Game Summaries for Players: Zombie

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

Zombie games are in many ways the reverse of a Sniper game. One person starts out as a zombie with full auto and less life but unlimited respawns. Everyone else is a human with their gun set to bolt action mode. Whenever a human dies they are respawned as a zombie with unlimited respawns. Played on a short time span, (10 minutes or less) this game is very tough on the humans, who have fewer and fewer allies as time goes on and have to create and maintain a perimeter under increasing fire.

Strategies and Tactics:

For humans to survive they MUST work together it is very rare for any humans to survive the entire game if they split up and hide. Instead, humans would be well-advised to start the game by setting an ambush. Wait for the zombie to enter the ambush kill zone and then open fire from behind. Remember: for every hit the zombie makes on you it’s a hit you’ll never get back, but the zombies will respawn infinitely, so don’t get into a shooting match with the zombies! When the zombie dies move your whole ambush somewhere else as soon as possible. Rinse, wash, repeat.
If you’ve been turned into a zombie then congratulations! You’re now on the team that’s almost certain to win! Coordinate with your fellow zombies and let them know what you’ve heard the humans planning most recently, then go flank them wherever you think they might be.
Wide zombie lines (a la the British Redcoats) are nice because it’s hard to hit more than one zombie at the same time but most of the zombies should be able to return fire in an ambush. Make sure to keep your spacing, though: don’t stand too close to one another. Wide lines are also great for flushing out humans.

Game Summaries for Players: VIP Escort

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

One team has a VIP that needs to pass through several waypoints. The other team wants to eliminate the VIP. As ambushers die they become a pursuit force that keeps the VIP escorts from lagging. VIP escorts are very challenging games that force the escort team to handle a very large number of challenges at the same time, not the least of which is maintaining a reliable chain of command.

Strategy and Tactics:

As the escort team you have a thousand things to juggle: movement of the VIP, advance scouting for the VIP’s path, protection of the VIP, counterambushing hunters, locating waypoints, and searching for the extraction point, among other things. Escort is VERY hard.
As the hunter team you have two things to do: run a LOT and kill the VIP. It’s relatively easy to kill the VIP and even eliminate the escorts. The key is to keep the pressure on them as much and as long as possible. Eventually, they’ll likely trip up and end up delivering the VIP to you on a platter. In the mean time, you need to run, shoot, die, and run again. Hunting is VERY tiring, but usually profitable.
The VIP almost always has a highly visible costume piece, whether that’s an orange hat or vest, large object to carry, etc. If you’re on the escort team try to keep the VIP down and hidden as much as possible whenever you aren’t moving them. As the hunters, make sure you know what you’re looking for and how high above the ground you expect it to be.
On escort, the best weapon you have against the hunters is fatigue. They have to run a LOT. If you have a choice between moving the VIP and staying put and both choices are equally dangerous always move. It’s probable that the hunter respawn point will slowly move towards you over the course of the game, so the longer you sit the less the hunters will need to run and the easier time they’ll have overrunning you.
If you’re protecting the VIP you shouldn’t be standing next to them. You are not a bullet magnet when you’re guarding the VIP in the same way you would be in any other game. Any hunter who sees you and sees the VIP is going to shoot first at the VIP. For this reason, make sure that you’re controlling a wide perimeter around the VIP. …and since the laser tag guns shoot several hundred feet, the smallest your perimeter should probably be is a 50′ radius circle and more is better. If you need to cheat a little on coverage cheat by leaving openings towards the front. Since you’ve got scouts searching for the path forward and looking for ambushes you’re less likely to come under fire from that direction. Also, the closer you can be moving to the edge of the battlefield the less likely you’ll come under fire from that direction, too.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The safest path is almost certainly much, much longer.
If you are the VIP, make sure that someone on your protective crew is always aware of where you are and trying to figure out where you should be going next. This is important because the safest position for you to be in is most likely laying down as flat and low on the ground as possible. If your team loses track of where you are they’ll start freaking out and yelling to one another to figure out where you are. This is going to tell the hunters (who will have heard the yelling) where to start looking for you.
Do not expect to win this game as the escort team the first time you play it. Don’t expect to win the second time, either. This game is not unbalanced in favor of the hunters, but the skills required to keep the VIP alive and moving are really, really challenging and escorting doesn’t give you many second chances.

Game Summaries for Players: 2-Man Free For All

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

Players pair off into two-man teams. Teams are released into the battlefield one minute apart. Once everyone is in the field, the fight begins. Teams stalk and eliminate each other systematically, trying to be the last pair standing. This game is really challenging because you never know when or where the next attack will be and requires that you are very alert and aware of your surroundings. Moving silently helps, too.

