CMP Tactical Lazer Tag

This weekend, we went to Frankfort, IL to play laser tag at CMP Tactical Lazer Tag. It was awesome. They were running a Groupon that made it a very good deal. It’s a bit of a drive out of the city and we got a little lost. At one point, we were wandering a dark industrial road, hoping to find the place. But once we did, it was well worth the drive.

It’s a different from your typical laser tag place. The focus is strategy and teamwork. There are no dark lights, smoke machines, and other nonsense. The course was a little like a small city block with two story fake brick buildings. You weren’t weighted down with bulky vests. Instead, you had sensors only on your head. In order to kill someone, you had to hit the sensors. Laser guns had different power strengthens. Some took four shots to take someone out; some were more powerful and could kills someone in two shots. It was simply a lot more realistic than other laser tag games I’ve played. I dug it.

We played several games or missions in the hour and a half of play. There was game where you had to diffuse a briefcase bomb. One team had to place it at one of six locations. The opposing team had to find it. Then they had to push a button to get the code that they had to input before the bomb counted down. It was a really fancy piece of equipment. I didn’t get to hear it explode since both teams successfully diffused the bomb. Boo. There was a cops and robbers game where one team had to get to a wall of safes, input the codes, put the money into a bag, and get the bag to a center location in the arena. The other team had to defend. It was really neat. My friend and I were the safecrackers, quickly opening all the safes, so we could get all the money for our team.

I really loved how strategy played a central role in the game. In other laser tag games, you run around and try to hit the enemy to score points for your team. Here, the way to victory was planning. We were fortunate to play with some folks who had been there before so they had good ideas. (It was an open game; anyone who showed up got to play). But execution is the essential. We’d split up tasks. For instance, a few people opened the safes, others grabbed the money, and other people ran the bag to the drop site. Everyone else covered the relay team. This strategy part of the game made it a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved playing laser tag and will probably play at the more traditional places again. But this game made me feel that I was an effective player. Kills wasn’t the goal, save to get the enemy out of the way of your task. The company didn’t even keep stats. It was all about the team.

And yeah, we won all the games. Victory is ours!

So yeah, it’s a long drive to Frankfurt, IL but I hope we go back soon.

That’s all!