Tactical, Outdoor Laser Tag Outing!
On Saturday, April 9th, 12 Youth and two chaperon’s trucked up to Ultimate Battleground in Bourne, MA to play in an enhanced version of Laser Tag! Located at the Bourne Rotary, Ultimate Battleground was traditionally a Paint Ball and Air Soft business, but recently acquired Laser Tag that is outdoors, tactical and has obstacles. Our Youth were familiar with traditional Laser Tag, where you run around indoors, where it’s really dark and neon strobe lights are flashing everywhere. We wanted to try something a little different and outside our comfort zone…and we were not disappointed!
Anticipation was climbing because when we got there, we could see the Paint Ball field, but the Laser Tag area was surrounded by black mesh, which made it difficult to see the whole course. We huddled up for training on the guns, how/where to aim, how to reboot if you were killed and how to put on the gear. We also discussed that even though we would be on two separate teams opposing each other, that we are in fact all on the same team and to not take this activity too seriously. Because really, we just wanted to have fun.
After our huddle up, we got suited up and took the field! Yes, we had crazy head gear on, but it was needed since we weren’t wearing vests. The first few games consisted of Team Blue (Smurfs) and Team Red (Rojo) trying to shoot as many people from the opposing team as possible. Once we understood how to shoot, aim and go to reload, we were on a roll! The next game was “King of the Hill” where teams were responsible for raising a flag and keeping it up throughout the game. The flag continued to go up and down throughout the game depending on who had control over it. The following game was where the most people from one team had to be in a designated spot (buildings were identified in the course) and whoever had the most representation, won. First we had to find the location and then we had to protect it to keep it. Shortly thereafter, we played another game having to protect the President and White House from being destroyed. Towards the end of the night, we played another game where one person was against everyone else, trick is, the person changed throughout the game, so we never knew who it was. Somewhere in between all of the games, the Youth re-energized off pizza and sports drinks…and boy was it needed!
Everyone who went on this outing had an absolute ball! When we got there around 5:00 pm it was still daylight but pretty chilly. As the night progressed, it got increasingly darker, so it became more and more challenging for us as we got acclimated to the games. Not only was mother nature a factor, but the type of guns that were used were switched on us half way through our games. Some preferred the first ones we used, while others liked the more technical ones (didn’t require the crazy head gear). A funny moment we had when it was getting darker was when all of a sudden a zombie started running through the course spraying people with silly string! It scared some people because no one saw it coming!
This is definitely an activity we would do again with our Youth in a heartbeat! Laser Tag taught them to work together in sometimes challenging and stressful situations (such as when the aim light didn’t work on a gun, limited visibility, etc.), have fun outside of the context of church and do something that they’ll remember forever.
To view more pictures of the outing, click here.
