How I Almost Missed Playing Ultrazone San Diego

When I left the house on Friday morning I thought I was bound for Burbank by noon…but instead I spent about 12 hours at the Philadelphia Airport and found myself re-routed for San Diego by the evening…surprises happen! A few delays played havoc with my original game plan, but no biggie, I am used to rolling with travel changes. However, once I boarded the plane weather kept us from taking off for another couple of hours as we sat on the runway. Of course I definitely appreciate that no chances were taken with safety. However, I realized that there was no way that I’d be able to do all I had hoped to in San Diego because I was signed up for a LazRfit class in Los Angeles first thing in the morning. So I prioritized the one thing I really wanted to do (which was fortunately still open) and when I rented my car just after midnight I made a beeline for Ultrazone San Diego where I was fortunate enough to arrive just in time for the final game of the night before they closed at 1:00 AM. Whew…cutting it close! I had also been traveling for more than 24 hours at that point. I was incredibly tired, but not about to miss the opportunity to tag here. :)

I got there and took note of the most accurate sign I have ever seen.

This in fact IS the game that changed my life in so many ways. I contemplated that as I walked in the door and met Bobby who had answered the phone when I called to make sure I had time to get into the game (thankfully this site is VERY close to the San Diego airport). In the time it took me to drive over he had looked up my blog, so he knew who I was when I arrived and got me into the last Nexus game of the night, some Zone Frenzy, in a very impressive two level arena.

I was a bit surprised to find packs lit up in pink, yellow and green.

Game master Ben went over the game details including the point values (5001 per base and targets in arena worth varying point values) and mentioned the Cyborg…an arena mascot of sorts?

Then we got into the game. There were 28 players (pretty impressive crowd for after midnight!) and the game was well paced. I did as I usually do and took the bases right off the bat.

Then I explored a bit. The maze that leads to the top is space themed with wall art that resembles a convoluted series of tunnels and channels as you work your way to the various second level challenges.

For example, there is a “mystery player” wearing a pack that can be deactivated.

And an additional base target at the top of the exclamation point.

This is a very popular point in the arena. The game was good and felt like a good way to start the weekend. When it was over I went back out to the front lobby where Bobby had my scorecard waiting for me and I also got to meet the manager, Pete. He asked for my player name (Eowyn) and I saw that I had pulled third. My first thought was that pulling third was ok and reasonable considering I had been traveling for a solid day and was completely beat on my feet. It wasn’t until later that I took a closer look and realized I was pretty much neck and neck with the two higher players as we all pulled scores in the 70,000 range…so then I changed my tune and thought “not too shabby….EXPECIALLY considering the 24 hours of travel”.

So I rode the adrenaline from that one game to drive about two hours north and find a hotel in Corona so I would be much closer for continuing the drive to L.A. first thing in the morning. So even though I came quite close to missing my chance to play Ultrazone San Diego I am SO glad that I got there in the nick of time. It was a very nice way to start my southern California adventure. And getting to sleep for a couple hours afterwards was equally nice! :)

Comments or Questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com