Thou Shalt Not Be A Birthday Basher

One of the cardinal rules of laser tag (or at least it should be) is don’t ever be a birthday basher or play hard against kids if you end up in a game with little ones. Occasionally you might find yourself in a game with young players and this is NOT a place to play intensely. Rather it is an opportunity to be a role model and be helpful until you are in a more appropriate game to play for real. Teenagers and adults can give you a fair game, but when the game involves a group of children you should only encourage and help those kids to have a good time playing the game and never go full out if you are an experienced player. That being said, sometimes you can’t really pick the group you play with and when I arrived at Laser Quest of Federal Way all I was told was that they had a group arriving shortly. I took a seat across from “mission control” and waited to see who would show up. This was after all a Tuesday night.

I was momentarily pleased when a suitable group of adults walked in the door a few minutes later, but as it turned out they were only there for the escape room. A little while later I realized that the laser tag group was a kid’s birthday party and I was a little less enthused because I knew that even though I would be present in the arena I would not really be playing this game. However, I always try to go in positive and be a role model for what should happen in these situations. So I put on the pack and went in with the group.

In cases like this (especially if you’ve already bought your pass) I think the best thing for a more experienced player to do is to remember that everyone is there to have fun. There is no honor in winning against children. I try to let the little ones get an ego boost out of tagging me. I will play just enough so that it doesn’t appear like I’m not trying, but I will not take easy shots at any child if I can avoid it. So, I spent most of this game walking around the arena and helping them where I could. Sometimes the games just aren’t competitive, but if you’re already in it then just do your best to be a kind player and help everyone to have a good time playing. That’s what I did in this instance, so I can’t say that I had the “real” experience of playing Laser Quest Federal Way, but I did feel good for having helped those kids to have their own great experience and that makes me a happy tag player.