Bang bang he shot me down,
Bang bang I hit the ground,
Bang bang that awful sound,
Bang bang my baby shot me down…”
I know I have been shot. It’s pitch dark, except for a flurry of lights whizzing past. There’s another gun trained on me. I grip mine tighter, position my finger on the trigger and just when I feel life seeping back it’s my turn to shoot — this time, at my best friend. Ten minutes later the lights come on, we high five and walk out grinning from my first-ever game of laser tag.
So, what’s that, you ask? It’s the game Barney made popular in the series How I Met Your Mother and involves teams of players shooting each other with radio frequency and infra-red emitting guns. “Phaser, not gun,” corrects an amused 14-year-old who can’t seem to get over the vast difference in our totals. The opposing team scored 52,750, and my team…well, lets not even go there. 15,000 points too short, and my individual score, a paltry 4,125. (But hey I am a fast learner.)
The rules are simple. “Equal number of players in each team. The aim is to defend your base. And try not to get shot. If you do, you lose 25 points. Always shoot the opponent on his vest, where the lights are, and you get 200 points. If you shoot the base you get 300 points,” explains Girish Subash of G Sector, the recently launched gaming space in Nungambakkam. While players sweat it out inside the 1,900 sq. ft. arena, a large screen outside the play area rapidly lists the scores as the game is in progress. G-Sector has a Star Wars theme with R2D2 and droids as part of the illustrations. One base is protected by droids and the other by the clones. “The moment a player is shot, the lights on his vest and phaser switch off for five seconds and he can’t shoot anybody till the lights come alive again. The player can take this time to hide from the opponents,” he explains.
The arena is lit only by fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark paint on the walls, mazes and barrels and the flickering lights on our vests and phasers, with high voltage music blaring from speakers. The colour on the vests, phasers and base depend on the team one is playing for. Predictably enough, mine is pink, much to the horror of my strapping male friends.
Chaos Entertainment in Gopalapuram, adds to the excitement by switching off even the neon lights during the last three minutes of the game. The result — chaos and loud shrieks as dark shadows creep up on you from behind obstacles and shoot at you. They call it the Stealth Mode, something they came up with thanks to a power cut mid-game. “This seemed like an innovative way to make the game more challenging,” says Eshwar Kalimuthu, who started the place in November last year along with his brother Karthik.
Laser tag is said to have originated in the U.S. in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. “It came to India in early 2005, starting off with Delhi and Mumbai. It did take a while coming to Chennai but the craze is catching up,” says Eshwar. Even though their gaming zone offers PS4 and X Box One Kinect, its laser tag that’s the most popular. “In a day 70 per cent of our clients come to play this game,” he adds. Here, there are seven different modules to choose from and the number of teams can go up to seven depending on the module. Evenings see a packed house. In addition Chaos offers happy hours from noon to 4 p.m. where clients are charged Rs. 170 rather than the usual Rs. 250 for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, a gang of sweaty college students make their way out of Laser Tag Chennai Battlefield in Kilpauk. “It felt like a workout. Beats sitting in front of a play station, any day,” laughs one of them. Managed by Yogesh Rungta and Dharmendra Jain, this is one of the first Laser Tag arenas in Chennai and was started last October. Players have to manoeuvre their way across a bridge and through towering psychedelic mazes to beat the opponents. Like G Sector, they too have three game modules to choose from. “We offer 15-minute games priced at Rs. 200 per person per game,” says Uma Rungta, who oversees the operations at the outlet. “On weekends the rush is overwhelming. Sometimes people spend an hour awaiting their turn,” she adds.
Interestingly, the leisure activity isn’t restricted to any particular age group. All the gaming zones receive clients across age groups. “Fifty-year-old couples come and play. Families play together. Then of course there are the college and school kids,” adds Uma. When Girish started G Sector, he worried over it becoming a boys’ only activity but is glad to see a large number of women enthusiasts taking it up.
Looks like the birthday cake isn’t the most popular thing at birthdays these days. For children, laser tag themed birthdays is all the rage. Inviting friends to one of these units and celebrating over a few games of laser tag is what’s trending. In a week, the gaming parlours often get booked for 10-15 birthdays. Corporates too resort to this activity as a team-building exercise. “We receive bookings for seven to 10 corporates in a month,” says Eshwar.
Over the years the gears have become sleeker, drawing more enthusiasts. The phaser now weighs around 550 grams so it’s easier to carry around and play four to five games back-to-back. "Even though it’s called laser tag it only uses a low intensity laser that’s used to point at the opponent. It has no negative health effects,” says Girish. The game isn’t physically demanding, it requires a bit of strategising and comes with a few don’ts. Players aren’t allowed to lie on the floor, crawl or run too fast and no removing the armour vest. “Once, an older client tried to lie low and shoot and another player stepped on him. An argument broke out,” laughs Eshwar. Games certainly have the power to turn adults into kids and it’s fun as long as everyone plays fair. And with that it’s time for round two of my game... excuse me, I have a few sniggering teenagers to beat.
