Double Ironman Champion

I've been an Ironman winner on several occasions at several different Laser Quests, however my recent visit to LQ Danvers was the first time I've ever played two back to back Ironman games and taken first place in both!

I got to Danvers in time for the 9:00 Ironman and it was a very full game. Fortunately I called ahead to reserve a spot. When I got there I was interested by their latest offerings for the holidays. There was a display of holiday themed gift cards and simply for the sake of taking home a card as a souvenir I bought one and then used it to pay for my first game.

Once in the briefing room the crowd of players was incredibly energetic...and loud. As the game marshall explained the Ironman and got to the point of telling the group there was a prize at the end one guy in an orange shirt (who looked familiar like he might be a regular that I might have played against before) announced that he would be the winner. Hmmm, I silently thought to myself...challenge accepted!

We went into the arena and I was playing fiercely. I always go in wanting to win, but in particular I wanted to beat the guy who thought he had it in the bag. That extra bit of motivation had me playing hard in spite of it already having been a long day of work and travel. A half hour of game time seemed to go by relatively quickly. I pace myself when I play Ironman games because those who hit the ground running don't always have the stamina to keep that level up all the way to the end.

When the game was over the guy in orange got to the scoreboard before I did. I saw him get excited when he saw his name in the first position...until he realized that the board was simply rotating through the pages (as is the case when there are over 20 players in a game because the names won't all fit at once). What he thought was his first place finish was actually 11th. And as for first?

I got it. :) I was pleased with the game and knew I had played hard.

After announcing the scores the staff members handed me a sign and the ceremonial red phaser and asked me to pose for a picture.

The crowd of players dispersed and before too long they were replaced by a new group of people arriving for the 10:00 Ironman. I decided since I was there (and had been awarded a free game pass as my prize for winning the first one) I would stick around and do a second Ironman. I figured this one would be a little tougher for me because I'd already played an intense half hour and now I was going to go in for a second round, essentially meaning a solid hour of game play. But I don't get to play Laser Quest all that often, so I signed myself up for the game and went right on back into the arena.

There were less players this game, but just like before the game marshall announced there would be a prize for the winner and someone else stepped up and announced that he would be the winner. I kept quiet, but knew that I was incredibly motivated to take this round simply because I'd never done two Ironman games in a row and thought it would be really cool to actually win them both if I could. So again I played hard and again...

I became a double Ironman Champion this night. The other players gave me props saying "she was a beast!" and I appreciated the accolades as much as I enjoyed seeing my name leading the day's top scores for first and second.

So by the end of the night I had achieved my goal...and I was tired. Time to give it a rest and head to my hotel for the night to rest up for New Hampshire the next morning.