These are my recommendations:
1. Instead of a Rapidstrike, buy 2 Stryfes. This lets 2 people use flywheels for the same price, and Stryfes are more versatile blasters.
2. Buy 2 Rampages or Retaliators off Ebay or somewhere other than retail. Again, you could get 2 of those secondhand for the price of 1 at retail.
3. Strongarms are popular, buy several.
4. Skip the Jolts and get Hammershots. The one-handed priming will allow people to dual wield and they are fun in general.
5. Skip the Magnus. You only get 3 dart capacity for that $14ish dollar price tag, and the darts are expensive.
6. Skip anything to do with the Modulus. Complete waste of money for this specific purpose. Instead, get several Buzz Bee Sentinels. Those will be the strongest blasters assuming everything is stock, and perhaps the most fun to use given the cowboy style lever action priming. They are compatible with Nerf brand magazines and drums.
7. Skip the elite darts. For one, elite darts suck, and two, they are expensive. Instead, buy darts secondhand off Ebay. If you have time to wait, get them from China for around $3-4 per 100. See the NH stock dart buying guide for the differences between darts and their advantages/disadvantages. If you don't have time to wait, still buy these types of darts, but make sure the seller is domestic. You'll pay more and they may be used, but you'll still get way more darts and better darts, for way less money, than buying elite packs. You'll want as many darts as possible, a couple hundred is not going to cut it. Factor darts into the budget last, after you've purchased the blasters. Whatever is leftover should go to darts.
8. Doesn't really matter what you get, as long as your sister will like it and have fun. See what her style is. That said, probably skip the string-powered bows.
9. Consider going on Ebay again, for extra magazines. 18 rd mags and 12 rd mags are good buys for around $5 each or less. Try to get them in bulk. The recommended blasters chew through darts and mags, so you'll want a lot of extras.
With those recommendations, you spend about $200 on about 15 blasters, and then have $100 left for darts and mags. If you have time to wait for China shipping, you could have 8+ mags and 2,000 darts.
The bottom line: Try not to spend more than $25 on any individual blaster, so you can maximize how many you have while still providing good ones, and buy way more darts than you think you'll need. Whatever budget is left should go to darts and mags.
Edited by Duxburian, 08 June 2016 - 01:17 PM.
United Nerf Ops - The premier northeast US nerf club serving the tristate area (NY, NJ, CT)
NYC Nerf Ops - Nerf in New York City itself
NJ Nerf Ops - Nerf in New Jersey
CT Nerf Ops - Nerf in Connecticut
UNO also has a Discord server, DM me on Discord to join (@vincentdrake)
-----------------------------------------------
My other groups:
Nerf Thrifters - A group for posting thrifts and other second-hand finds