Over 400 players attended my annual charity airsoft event, Evike.com presents Operation: Bad Blood, was again held at EMR event park in New Millford, PA. Threats of thunderstorms caused many to cancel their tickets in the week leading up to the event, despite the advice of the EMR.
The weather turned out to be ideal for an airsoft event. Cool and cloudy in the morning and by 1:00 the sun broke through and swiftly dried up the mud for a bright and warm afternoon. There was thunder and a brief 10min rainstorm but that occured an hour after the game was over and 15 minutes after the end of the epic Evike raffle.
This year, I handed off Game Manager duties to my friend and long time co-producer Ian Conolly who will be producing the event moving forward. We raised over $7000 for Breakthrough T1D to help diabetes research. It’s a great way to end my era of airsoft games.
At SHOT Show 2025, I stopped by our friends at Evike.com who had a large booth near Holosun and Baretta. We got a chance to see their new licensed airsoft guns which are spot on copies of Kimber, Stacatto, Daniel Defense, and Noveske firearms. These are perfect training devices for dry-fire and non-lethal CQB training.
Operation Bad Blood is a MilSim-Lite game with unique game rules designed to support an immersive experience. This video helps explain those rules to visual and auditory learners for whom a printed rule packet is TLDR. I strongly encourage all participants at this event to download the player packet from the Evike ticket page and follow along to this explainer video.
Key Rules Concepts
Body, clothing, gear, and gun hits count.
When hit, get out of the line of fire, then wave a red rag.
After calling your hit, go to your Triage to respawn.
The Triage/Respawn moves with your army so keep tabs its location.
The goal of your team is to safely get your Ebola sample collectors to each sample stamp.
The game is a 5-hour non-stop moving battle; prepare accordingly.
Operation: Bad Blood is an annual JDRF charity airsoft event that I created to raise money to help find a cure for diabetes. The game is produced at EMR Event Park in Pennsylvania and is also the official East Coast Customer Appreciation Event for Evike.com. The event attracts 1000 players from all over the country.
My dedicated staff of volunteers help me plan and execute the event every year. We’ll be starting weekly Sunday Q&A Livestreams to help players get the most out of the event. I posted this video to answer some basic questions about our gun and gear requirements for the event. The biggest change for this years game will be a switch from FPS chrono measurements to Joule based limits.
I sat down (virtually) with Greg of Ames, Iowa who was one of four winners in my July 17 Moondog R&D Summer Contest. I gave away four $25 gift cards to Evike.com and an H&K promo baseball cap from Shot Show. Greg was the first winner to get back to me for a Zoom interview.
Greg is a semi-retired commercial real estate agent and FFL. He plans to use the card to buy some more pew pew gear. He stumbled on my YouTube channel Moondog Industries while searching for info on Hawke scopes.
2. Take a screen shot of the channel screen showing you have subscribed/followedand email it to me
3. Email me with the Subject: “July 25 Contest” • Attach the JPG or PNG screen shot • Include your full name and ship-to address in the email (so I can confirm you live in the US or Canada)
4. BONUS: Share this contest with a friend. Ask them to reference your name and email address in the body of their message ie. “My buddy johndoe@gmail.com sent me this contest link”, and I’ll award you an extra-bonus entry to the contest. It’s important that they reference your email so I can look up your entry. Each friend that subscribes and refers to you in their email will earn you another bonus entry for a maximum of 10 entries (including yours).
Entries must be received no later than 11:59pm PST on July 24, 2022
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Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident within the USA or Canada. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible participate in the contest/giveaway.
Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.
2. Sponsors
Moondog Industries (known as the SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer and game promotor based in San Francisco, CA.
3. Agreement to Rules
By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retain the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.
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Contest email entries must be received by between: 12:00pm PST 19 July 2022 and 11:59pm PST 24 July, 2022.
5. How to Enter
This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. Send a screen capture image file of any of those sites to contest@moondogindustries.com . One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.
6. Prizes
The winner will receive $100 in Evike gift cards and a H&K promotional cap shipped to them from San Francisco. Winner must be able to receive the prize by mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.
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The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than December 31, 2022.
SPONSOR are not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided a wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
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Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.
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Entry into this contest constitutes the participants agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and its subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.
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As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.
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I flew out to the East Coast last week and on Saturday, June 25, I produced another successful Operation: Bad Blood airsoft event at EMR Event Park in northeastern Pennsylvania. Over 800 players made it to the field this year despite the outrageously high gas prices and equally as high humidity and heat (90º). Evike.com sponsored the event for the 14th straight year and sent Matt and a camera crew to take part in the action.
The heat caused numerous heat-related exhaustion injuries which had to be evacuated by EMS from the field; 6 occurred within the first hour! The game ran non-stop all day, with the players forming 4 different competing factions and non-aligned Tribal forces warring it over 200 acres of woods, multi-leveled forts, and simulated villages. The objective of the game for the factions was to collect up to eight different blood sample stamps hidden in the field and on the person of each faction commander.
