I don’t know her name. The two of us will probably never see each other again. Still, it’s clear to me, that somewhere out there, most likely in Wilmington, is a 15 year-old girl who wasn’t hugged enough as a child. I know this because the pesky teenager kept shooting at me over and over again.
Yes, she was armed with a high powered assault rifle. Luckily it wasn’t real, but that look in her face, the anger in her eyes… it’s clear she was out to get me!
Welcome to the Battle House, the region’s largest indoor laser tag facility.
Laser tag is nothing new. It’s been around for at least a couple of decades. Typically the setting is at an amusement park where it’s only a small part of the attraction and fun. The game is most often centered in some space motif with futuristic weapons that zap and buzz.
Here, at the Battle House it’s different. It’s more realistic, more military driven. The guns used are mock versions of the real thing. The folks have turned a warehouse, just behind the airport, into a small city with two story buildings, a bank, a jail and other structures. It’s a maze really and behind every corner, or peering down from an upstairs window, are people whose only mission in life is to end yours.
A few weeks ago I came out here with my middle school aged son, my college step daughter and few of her friends. All of them had a great time. All of them wanted to come back. All of them enjoyed some level of success.
As for me…well, I kept getting killed. And more often than not, it was by the same teenaged girl. Sometimes, it happened in close range. She’d jump out from behind a doorway with guns blazing. At other moments, she got me from a distance….a sniper hiding in her perch. But I always knew it was her. Because not only was she shooting me, but mocking me, as well. “Take that old man!” she’d yell with every one of my deaths.
The action is set up that you’re playing with and against strangers. The Battle House hosts several games a day, each one 90 minutes in length. Anywhere from twenty to thirty people show up. The group is then broken down into teams and a series of games are played. There’s Capture the Flag, Defuse the Bomb, Disarm the Terrorist and simple all out War.
My team lost by one point. I gotta think I was to blame. I didn’t contribute. After each of my murders, I had to walk to the other side of the warehouse and press a button to come back to life… only to walk another 100 yards or so before being killed again. Back and forth, back and forth… dead and alive and dead again. By the end of the afternoon I was drenched in sweat. No one ever told me that dying was such a good cardiovascular activity.
If you have kids (I’d say 10 and up) the Battle House is worth checking out. It really is a good time. One of a kind fun! We will do it again. I just hope that the next time, that teenaged girl who was carrying a gun and armed with a grudge, is no where to be seen.