We were visiting friends in Peterborough today and found out there was a LaserForce Laser Tag Live Action Laser Games Arena in the City.
In the last month we (I!) seem to have become addicted to playing these futuristic warfare games! They're quick and easy to play, and great fun at a good price.
In this edition of the eternal struggle between the RED and GREEN Laser Tag teams, the GREENS were triumphant. Our team, the REDS, scored 33,653 to their 40,455.
I was the RED team's 'Top Gun' with a score of 8703, which was good enough for third place overall. Our friend Rebecca 'The Fen Tigress' Evison was third in our team on 3801, while Emily '9 Lives' Gottfried was fourth in the RED team with 3753.
The LaserForce in Peterborough was set over two levels and had some great theming. There were also eight bases/targets for players to hit, as well as a 'friend or foe' non-player-character in the battlezone known as 'The Navigator'! There is also a LaserForce in Leicester which we'll have to check out next time we're there.
Other Ham & Egger File Blog Posts about Laser Tag Games:
The Laser Games Arena also had a fine selection of Arcade Machines - including a fantastic and quite rare Boom-A-Rang 'Crazy Air Squash' Air Hockey Table!
On Thursday 15th December 2011 me and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley met up in Milton Keynes for a "Best-of-Three, no wait make it Best-of-Five Games Series" for the title of MK Winter Sporting Challenge Champion! We had planned to play a lot of Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Mega Bowl at MK Leisure Plaza, however there were no spaces in games until 9pm! So with time to spare we headed to the brand new Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a game of Minigolf.
Photo: Not me & Marc having a Pirate Battle on a Minigolf Island!
As I had arrived in MK before Marc, I had managed to get a game in beforehand (making it minigolf course #281 played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!). Not that my warm-up game helped too much in our challenge match. Under floodlight conditions we hit the 18-hole course and it's excellent Pirate-theming for a match played in very cold conditions.
Photo: Marc Putting on a Double Plateau Hole
Photo: Richard on a Raft attached to a Minigolf Island
To say the match was one-sided in the early stages would be an understatement as Marc, the BMGA British #89, raced ahead over the Front-9 holes.
Video - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley Plays the 10th Hole at Pirate Island Adventure Golf:
Photo: Marc has a testing second Putt on the 18th hole
But by the 17th hole the match was level on both Strokeplay and Matchplay! I stepped up first and hit a two, Marc played his first shot which ended in the rocks, played his second and waited... and it ran just passed the hole and he had to settle for a very unfortunate three. The final scores - Richard 52, Marc 53.
Game One - Winner - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried
Following the Minigolf match we decided to head back to the Mega Bowl to have a warm game of Quasar.
While we were waiting for the 9pm game slot we decided to have a game of the Crazy Golfers Favourite - Air Hockey. Despite leading for most of the (10-minute!) match I lost 8-9 after scoring an own goal in injury time. The game conditions were quite interesting, with just two of us and with no Emily to fetch #TheMan when the Puck went flying off the table there were a lot more throw-ins than usual!
Game Two - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With 9pm approaching we headed to the check-in desk, signed the disclaimer (no running, no swearing, no fighting, no rifle-butts to the face etc.), found out that it would just be a one-on-one match and then waited to be called through to the Briefing Room. While we were waiting to go through Marc had the opportunity to have his photo taken with one of his Minigolf heroes!
Photo: Marc and his Minigolf Hero
Once in the Briefing Room the man said that before we could play we would have to watch "The DVD"! He seemed quite apologetic that we'd have to sit through it, however Marc and I were quite excited as in all the times we've played Laser Tag we've never had a briefing through a TV/DVD! The video was very informative, told us we were playing "Q-2000" and that once the film was over we'd be led to "The Vesting Room"!
The Milton Keynes Quasar Arena was very maze-like, with narrow passages leading to a central hub. With the game beig a solo battle the bases were unfortunately not in play. The game saw each of us trying to track the other down and in the quite big arena you had to take your opportunities and use the element of surprise on your opponent. Marc managed to do this and scored more hits, ending the game with a win for the REDS.
Photo: RED Marc and GREEN Richard
In the Quasar Stats for our game Marc was playing as RED 9 while I was GREEN 12. Marc won with a Hit Ratio of 0.9% after firing 855 shots and scoring 1,600 points! Inconceivably I was shown to have fired 4,003 times in our battle and ended with a Hit Ratio of 0.1% and 1,000 points!?
In the Never Ending Laser Tag War waged between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS players in the Laser Tag Rankings have taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable, Skegness, Rayleigh and Milton Keynes.
Updated Laser Tag Rankings following the MK Battle:
Click to enlarge image
Game Three - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With the series at two-wins-to-one in Marc's favour we headed to the Pool tables. The table we played on seemed to have a bit of a slope and was also a bit troublesome if you were shooting from one end of it, as you had to open the door to the Hurricane Simulator arcade machine to get any sort of leverage!?
The other Pool table was out of order, but happened to be the one with any chalk in the chained up chalk holder!
In our match Marc won, with me still having three balls left to pot when Marc nailed the black for victory.
Game Four - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
After playing Pool we (I) tried to make the series a best-of-seven event, but Super Mario Kart wouldn't accept any of our coins and someone had jammed a pound coin and a ten pence piece in the coin slot of Out Run 3, putting paid to any chance of another win for me.
