….for me it started when I got an email from Nick who
reached out to me after finding this blog!
He actually invited me to a tournament way back in
December, but the timing last year just did not work out, so I was really glad
to learn that this event was happening during the summer when it was easier for
me to travel. And after my last trip to California a year ago when I explored
the laser tag sites in the northern part of the state I was enthused to have a
reason to plan a trip to explore southern California this time around. Besides
getting to explore a lot of arenas in the area I spent a lot of time at Jungle
Zone learning a format that I had previously never played.
When I arrived on Saturday night for practice I was
greeted by Violet (one of the owners) and Josef who organized the tournament.
Josef made certain that no matter what everybody had fun.
When I walked into their jungle themed arena for the
first time I was greeted by the giant gorilla.
And as I walked around the two levels of the arena there
were lots of decorative touches to add to the jungle theme.
But what struck me most about this arena was its size. Now,
Josef had been communicating with me for the last couple months about my trip
and I had asked a few questions including asking about the size of the arena. He
told me there were two levels, but they only use the lower level for the
tournament…and it’s probably around 1500 square feet. To be honest, I thought
he was underestimating with that approximation, but in fact this was probably
about right. It is totally possible to walk from one side to the other in about
10-12 seconds. Well, size isn’t everything and as it turns out the size of the
arena actually was probably an asset for playing this particular format. The
tournament was going to play team elimination, which is a format I have never
experienced before. Even though I play elimination games like Highlander and
the like, I quickly learned that this was very different.
In team elimination each player starts with a limited
number of lives (six in this case) and once you are deactivated you lose a
life. It will take three stuns to deactivate and once an entire team is
eliminated (or time runs out) the remaining team or higher scoring team takes
the win. And yes, friendly fire is on. The elimination games take much less time
to play than standard games (like about two minutes in some cases) and I’d say
they tend to be played much more cautiously.
As a sniper I found this format challenging (in part
because of space), but mostly because I realized during practice that my sense
of timing is not in sync with Nexus the way I once thought it was. It’s been quite
awhile since the Mickey map at FJ2 and I had to re-learn a few quirks that I
had forgotten about. But that’s what practice is for.
I really had a great time meeting the other players from
this site. Everyone was very welcoming and really seemed to enjoy playing just
to play. Nick (who I nicknamed “Glendale” because he called me “New York” the
entire time) was definitely pushing to play as many games as possible. I’m not
sure he was kidding when he kept saying “let’s go for 50 games tonight!” However,
having not slept for better than 24 hours at this point I was ready to take
what I had learned and well…sleep on it. So Saturday night ended around 11:00
P.M. for me and while I played plenty of tag the next day I would not be
returning to Jungle Zone until tournament day.
So when the morning of the tournament arrived I had been
forewarned about traffic on the L.A. freeway and I left so much extra time that
I was actually the first one to arrive. So I sipped my coffee and chatted with
Roobick (another of the owners) and got ready for an intense day.
As people slowly started to filter in we spent time playing
some LOR in the vesting room.
And gradually other players arrived (including a top Quest
player) and the tournament got under way. As is typical with tournaments not
everyone made it to the starting gate and we were down at least one team (maybe
two) from the start. But the teams that were ready to go included HPD (Josef’s
team), Hitmen for Hire, Shockwave, NYLA and Advanced Access (Nick’s/BlueFlame’s
team). I was appointed captain of Team NYLA (mostly ceremonial) and was excited
to get the Round Robin games underway. We would play three rounds back to back (switching
sides and vests in between) to determine the point total before the best 3 out
of 5 rounds in ascensions. First up was Advanced Access vs Hitmen for Hire. AA
took all three of their games. Then my team NYLA went up against Shockwave. We
also won all three games that round giving us a good bit of momentum from the
get-go.
As the games proceeded team NYLA lost to the top
contender teams (HPD and AA) and kept it close when we went up against Hitmen
for Hire. Ultimately we were seeded third going into ascensions.
Once the second half of the tournament got underway the intensity
started to ramp up, although for me as a newbie to the format I was just
enjoying playing some tag. I was glad that my teammate James kept the same
chill attitude about ascensions because we were both of the mindset that our
final placement in third was just fine as we watched things play out between
the top two teams, HPD and Advanced Access.
And the final rounds between these two teams were
definitely exciting! They went for a full five games to determine best 3/5.
Want to see? Here are the final six minutes of the tournament…
And Advanced Access wins! Definitely well played and well
earned. It’s always exciting to see a close game that comes right down to the
wire. Congratulations to all the teams and thanks to Jungle Zone for hosting
the Glendale Open IX.
And special thanks to Violet who sent me home with an
extra special souvenir, an awesome t-shirt with a picture of five Nexus phasers
on the front. Too cool!
I had such a wonderful time on my southern California
adventure. Big thanks to Nick (aka Glendale) for the invitation and to Josef for
putting together a really fun event. I had a blast and will take home lots of
great memories…and also a particularly cool piece of tag swag. :)
Comments or Questions?
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
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