Laser Tag!!!

I've only seen Laser Tag on TV shows like How I Met Your Mother, where Barney Stinson goes to great lengths just to get his friends to play with him; and Castle, where Rick Castle has his own set of gear and plays with his daughter Alexis at home.  So I was excited to find out that we would be having a team-building activity at Market Market's LazerXtreme. I finally get to try it out myself!

The briefing room. The actual room didn't have the rails.

Before the game, the players are given a mission briefing or sorts in room designed like a spaceship's interior, complete with airlock doors. The video shown contains rules and regulations which are simple enough:

• No running, climbing, or crawling on the floor
• No covering of opponent's pack sensors
• No physical contact
• No rude language
• You need to hold the phasor (gun) with two hands or it won't shoot
• You can tag players on the shoulder, chest, back and on the phasor
• Every time you get tagged, you'll be disabled and can't shoot for 3 seconds

The "no running/climbing/crawling" rule might seem strange at first, but considering that the arena is mostly dark, this ensures the safety of the players and prevents damage to the gear.  I'm not quite sure what "no covering of opponent's pack sensors" is supposed to mean. Covering your opponent's pack sensor would prevent you from tagging said opponent, so why would you? So maybe it was supposed to say that you shouldn't cover your own pack sensors with say, a jacket or something?

After the short video, the players are taken to the next room to gear up.  The team configuration depends on how the officials setup the jackets. There can be as many as 15 people in a team (2 teams total), or on the flip side, as few as 5 people in a team (6 teams total). The jacket you pick determines which team you're in. Your assigned code name is displayed on your phasor's LCD screen; remembering this enables you to keep track of your score after the game.

Once everyone is geared up, the officials let the players into the arena to take their positions. The music starts, smoke machines fill the room with cool mist, the phasors activate and the game is on!

The Arena, and some players

You should test your phasor as soon as the game starts, because you might get one with a low battery.  You should be able to see a laser dot each time you pull the trigger. (You'll only see a laser beam if there is smoke in the air; otherwise you only see the dot at the end.)

As for tactics, it's a good idea to stick with at least one other teammate so you could watch each other's back, since the back sensor is the largest target.  The elevated area in the middle has a good vantage point since you could see most of the arena and shoot at unwary players below you, but there is not much cover so you'll find yourself getting tagged a lot.  There is a good sniping spot at the far corner of the arena -- it is a bit elevated, provides a lot of cover, and only needs two people to defend. It would take at least 3 people to flush out 2 guys camping there. The only downside is that people may choose to not come within your line of sight at all, leaving you with no opponents to shoot at.

I played a total of 4 games since everything was free (normally it would cost you around 170PHP a game), ranked 12th on the first game and then getting a hang of it, ranked 3rd on the second game.  I did poorly on the last two games since I was already too exhausted to move around. Overall it was an awesome (and unexpectedly tiring) experience and I can see where Barney is coming from. Just don't forget to bring an extra shirt, and maybe even a towel.