Nerf began as foam rocks in a caveman game that fell apart in testing.
In 1968, a Minnesota studio testing a caveman game watched a colleague start tossing its gray foam “rocks” around the room. A foam fight erupted, five grown men pelting each other. The game was junked. That harmless pebble became the Nerf ball, and more than 4 million sold in its first year.
Nerf on Brandseum