Strategy and Tactics:

There are two ways to play this game: the fun way and the way that will help you survive longer.
- For more fun, go hunting for the other teams. Move slowly, stay close to (but probably not within 15′ of) your partner. Circle the battlefield on the outside to stay behind as many teams as possible. Your level of stealth will directly relate to your survival.
- For the longer play method find somewhere to bunker down, stay hidden, and don’t move or fire unless you’re sure you can eliminate your target.
You need to communicate with your teammate and make decisions together. That said, you need to communicate quietly.
With only two people on your team you’ll need to make direct attacks, ideally in a surprise situation. Two people is way too few to pull off a pin & flank.

Game Summaries for Players: Team Deathmatch

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

This is the fundamental team vs. team game. Kill them more times than they kill you.We always run at least one of these to let players get into the zone of playing and to try out the equipment before we throw more complicated games and challenges at them. Although deathmatches have simple rules (Don’t die as much as your opponents!) there’s nothing simple about the skills required to play well.

Strategy and Tactics:
Winning deathmatches really does require that you hone all of the basic skills for play: accuracy, speed, stealth, and coordinated movement.
Try to find ways to pin and flank your opponents: have two or three people lay down suppressive fire (each player shouldn’t need to fire more than once every two seconds or so) while another one or two move out and around to the side of your target.

Game Summaries for Players: Sniper

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

One-quarter of the players use longer guns and are sent out on bolt-action mode and given time to hide. The rest of the players become hunters with full auto and only 1 hit point but unlimited respawns. The hunters need to flush out the snipers before too many of the hunters are eliminated. At times this game can be slow because some snipers will hole up and hide. Successful snipers will hunt out the hunters and look for opportunities to pick them off when it’s hard for the hunters to retaliate.

Strategy and Tactics:

It can not be overstated: the snipers will almost certainly win or lose this game within the first 5 minutes. How? Preparation. Snipers MUST work as a team to be successful in this game. Hide yourselves near each other but so that you have at least a 90° difference in your attack angles to the trail. Do not attack players as they come down the trail. Shoot people in the back as the group passes or pick them off from a long distance when you’re way off on the side. The moment the group sees you they’ll start firing, so you have to do everything you can to kill the hunters but not be seen.
Snipers who successfully kill a few players and then have a moment where the hunters retreat and regroup would be very wise to MOVE. Find a new ambush point or, even better, find alternate ambush points while you are getting set up before the hunters get to start looking for you. As soon as you’ve shot someone they’ll have a general idea where you are, so don’t be there when they come back.
Hunters should ALWAYS walk in groups of at least 3-4 players. Do NOT let more than 2 people walk in a single line. Most of your hunters should be off the path so that you don’t have a sniper hitting your whole squad with a single shot. Once the firing starts make sure you communicate the snipers’ positions to the other members of your team or they might just start spraying where they think you’re shooting, which only tells the sniper where to shoot next.

Game Summaries for Players: Intel

Posted on January 18, 2009 by admin

Note that Intel codes and instructions slide in from the side and are behind an actual "screen" so they can't fly away accidentally like the older laptop allowed.

We like to say that Intel is “a game with few rules but many complications.” It’s got a lot going for players to juggle.

A laptop is hidden somewhere within the game boundaries. The laptop has an encoded message on it. Both teams have a codebreaker on their team. The codebreaker’s job is to decode the message and report it back to HQ (or the referee at their base). The catch: if your codebreaker dies they can’t be respawned until the other team’s codebreaker dies. The game is a frantic mix of search-hunt-defend and is especially crazy if you only have 3-4 people on your team but works great with larger groups or more than two teams.

Strategy and Tactics:

Obviously, you need to protect your codebreaker. This takes lots of space and coordination, however. If you’re standing within 20 feet of the codebreaker then any opponents will just shoot the codebreaker. Remember: the range on the laser tag guns is extreme! You need to create a very wide perimeter around your codebreaker (most likely with a radius of at least 50′) if you’re going to keep him/her safe.
Pick a codebreaker who is clever or really good with puzzles and, ideally, has ice in their veins. The codes are meant to be tricky to solve and you might be under fire from the other team while your codebreaker is sweating out the solution. Expect the decryption to take a minute or two, which is like an eternity if your team is in a gunfight.
One of your primary tasks should be to determine who on the other team is the codebreaker and where they’re hiding. Target them as much as you can. Another should be to send scouts to find the laptop so when you move your codebreaker you can move them as quickly as possible to the laptop site.
Never underestimate the potential value of misdirection in a game of Intel. The other team expects your codebreaker to be well-protected, so they won’t assume that you’ve got your codebreaker hiding alone somewhere. If you believe the other team knows who your codebreaker is then consider having them swap some clothes with someone else on the team if you can find the time.