rumours (unsubstantiated, but whatever - the key word is rumours) that Battle Sports is planning to open a 2nd location in Scarborough, expanding their operations in the GTA. Given their previous track record for business savvy, we would not be surprised if this happened.

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ABOUT ARCHERY TAG

"Archery Tag" was invented in the United States by John Jackson in the summer of 2011.

Each player wears a mask protecting his face. Bows and arrows with foam tips specially designed for bow-fighting sport are used. In the generic game, there are two 5-point targets.

The sport is played both indoors or outdoors. The game area is decorated with different inflatable elements allowing players to hide themselves.

Archery Tag is a sporting activity similar to paintball, except with players being equipped with bow and arrow (with the foam end) instead of paintball guns.

Two teams compete to be the first to touch all the centers of the target of 5 spots of the opponent. While trying to hit other players with the arrows, the game ends in three different ways: all the members of an opposing team have been hit, the 5 spots of the target of one of the teams have been eliminated or the time allotted to one round has elapsed.

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L'archery tag a été inventé aux États-Unis par John Jackson à l'été 2011.

Chaque joueur porte un masque protégeant son visage. Des arcs et des flèches avec des embouts en mousse spécialement conçus pour le sport de combat d'arc sont utilisés. Il y a deux cibles à 5 points.

Le sport se pratique en salle ou à l’extérieur. La zone de jeu est agrémentée de différents éléments gonflables permettant aux joueurs de se camoufler.

L'Archery tag est une activité sportive similaire au paintball, les joueurs étant équipés d'arc et de flèches (avec l’extrémité en mousse).

Deux équipes s'affrontent pour être la première à toucher tous les centres de la cible de 5 spots de l'adversaire. Tout en essayant de toucher d'autres joueurs avec les flèches, le jeu se termine de trois façons différentes : tous les membres d'une équipe adverse ont été touchés, les 5 spots de la cible de l’une des équipes ont été éliminés ou le temps imparti s'est écoulé.

Photographs of the Toronto Archery Range

Four recent photographs of the Toronto Archery Range, taken on: March 16th, 21st, 28th and 29th.

March 16th, a panorama of a snowy archery range.

March 21st, the garbage cans near the south end of the range overflowing from the winter.

March 28th, a view of the mud in front of the 30 yard targets.

March 29th, a view of the 30 and 20 yard targets.

10 Archery Gambling Games

For Valentines ArcheryToronto.ca has released a list of 5 Archery Gambling Games on their website.

The Five Archery Games are:

• Three Arrow Quick Draw
• Three Arrow Marksman
• Le Mans Archery Race
• Last Man Standing
• Teer / Thoh Tim

However we think there is room for 5 more archery gambling-style games people can play for fun.

Like the ArcheryToronto.ca website, we encourage only gambling with tiny amounts like quarters. 25 cents is not a big deal and makes it clear the game is just for fun. (With the exception of the Iron Archery Competition, #10 below, which is more of a "pay to enter sporting competition with cash winnings".)

Please note we are not endorsing high stakes gambling. We recommend people pay for quarters, nickles, dimes, candy or similar treats. eg. "The loser pays for sushi."

#6. Aces are Wild

• Similar to Poker, this game involves pinning the face cards and aces from a deck of cards on an archery target.
• For fun we recommend arranging the cards and pinning them up like a X shape, but not with the aces in the middle - no, in order to make it harder, put the jacks in the middle, then the queens, then the kings, and then the aces at the outer edge. That way the aces are spread out and are the hardest to hit.
• Your goal is to get 4 or 5 of a kind of Kings, Queens or Jacks (Aces are wild and can be used for any of the above 3.
• Because there are only 4 aces, 4 kings, 4 queens, and 4 jacks you have to match them up. 
• If you shoot the same card twice or more, only the first shot counts. All additional shots on the same card do not count. The goal is to make this an aiming exercise so people learn how to adjust their aim.
• The person who gets the most of a kind, wins.
• Kings beat Queens and Jacks, Queens beat Jacks.
• If all your cards don't match you can also get a full house (set of 3, set of 2) or two pairs.

There are many variations on archery poker (as shown in the image on the right). Normal Poker games are rather unsuitable for archery games, so feel free to make up your own version of archery poker.

#7. Two Shot Cluster

• Each archer gets two arrows.
• Each archer, in their own time, shoots the two arrows one at a time and tries to get them in a tight cluster.
• If necessary you may need a ruler or measuring tape to measure the size of the cluster.
• The archer with the tightest cluster wins the round and the pot.
• Archers should endeavour to try and hit their own arrow / Robin Hood it.

