Armageddon Day Three: The Results

I was really looking forward to returning to Ultrazone Bensalem for the Zone portion of the tournament. Having just been here a couple of weeks ago for Zone Nats I felt quite comfortable with this arena and looked forward to going into these games with my team.

This was the only three team format being played in this year’s tournament. Therefore, when I tell you that our team took second place in every game it was a fair representation showing some respectable point victories over the other teams in six games (more games than we played in any other format due to balancing three teams per game). I snapped a team pic inside the base, rolling my eyes that this was not permitted at the last tournament I played here.

For some players on our squad this was old hat, but others were new to the system, so what you might not immediately notice if you are not a Zone player is that these Helios Pro packs are modified.

Rather than buckling in the front, they have been converted with a box where the phaser connects added to the front, which necessitates putting the pack on over your head.

I felt we played well all the way through this system, seemingly with a closer margin between first and second place than between second and third. During our last game we were apparently in first place all throughout the game until the last 15 seconds where one base would have made the difference. We had one player who needed a base and apparently the other team took a base in those final seconds, which flip-flopped exactly that number of points, so it was a kicker to have come so close, but it’s also more interesting when games are that tight. This system was a great start to the final day and before we left we took our team picture. We also wanted a full combined team photo since our squad evolved out of Plausible Deniability and when not in competition against each other, we support all our players like one big family.

From there we proceeded to the final destination, The Works in Wyomissing, PA where Lasertron would be played. Here we hosted a special Tag 4 A Cause event, which I will share info about in a separate post.

Not In Charge is a very Tron-heavy team. Somehow I have found myself on the Tron team every year (which most people who know me will understand is ironic) and ever since my first Armageddon I have opted to play all games in the other systems in order to have the necessary game count to be able to sit the Tron system when possible. This is a deliberate strategy of my own choosing so that my teammates can go in with the strongest possible Tron line-up, as I am well aware that this system is my Achilles heel. However, last year we had a sick player so I got called in to play for him then and this year Woz suffered an in-game injury, so once again I was called in to play.

Ok, I’m in it now!

I went in with my team and just tried to pull points by sniping from the right side of the lower level. I had not anticipated playing, so I had not walked the field ahead of time, but it all worked out and we won this game. In fact, our team won every Tron game except the one during which Woz was injured.

Once the Tron games were done it was time to celebrate the completion of the tournament.

Awards time!

First, congratulations go to the top placing teams:

1st: Depends How We Finish

2nd: The Consultants

3rd: COLONS

Incidentally, Not in Charge took 4th, but we were quite close to third, missing by only a small margin of less than three points in the final standings, so we just needed a couple of things to have gone differently to have closed that gap. Plausible Deniability took 5th.

Then it was time for player-voted awards. I appreciate having won the “Biggest Fan” Spirit Award for the second year in a row. It’s a little like being the Miss Congeniality of laser tag. :)

Time for props:

Scuba (aka the captain and only one “In Charge” in any way!) - Thank you for sharing so much enthusiasm for the game - any game, any time!

Ski Patrol - My side quest companion no matter what crazy idea I suggest. If we had played the Day 2 format you would have still been ready to go with me for even more tag and I love that!

Woz - You say you are my biggest fan, but I am yours too because you remind me so much of myself when I was first learning how much tag there is out there. It’s always fun to play with you!

Cookie - Congrats on your Tag 4 A Cause win. I had a feeling from the start that you were going to pull that off!

ShadowDragon - It is always great to tag with you and watch you do your Tron thing while I cheer from the sidelines (mostly)

Havoc - I enjoyed first meeting you at practice and now it is great to have gone through a full tournament with you as well!

SandmanRD - Think you can get rid of me that easy, lol? Let’s do this again!

Ricky - It’s funny how things work out. When you asked me to be on your team last year I was already committed to this group, but hoped we’d eventually play together and look at that…we did!

And thanks to everyone on the Plausible Deniability squad for being one big extended family, regardless of who is or is “Not In Charge”!

Armageddon was a wonderful time with a lot of amazingly competitive laser tag and I am glad it all came together for us to enjoy another tournament together.