Another whirlwind tag weekend (playing ----
sites over four days across four states while crossing the country and several
time zones) started with me setting out for Atlanta, GA. My destination was
Urban Jungle in Peachtree City to play in a little local tournament. My flight
landed around lunchtime, so before heading over I decided to stop for lunch at
a cute little eatery that features locally sourced foods and enjoyed some local
mushroom risotto followed by peach panna cotta because this time around I did
not want to miss out on the Georgia peaches. Last time I was in Georgia I
settled for a peach slushee...NOT the same, lol!
By the time I was done with lunch the tag site
was open for business and I met the manager, Landon, who I had been
communicating with. When I asked about their offers he said a wristband would
get me all day tag and entry to the tournament, which I thought was an
exceptionally good value, so I hung out all day playing LF Gen 6 with my
"practice squad" including Reagan, Aaron, Marcus, Celeste and Trevor.
Little did I know at that point that the
tournament would be me vs these guys and the other laser tag staff employees!
But that was fine. I got in a lot of good tag games in a nice, double level
arena.
The theme was a familiar CW jungle aesthetic,
but the design had some interesting elements too. My favorite element would
have to be this awesome archway on the upper level housing a base that can be
easily targeted from the lower level.
And look...it's my old friend the CW tower,
lol! The wristband contest is still open if someone wants to tell me how many
tag locations I've played with this particular structure.
The generator targets were located on the
tower on the lower level and red and blue bases were housed in opposite corners
under the robot housings.
It's a fairly open map on the upper level
(there's one path from the arch to the ramp with no cover at all as the maze is
behind you) and I liked the way certain structures would give you cover from
one side while leaving you completely exposed to other parts of the arena (like
on the left edge of the upper level...cover from the corner means watch out for
tags from the ramp).
And from their observation deck I noticed they
even had the pod station! Very nice to see this as non-players can enjoy being
interactive with the game as well.
Tagging all afternoon was certainly a great
way to spend the day at Urban Jungle.
Before the evening event started I decided to
enjoy a peach waffle for dinner because when in Peachtree City that seems like
the right thing to do!
When I returned there were about a dozen staff
members suiting up for the tournament (although we couldn't get them all in the
pic).
Although I had expected to play with members
or public regulars, a staff game really upped the competition level. It made me
think about how things would go if an outside player walked in off the street
to play with our staff in 'cuse. I'll say it went better for me than that
scenario, although I didn't deliver quite up to my normal standards...let's
attribute this to being out on the lake all of the previous day and then up at
2:30 that morning for my flight! But, hey, fresh off an Armageddon I can't use
tired as an excuse.
The tournament was not done in a typical
tournament format, but it was fun. Three games of color ranked individual
supercharge were played and the scores from each game would be added together
to determine the results.
The first game went well. I toggled back and
forth for the first place spot (red pack lights) and came reasonably close
because in the final few seconds I saw my pack flash red...then I took a hit
and by the time my back was back up I was orange (aka second place). Ok, I can
live with that in a game like this. I figured there was a good chance to make
up the difference of a couple hundred points in the next game.
Since this is not a site that utilizes
memberships we just had to keep playing with the same packs. Mine was Warrior
(yes, I would have picked Legend except the straps were too loose for my
liking). In the next game I took fifth. No excuses. That wasn't up to par for
me. However, my pack was completely dead before going into the next game so I
have to wonder if that factored in any way. But again, I hate when people blame
the pack, so no excuses.
The final game I took a replacement pack and a
different approach. Because it was clear that most players were hovering in one
upper section of the arena I shifted from sniper to dogfight mode and went
where I thought I might secure the most pack points. I took a hard fought third
in that game, but in hindsight the tactic was all wrong. My forte has always
been playing long range games and I should not have veered from that. I took
third in that game.
Ultimately that landed me in fourth place
(that's three in a row...I guess now the league has got to be what breaks this
streak), but it was a fantastic time. I'd rather play with a group of
competitive staff members like that any day because they put their heart into
those games. Congrats to Kai who took the win last night...very well played.
And thanks to everyone at Urban Jungle for making it well worth the trip to
Atlanta before I set off on the rest of my very full weekend of laser tag.
Next stop, Salt Lake City!
Comments or Questions?
Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com
and www.photonforever.com
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