Atheista -

Save for a few people who had more than a decade-old experience with Laser Tag, the bloggers who played in last weekend’s Lazer Tag Event at LazerXtreme were on an equal playing field. The fourteen players had no idea what the maze looked like and what the best strategy was for accumulating the most points.

Players score by making beams of laser hit blinking pads on an opposing player’s armor located on the shoulders, torso and back.   The laser is propagated from a phasor (i.e. the  laser gun). The game is made more interesting by the fact that the phasor itself is a valid target. Once a player is hit, his phasor shuts down and is rendered helpless for a few seconds. Not all hits are equal -tags made to the front of the armor carry more weight than the other sensors. Players could also score  by shooting down an opposing team’s base suspended from the arena ceiling.

There are elevated portions in the arena. The place is pitch black and the only thing that you’ll see are the blinking lights from the armor.  It’s literally a labirynth of walls, windows and ramps but it’s hard to get lost inside. You’ll almost always have two options at any single time. This makes navigating through it fairly easy. This also makes predicting the movement of other players more tedious and challenging.The pictures were taken with flash so it may seem like the arena was well lit.

THE TEAMS

The Red Team
Jayvee, Rico, AJ and Poyt

Green Team – AKA Team Visit Sagada + Jehzlau
Benj, Angel, Jeff and Jehzlau

*yes, that’s green, the room’s LIGHTING is just BLUE. hehe

Here are the techniques employed by the bloggers. Later in this article, we will appraise whether or not each style did anything to improve their score. LOL.  These were all taken by Poyt during the second game.

The Sniper Strategy

People who I saw do this: Jayvee and Benj

It’s fairly straight-forward. You watch out for blinking lights from the second level and shoot everything that doesn’t look like darkness. LOL. It’s so simple and yet so effective! It’s also good that most of the players that you tag this way aren’t likely to be looking up as you’re shooting them. This makes them less likely to identify you as a target.

The downside of course is that you’re in plain view of almost everyone.

Double Team!

 People who I saw do this: Juned and Jehzlau

There’s safety in numbers! Like wildebeests trying to evade hungry crocodiles, you can easily evade enemy fire if there are more targets for the enemy to shoot. These two tried to traverse the maze with the back-to-back to protect one side of the armor while still maintaining a threatening offensive presence. This bogs down your pace and drastically affects the number of points you can amass – you’re literally splitting points with your teammate. We’re all for teamwork but the goal is to score the most points.

The Action Star Stake Out

The guilty party: Angel

By staying low and hiding behind walls, you protect yourself from being hit as well as maximize the time to keep on shooting. This would require identifying the choke points in the map and contingency plans should you get cornered in your bunker. The risk of getting tagged is nothing compared to the potential to catch other people by surprise.

Of course players mix up the strategy for the duration of the 15-minute game.

So who were the best? Here are the total points for two games.

 THE BEST

1. Angel – 29 000 pts

2. Estelle – 20 100 pts  *and oh, she’s been back!

3. Rico – 18 100 pts

4. Jayvee – 16 600 pts

5. Jehzlau – 16400 pts

AND THE REST

6. Poyt – 13 950 pts

7. Benj -  13 650 pts

8. AJ – 12 900 pts

8. Fritz – 12 900 pts

10. Jeff – 11 100 pts

11. Juned – 7 200 pts

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