Got out last night with a friend for a truly entertaining evening of excitement.
Our original plans for the evening had fallen through due to circumstances beyond our control, so we decided to try something that I haven't done in almost a decade. Laser Quest!
We wondered in off the street to a completely empty lobby, thinking we were going to be out of luck...without enough players, there is not much point in strapping on a pack and attempting to play this family friendly form of laser tag.
Luckily the staff member behind the counter rushed us into the briefing room to join a big party that was about to start their first game. We selected Codenames - Yoda, and DeaDPaN, two full grown adults out for an evening of fun, and walked through the airlock into the briefing room and found ourselves right in the middle of a pack of 16 screaming 10-12 year old boys...We had totally stumbled into a kids birthday party! With only one other adult supervisor in the room we were seriously out numbered. Yoda and I shared a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and decided to dive right in and enjoy ourselves. The kids started chanting that they wanted to play kids vs adults (16 vs 3) despite the fact that it was supposed to be an every man for himself free for all.
Yoda and I decided to team up and watch each others back to increase our chances of survival...just to level the playing field...16 vs 2 aren't exactly the best odds. We strapped on our packs and the first game was on!
Having never been to this location, we didn't know the layout of the combat zone, so we took it pretty slow, working our way around the perimeter until we were able to find a ramp to an upper level. We traded laser fire with lots of small groups of kids, holding our own, but getting surrounded alot as we made our way through the maze. It was hilarious, gangs of screaming children swarming 2 adults in the midst of a black light laser tag game. I had total flash backs of Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother blasting his way through hordes of howling pre-teens in an epic game of Laser Quest! It really was legendary. Unlike Barney, Yoda and I had no qualms following the rules of fair play while fending off the advancing hordes of sneaky little ankle biters...sure, we did team up, but that was just common sense. We spent the first game roaming around the combat zone, getting the lay of the land and destroying any pockets of resistance we encountered. When the smoke cleared and the buzzer sounded signifying the end of the first match, we exited the combat zone only to discover that we had gotten pwned by the kids. I was in 4th place and Yoda was in 7th. It made me feel a little better to realize that the other adult, the father of the birthday boy had come in just ahead of me in 3rd place.
Round two added 6 more players to the mix, 5 more kids, and another adult mother, but we were taking no prisoners! Yoda and I changed tactics slightly and found a defensible mid level position that gave us clear lines of sight on four highly traveled routes. We dug in and protected each others backs for the majority of the game, only moving on when the children had learned their lesson and stopped trying to assault our position. All of those hours spent playing Socom, and Call of Duty really came in handy! We were unstoppable! It really did remind me of the episode of How I Met Your Mother when Barney and his bro team up for a Laser Quest challenge against a similar horde of howling tweens. LEGENDARY!
When the smoke cleared and the game was over I stood victorious at the top of the scoreboard, a full 200 points above the next closest player. Yoda's ranked 8th overall, with an improved score.
We worked well as a team, and while we laughed about it later, it was a fun way to spend a night. Maybe next time we'll invite a few more players our own age...since there is really only a very small glimmer of satisfaction to be had from besting a group of children at this kind of activity. ;)
Just so you don't actually think I am actually a huge jerk I also want to share the following story: For the record, I would like to note that there was also a younger little girl, who was maybe about 7 years old, playing in both games with us. I assume she was a sibling to the birthday boy, as she stayed pretty close to their dad. Any time Yoda and I encountered her, I would deliberatly let her tag me and not knowingly aim my laser fire back at her targets. I wanted to make sure she was having fun and being included without feeling overwhelmed or picked on. My own parental sense of fair play kicked in, and I hope she had a great time with her brother and all of his friends. It actually made me think that I would like to one day take the thief out on an excursion like this, when she's a little older of course!
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