Armageddon is here!
The tournament, that is. And I am happy to be playing with a great
group of guys...Bill, Carl, Wil, Andrew, Georgio, Ziggy and Ben...aka
"Team Let's Go Buffalo".
Here is the story of my first major laser tag tournament
experience...
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and if that's
true I'm about to be the strongest woman I know! I was up at 5:00
A.M. on Armageddon Thursday packing up everything I'd need for my five day
excursion. The first Armageddon injury is mine to claim as before I even left
the house I jammed a finger on my trigger hand and had to ice my injury.
So, that's how I started my journey towards Buffalo to meet up
with the other New Yorkers on my team and carpool out to Michigan for the start
of the tournament, as we had to arrive at the first location by 9:00
P.M. We set out at noon, went the shorter route through Canada (passports
please) and only stopped once for food and once at the duty free shop (no
ketchup chips?), but somehow the trip still took longer than planned and we did
not have enough time to stop at the hotel (Ziggy came in earlier from San
Francisco and had a room where we could crash for a nap of time allowed), so
instead we went to the first arena early to check things out. They had a public
game of blast going in and we decided to warm up by feeling out the arena. A
few other early tournament arrivals had the same idea, do we played some Blast
and got acclimated to the space where we would spend 13 1/2 straight hours
playing three tournament systems later that night.
The warm up game was fun and I did well. In a round with my
teammates, other tournament players and some public players I left that round
in third place...to me that was a fairly good start.
Then we grabbed some dinner and returned to meet the rest of our
team and get briefing on the three systems that would be used for the 63 games
of the tournament to be played back to back that night...Q-Zar, Laser Storm and
Laser Blast. This was a disadvantageous way for me to start because I have
NEVER before played Q-Zar or Storm and the Blast was to be COMPLETELY different
from what I had just done earlier that night. But I came for new laser tag
experiences and was ready to give it my all with whatever came my way.
The first game we played was Storm. This is very different from
the other forms of laser tag I have played in that, although you do wear a pack
on your chest, you don't shoot at it. Instead your lights appear on a headset
and you have an odd phaser that is almost more similar to a remote control than
it is like a gun.
We did not win the first game. I hoped it was just a matter of
getting our bearings, but there are lots of really incredible laser tag players
here and somehow I suspect our team is one of the underdogs. Still, we did our
best in a game that included lots of elements that were new to me. We began
each game by running through a line-up to energize our phasers underneath a
charging station like this...
Periodically as you ran out of ammo you would be called back to
recharge (what a pain/inconvenience) and then at the end of the game you would
hold your phaser under the charger one final time to register your points. Then
at the end our team captain checked out our scores (as this was a system
brought in for use at the facility there was no built-in scoreboard for us to
follow, so I don't have many individual stats to share). Then, when the players
in one round of competition were done they had to walk up the second level
ramps and exit the arena from above in order for the next game's players to
enter immediately from below being suited up with packs from the alternate
system in play.
Because three laser tag systems needed to be completed in one
night at one location, packs were brought in for Laser Storm and Q-Zar. Thanks
to everyone who set this up to run as smoothly as it did. This is what the
vesting room looked like.
Upon arrival for each game a full team would need to be on deck
before the game in front of them was completed. If one team was using the Storm
packs the next team would be already suited up with Q-Zar packs and everything
ran tightly and promptly in ten minute intervals continuously for 13 1/2
straight hours...that was the "what doesn't kill you" part of the
first night experience. Although I must give big thanks to everyone who made it
run so smoothly. Ricky Vega (the organizer) and Kelly and Anita and everyone else
who made it all work so well.
When our team was called up next we were on deck for Q-Zar
(another first for me).
In this game you must start by charging you phaser at an energy
station.
After being tagged you have to periodically return to energize
your phaser again. Then you set out with the goal of tagging enough opponents
to super charge and then (IF that is accomplished) you can try to take the
base. That did not happen for me at all this night, but if it had I would have
found bases for all three systems set up in the same base area.
Instead I just tried my hardest playing games that were totally
foreign to me, but it was enjoyable just to play and learn and work with my
team...although the novelty did start to wear off around 2:00 in the
morning :) Anyone who knows my background with the land of sparkly hats knows I
love healthy competition, but HATE the show "Toddlers and Tiaras"...however
by the middle of the night/early morning hours I was preparing my own recipe of
"go-go juice" from Pixie Stix and five hour energy drink. This is the
only thing I've learned from Honey Boo Boo that might (in this circumstance
only) have some practical application. IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCE ONLY.
Seven teams of eight players each took turns playing against all
the other teams on each system. And we played hard and were exhausted. Most of
us used our team table less for strategizing and more for a place to take a
nap.
Our youngest player had the roughest time with this grueling
schedule (sometimes you'd get a lengthy break, sometimes just a game or two in
between before you were back on deck) and at one point he felt too sick from
the day to continue. However, we cannot play with less than eight,
so...friendly peer pressure at least ensured he finished the night with us,
which at that point (or whenever...the hours all blurred) we began playing
Laser Blast. I recently wrote about a great experience playing some one on one
Blast. I was familiar with the equipment and the feel of the shots...and it
couldn't have mattered less because what I experienced was unlike any other
laser tag experience I have had...EVER!
Playing Blast we had some odd particulars, apparently requested by
the local players (and approved by the captains) that I hope to never deal with
again. The phaser would only shoot one time every two seconds (even Photon is
1.8 seconds I believe) and then if you were tagged you were down for 14 seconds
AND had to return to behind your designated area immediately to wait for your
reset. O-M-G...the most boring and unpleasant format I've ever played. But my
perspective on it at 10:00 in the morning (having played 13 1/2 hours
straight through the night and not slept since 5:00 A.M. the day
before) might have been a tiny bit tinted because by that point I no longer had
the ability to stay conscious.
OK, front street...our team at this point in the tournament has
only won two games, putting us in second to last place. We are all playing with
heart to the best of our abilities, but this is new for several of us and it
has not yet gelled. I am way more optimistic about the systems I am familiar
with, but in spite of not killing it with scores we are having a good time. I
didn't have unrealistic expectations because I am hear playing with and
learning from some AMAZING players from all over this country and other
countries too (the Swedish team is FIERCE) and so as a first time competitor I
am trying to take away knowledge and experience this time around in order to be
better next time. However, first I must survive the rest of the event :)
Comments or questions?
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
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