Overall Champion of the MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
Ultimate MK Games Champion Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley said "I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the minigolf. But I always believed in myself and that belief was justified."
Perennial Runner-Up ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried said “Well done to Marc on his big win at the games. It was well deserved indeed and he was unlucky not to beat me at the Minigolf too! I’m looking forward to some more games of Laser Tag and visits to #TheButtons soon.”
The new Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Two Mile Ash is well worth a visit and we'll be heading back again. Hopefully we'll get to play the Quasar with more people next time too.
As we've recently got back into playing the great game of Laser Tag I was doing some searching online and found out that today - Saturday 26th March 2011 - is National Laser Tag Day!
The day has been created by the International Laser Tag Association (ILTA) to celebrate the opening of the first-ever Laser Tag Centre in 1984!
I wish every Laser Tag Warrior a Happy National Laser Tag day. Whether you're a RED, GREEN,BLUE, or even a YELLOW, have a good one :-)
A look at the Mini Golf course at Laser Quest Derby.
A BIG thanks go to our friend and minigolf rival Jam Trubridge for sending over these snaps of the Mini Golf course at Laser Quest in Derby.
We love playing both minigolf and laser tag so the 9-hole course is in the right location. It'll be ace to play it on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.
Many thanks to my friend and minigolf rival Jam Trubridge for letting me know there's a minigolf course at the Laser Quest centre in Derby. The indoor layout is a 9-hole glow-in-the-dark course. It's a new local course for him and one we're looking forward to playing on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
Galaxy Quest Mini Golf in Derby is the sister venue of the Galaxy Quest Mini Golf at Laser Quest Sunderland and another new course at Laser Quest Coventry.
Last weekend a fierce Laser Tag Battle took place at the Quasar Elite Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Herts. Luckily for our intrepid party of three we were able to have the run of the four-zone arena to ourselves!
The battle saw a classic Boys Against Girls Match take place, with me and our nephew Kallum (The Blues) taking on Emily (The Reds).
The Blues won!
I was first, with Emily 2nd, and Kallum picking up 'Bronze'!
The Laser Tag Rankings have had a slight change, in that Kallum Harper enters the list at number 11.
In the Ongoing Laser Tag War that rages between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS we've all taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable and Skegness.
Today Emily and I headed to Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire to play a game of Quasar Elite.
An intersting 'Laser Tag Fact' is that the Hemel Quasar centre is the world's only multi-theme Quasar Elite arena, with five different zones!
The battle between the Blue Team and the Red Team saw me and Emily face-off against each other in opposing sides in the 31 player game (comprised of two kids birthday parties and us).
The battle was won by the 15 player Red Team with a score of 1055, with Emily ranked 3rd within the team. The Blue Team scored 681 points, and I was the team's Top Gun! I was very surprised at this due to Emily and her team's tactics of sending three girls to constantly target (chase) me throughout the battle!
(The scoreboards only count up to three digits, so the score of 1055 is shown as 055!)
The centre is pretty cool, with a large arena to battle in. We will be returning for another match soon.
As a Quasar Elite Champion I treated myself to a piece of Merch - a fetching red Belt Pouch/Man-Bag. When we left Emily refused to hold it, even for a while, as she said "...it would ruin my street cred."!
On our way home from our weekend away in Liverpool last week, we headed back via Cannock in the Midlands, as on the way up North we had spotted a Laser Tag Arena at Fun City!
Having had exclusive use of the Laser Quest in New Brighton (with a Party group not turning up) we once again found ourselves in the position of being able to play a game of Laser Tag in a one-on-one format!
This Laser Tag also had 'Aliens' inside, which were able to shoot you and also explode mines which would completely destroy you - requiring a total re-energise!
The final result, with me and Emily having a 'Civil War' as the YELLOW Team, was a win to me - 206 points to 113. Emily was unfortunate to have been hit by the Mines 4 times, compared to me getting hit twice.
Richard Gottfried takes on Emily Gottfried in a one-on-one Laser Tag Battle in Cannock!
While staying at The Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada we headed to the hotel's Fun Dungeon for a play on the amusements there. One of which was The Quest for Excalibur Laser Maze! As fans of Laser Games we had to give it a go!
In had two goes in the Laser Maze, the first time I recorded on the 8th of September was 490.7 which, at the time, put me in 2nd place of 4 players and won me a Magic Hat!
On the 10th of September Emily and I both had a go, with Emily scoring a great 232.5, but I bumbled to another 400+ score of 404.3. The competition was much tougher on the 10th and neither of us made the top ten to earn a hat, but we did both win a pair of Dollar Sign Glasses.
The only other Laser Maze we've ever played on our adventures was the one at Weston-Super-Mare's Grand Pier back in July.
Here is the update to the Laser Tag Rankings (since January 2011 to 10th April 2011):
Click to enlarge ranking list
In the Ongoing Laser Tag War that rages between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS we've all taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock and Whitstable.
Here is the update to the Laser Tag Rankings (since January 2011 to 20th March 2011):
Click to enlarge ranking list
In the Ongoing Laser Tag War that rages between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS we've all taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton and Cannock.
.jpg "Mini Golf at Laser Quest Derby. Photo by Jam Trubridge, April 2022")
.jpg "Mini Golf at Laser Quest Derby. Photo by Jam Trubridge, April 2022")