#8. The Rovers' I Betcha Game

One part gambling, one part drinking game, Roving is a tradition dating back to England of young men going out drinking and shooting at random things as they "rove" around the countryside. The following game recreates the act of Roving and turns into one part gambling game and one part drinking game.

As they rove / walk each archer takes turns saying things like "I betcha cannot hit that apple!"

If an archer accepted, they had to try and hit the apple. If they succeeded, they won several coins. If they missed, they lost several coins.

However they could also refuse to take the shot - to which they would then be forced to take a large gulp of strong alcohol. If they refuse regularly, they will be really drunk in a hurry - but at least they will still have their money. Or maybe they will get so drunk they agree to a hard shot, and completely miss because they are drunk.

The archer whose turn it was - whether they hit, missed or drank - then chooses a person and makes a new bet. Thus the game continues indefinitely, until all the arrows have been lost/broken, or all the alcohol is gone, or until one archer has all the money - whichever happens first.

#9. Black Jack

• Similar to the Poker game mentioned above, Black Jack uses cards as targets.
• In this scenario you need: 4 Jacks and 4 Aces.
• Distribute the cards on the target board randomly, so they are spread out.
• Jacks are worth 10 points and Aces are worth 11.
• Each archer shoots two arrows.
• The archer with the highest score wins (or ties) and collects / splits the winnings.

#10. The Iron Archery Competition

Inspired by the Iron Man Competition.

Each archer pays $10 to enter the competition. Ideally you want a cap of 300 archers in the competition. That means $3,000 in the pot.

• Bicycle 5 kilometers.
• Shoot 10 Arrows
• Swim 200 meters.
• Shoot 10 Arrows.
• Sprint 200  meters.
• Shoot 10 Arrows.
• Sprint 200  meters again to cross a finishing line.

Each archer's score out of 300 (30 arrows x 10 points) is recorded.

The first archer who crosses the finishing line gets 300 points.
The second archer gets 299.
The third archer gets 298.
Etc.

Each archer's archery score out of 300 is then added to their score for crossing the finishing line.

The archer with the highest combined score wins half the pot, $1,500.

The second best archer gets $1000. The third best gets $500.

The organizers sell food and drinks and pocket the profits from food/drink sales.

If there is a smaller number of archers, simply divide the archery score, reduce the points for crossing the finishing line, and divide the winnings accordingly.

For example if you only have 30 people competing...

Divide the archery score by 10, so it is a score out of 30 instead.
Crossing the finishing line first only awards a maximum of 30 points.
Total winnings is $300. Winner gets $150, 2nd gets $100, 3rd gets $50.

Note - Such a competition is not so much gambling as it is a "pay to enter sport" with cash winnings.

Howard Hill and Ronald Reagan Bowfishing for Sharks

Below: Old short film of Howard Hill and Ronald Reagan Bowfishing for Sharks.

Archery Craft Toronto

Archery Craft Toronto was a bow and arrow manufacturer based in Toronto, Ontario, which made archery equipment during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The company stopped producing new bows in the 1970s.

The company made a whole range of bows, from wooden flat bows to solid fiberglass bows to full wood/glass recurves. By the 1970s they were also making wood/fiberglass takedown recurves, as well as full-fiberglass takedown recurves.

As a company the bows are very rare. Some people (especially Canadians) collect the bows, so they are more likely to be bought by Canadians on auction websites. National pride and all that.

The wooden bows and the recurves are the most valuable, whereas the fiberglass bows are comparable to other fiberglass bows built around the same time period.

If the bow is from the 1950s or 1960s the bow will be stamped with two numbers:

• The first number is a product number.
• The second number tells you the poundage of the bow.

Normally many companies round the poundage of a bow up or down to an even number, eg. 38 or 40. Archery Craft Toronto was unusual in that they were often much more precise, giving a bow's poundage as exactly 39 lbs for example. This then confuses modern collectors who look at the two numbers stamped on bow, because they are so used to seeing the length of the bow and the poundage measured in even numbers.

During the 1970s Archery Craft Toronto switched to a different system, a 4 digit number for the model of the bow. Thus if it has a 4 digit number on an Archery Craft Toronto bow, you can be sure it was built during the 1970s.

Dating the precise the year of an Archery Craft Toronto bow is very tricky. Ideally you would want to find old archery magazines or advertisements for the company, showing the bow in question and the year it was published. This would give you a better idea of how to date the bow, although often you may have to resort to "Circa 1972" or your closest estimate.

Vintage arrows from Archery Craft Toronto can also be found, although since arrows are more likely to break over time they are considerably more rare.

Above: Black Prince, circa 1960s, Archery Craft Toronto

Above: 36 lb Archery Craft Toronto "Model 1907" Recurve Bow, circa 1970s

Above: Takedown Fiberglass Recurve Bow, circa 1970s


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