A bonus mission this year was the capture and extraction of Evike Matt in the last half-hour of the game. No faction won the bonus. The Black Shirts, who were the first to find him, chose instead to run out the clock. Due to safety concerns caused by the oppressive heat and humidity, I called for an early end of the game at 16:00 (much to the relief of all players).
At the end of the game, the sample cards were collected and Marxists and Deus X were tied for the most stamps at 6, but the win was awarded to Deus X because the Marxist CO was unavailable for a tie-breaker duel.
After all the players exited the field and recovered, they gathered around the EMR stage for the legendary post-Bad Blood raffle. Each player received a complimentary raffle ticket and over the course of nearly an hour we raffled off over 50 AEGs, pistols, plate carriers, weapon lights, gift cards, and accessories supplied by Evike.com, Jackal Tactical, Amped Airsoft, O-Light, and EMR. Evike alone supplied a variety of morale patches (over 1000!) that were tossed and distributed to the crowd.
The next morning, I organized a bonus game of OP: Dead Blood, a zombie game. The majority of the attendees camped on the field, too tired from the previous day’s game to drive home. I organized about 300 die-hard players spread out around Fort War and competed against each other to find bio-hazard markers. As players were killed they added to the ever-growing zombie hoard. The rest of the Sunday, EMR ran skirmish games for everyone.
The following Tuesday, while I waited for my delayed flight at Newark Airport back to California, I reflected on the event. Thanks to Evike, EMR, and many players who stepped up to volunteer to help me put on Bad Blood 2002. Despite the brutal heat, the overwhelming feedback I got was positive. I fly back with many lessons and thoughts about how to improve the event for OP: Bad Blood 2023.
Retailing at around $49, these headsets are about the same price as Walker Razors and Howard Leight Impact Sports. They have been supplied for this review by Opsman and Evike.com and I found them to have the best features of both the Razors and Leights; the directional stereo sound of the Howard Leights and the superior AUX audio sound or Razors (actually a bit better audio than Razor).
One sore point (literally) was that the extra-soft earpads didn’t provide sufficient spacing for my ears. They would pinch against the inside of the earcups and became uncomfortable after about 30 minutes of wearing. I replaced the foam pads with supplied gel pads which relieves the issue slightly. I suggested a larger plastic frame spacer to the OPSMEN, or simply thicker pads. I hope they offer this as an option soon.
These low profile Electronic Hearing Protectors feature a noise reduction rating of 22 decibels. 2 x AAA batteries power the unit for up to 350hrs. And if you forget to turn off the unit before putting them away, it has an auto-shutoff after 4hrs.
They’re reminiscent of MSA Sordins combat headsets but with an unusual asymmetrical slant. They’re designed with this angle so that the earcup rests against your rifle stock. It’s an effective design solution to the problem of noise leak due to a pushed earcup when you’re using iron sights.
SMT Gunpower This $500 electronic target game and training system (Smart Monitor Target) from Korea and available exclusively in the US at Evike. This is a stand-alone electronic game/training device is an impact sensitive 24” LCD screen that can accurately record BB hits to score and time the shooter.
PRODUCT LINK http://bit.ly/2JcfxgO
Features
Vertical standing monitor
Adjustable stand, can be made as tall or as short as the shooter would prefer
Avoid going outside for target practice, practice within the safety of your own home
Easy to set up and get started
Various targets to choose from, with up to 6 unique targets
Test yourself and practice shooting with an individualized scoring system
BBs resistant screen and sensors ensures reusability
Recommended Airsoft Weapon Specs
FPS Under 400 (measured with 0.25g BBs)
BB weight under .30g
Minimum Distance 6ft
Semi-Only
The level of complexity to assemble the unit wasn’t quite IKEA level in terms of difficulty. But setting it up the first time was a bit of work. With practice, you can get down to about 3-5 minutes. It includes an Allen wrench but I found the screws on the stand to be waaaay tight. Other reviewers have reported similar problems out of the box. I recommend a good ratchet to get them loose. I used a rubber mallet.
The stand pieces are very heavy-duty and robust.
It boots up automatically when plugged in and turned on. The screen is protected by a special flexible, replaceable, plexiglass screen which also slows down BB’s and eliminates all but a few rare ricochets. But you should still, always wear eye-protection when using this with any airsoft weapon.
You control it using the button master-control pad which is connected to the unit with a supplied 10m USB cable. You can also shoot at the screen and control it like a giant touch screen but lightly tapping or pressing on the screen doesn’t work. It only responds to hard, fast impacts, like BB hits.
The unit has 11 target games or modes. I understand there are future games in development and the unit is software upgradable though I don’t have any information as to how that’s going to be implemented or when it will roll out. 9 options are game or competition based some of whom are 2-player. The unit also has 2 unscored and untimed targets for zeroing optics and general accuracy training.
