The Hills are Alive...with the Sound of Lasers

It was recently suggested to me that a review of my favorite game formats for each system might make for an interesting article. I wholeheartedly agree! However, to be fair there are some systems on which I have played a wide variety of special game formats and then there are others where I’ve only had the opportunity (so far) to play the basic standard games. An example of the latter is Lasertron. Most places I have played use primarily the standard team or free for all solo formats and little else, even though the system has much greater capabilities. So I decided that to rectify this and broaden my horizons by trying out some different games it would be worth detouring over to the home Lasertron location in Amherst, NY to meet up with a couple of my Armageddon teammates and experience a couple of their other game formats.

I met up with Emily, Cage and Kevin and we joined a public group for my very first game of King of the Hill. Although there would be a briefing video shown to us inside the vesting room, I got Emily (aka ShadowDragon) to give me the scoop on this game.

We went into the vesting room and got ready to play!

Even though this is the oldest operating laser tag facility in the United States it has a very modern design, which I believe has been updated since my last visit.

Before the game started Emily showed me the sectors of the arena. For King of the Hill a sector or “hill” that is ready to be claimed starts off blue on the bottom and yellow on top like this...

Once it is taken by a player it turns either red or green when the player stands directly underneath the sensor. You want to stay there earning points for your team for as long as possible (even if that means less personal points earned from tags...this is about what best helps the team, not the individual).

The neutral sectors glow purple and the active sectors can be identified on the digital maps.

So, during the game the hills move every 45-60 seconds, which is why I say (and sing) the hills are alive! It really sort of feels like that! This was fun and so far it is my favorite Lasertron game. :)

We played four rounds of King of the Hill to complete our first session, then took a short break and played a session of Domination. I think I can now say I have played Domination on just about every laser tag system.

This is similar to King of the Hill (or maybe KOTH is just a variation on Domination), but the sectors are constant and the goal is to control as many of them as possible at the same time.

To me this was a little less interesting. Much like in the standard team base game I found myself just running to and from sectors, trading a few tags and then running back to my recharge. I found King of the Hill more interesting as the game moved around. However, from a vanity standpoint alone, I do like how a player’s name and photo pops up on the monitor when they take over a sector in Domination.

I also like that the sectors have different values and the ones closer to the opposing team will get you bigger points as you can see on the map.

I would have liked to stick around for a session of Headquarters too, but due to timing and weather it was better for me to get back on the road after these two sessions. But after four games of each I feel ready to say (just out of the games I’ve experienced) that King of the Hill is my new favorite special format game of Lasertron. Thanks to Emily, Cage and Kevin for coming out to show me the ropes!



Comments or Questions?
Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com