TARGET MODES
Aiming: A time based accuracy game. In a grid of 12 circle targets a random target will glow briefly and you must hit that target before the stops glowing. You’ll be presented with a total of 20 targets. Your score is based on your time plus penalty time for misses.
Command 1: Is a long and challenging arcade style shooting drill using numbers and shapes. At the start of each stage you’re given a set of 3 numbers and shapes to shoot among 5 tarets. You have 5 shots per stage. Fail to hit all 3 of your targets or hit the wrong one and you lose a life. You have 3 lives to complete all 25 stages.
Criminal: Law-enforcement style “bad guy” target with a limit of 10 shots on the target and scored hit zone. This mode is best used with a user created challenges such as forced a mag changes or the shooter change cover locations to fire on the SMT.
Flip Flop: A 2-player game where you claim hex spaces on the game board with a correctly placed shot on a highlighted target. You’re given 3 shots per turn. You’re goal is to turn the entire board to your color. Miss and you could turn your hex over to your opponents color. This game is very competitive but is best played with 2-players.
Hostage: Similar to “Criminal” target but with a “no-shoot” hostage with a total of 10 shots scored on hit zones on the ‘bad guy’. If you hit the hostage, you get points deducted.
Shot Time: IPSC style target surrounded by smaller target ‘steels’ with various number values. You have a total of 10 shots per round and you’re scored by accuracy and split times. Like the Criminal and Hostage targets, this game improves when you user imposes shooting challenges like manditory mag relods.
Target: Is a simple target bullseye and hunting animal silhouettes. You have 10 shots per round with no time limit, and your scored on shot placement on the central bullseye target.
Training 1: Is one of 2 games that allows you to network together additional SMT screens and presenting the the target on different screens. You’re presented a series of IPSC paper targets, a no-shoot, and steel poppers.Your score is based on your time.
Training 2: Also has a multi-screen option. In this game you have a series of steel reactive targets and challenge trees. Your score is based on your time to complete.
Zeroing: Paper target design 1 for zeroing optics
Zeroing1: Paper target similar to Zeroing but with a 5 shot limit per round. The target measures the size of your 5-shot group. This info is helpful in measuring the effects of changing weapon peramiters such as BB weight or brand used. Or changings to your hop-up or barrel.
INSIGHTS AND ISSUES
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Ok, so I’ve been playing with this thing for a couple of days and I found somethings I really like and some room for improvement. Thanks again to I want to thak Evike.com for sending this unit for me to review. They wanted my unbiased feedback on how to improve it so I’m going to tell you what I told them.
Screws in the stand are way too tight out of the box. I think the factory painted them after they put the screws in place. It was a pain to loosen them to assemble the stand.
Also the assmebly instructions. The set screw mentioned in Step #6 really needs to be installed in Step #2 or else you’re going to have to unscrew other connector you just got finished installing to align it properly. It’s needless extra work.
Next the BB catch tray install isn’t adequately explained and illustrated in the instructions. I eventually figured out you have pull out the arms insert them into small slots on the sides of the screen. And then attach the rubber side panels which have magnets on them. This helps catch ricochets. I was shooting form about 10ft away with a 350fps AEG with 0.25g BBs and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the plexi screen slowed down the BB’s and it seemed like over 90% of my BB’s landed in the catch tray instead the floor.
I had fun with just 1 unit and while it would be nice to have more than one, I gotta wonder why they designed them to network with ethernet cables and a wired hub. This isn’t the 1990’s, why didn’t they build in wifi or bluetooth into them?
One thing people may balk at is the price of $500. But when you consider that’s the price of a high-end customized AEG or two average AEGS, well that’s not outrageous. If you already have a bunch of airsoft guns already, I’d consider this a better use of funds than buying yet another rifle. In fact it’s the most fun I’ve had shooting an airsoft gun, without actually skirmishing with other people. Especially for folks in parts of the country where you can’t play airsoft during the winter months. It really is a great training tool.
And if your a family man and need another excuse, yes it even works with Nerf guns. So you could claim you’re buying it for the kids. You’re welcome.
So is it worth it? That’s ultimately up to you. I hope this video helped you decide. If you want to pick one up yourself, please use the evike link in my video description. My channel gets a little commission if you do. If you don’t that’s cool too. Just do me a favor and share this video with somebody who you think might be interested.
The real steel Noveske Gen4 Shorty. A custom-built AR chambered in 5.56mm made by Oregon based Noveske Rifleworks. Featuring a 10.5 inch barrel with a 1-in-7 twist and a plethora of ambi controls, this EMG built airsoft AEG is a faithful replica. It was supplied by Evike.com for this unbiased review.
PRODUCT LINK https://bit.ly/37d7jy8
CHRONO TESTING
340.5 FPS with 0.25g Matrix Bio-BB’s
ACCURACY
3.6” group at 25fts.
The SilverEdge 2.0 gearbox and programmable fire controller. This AEG has 5 different fire modes. Selectable from a button inside the mag well. You press the button for a 5 seconds until it blinks and it changes the fire-mode:
