Returned from Adelaide - Zone Laser Tag Australasian Championships

[Wellzy94]

Hi Raiders!

For anyone interested in reading, I competed in the Zone Laser Tag Australasian Championships over the last two weeks, which was held in Noarlunga, SA.

For something that's not officially recognised as a sport, the level of athleticism and endurance shown by the 200+ entrants was astounding.

We took 6 players and competed in the teams event, which is the main event (each game has 3 teams of 5 players), along with every side event. 

The side events were Lord of the Ring (LoR), Solos, Doubles and Triples, and one of our teammates competed in Masters (35+).

Our team was comprised of 3 players who were on the wooden spoon team last year, and 3 rookies (one of which was myself). We bombed out of all side events, not making it past round 1, however we did have people come close to Round 2 for LoR and Doubles.

 

The teams event was split into four stages: Round Robin, Cascade 1, Cascade 2, and Ascension, and we competed with 32 other teams. Before the competition started, there was a "prediction list" where the organisers and top teams predict where each of the 33 teams will place. We were predicted to finish in 31st.

 

Round Robin had 16 games, so we played against each of the other teams once in 5v5v5 games, at the end of which we placed in 31st position. We were happy with this spot, as we had begun to improve immensely over the round robin alone, and were confident we could climb a few ladder positions from here.

Cascades 1 and 2 are played against teams within proximity of yours on the leaderboard, which means the games are more balanced in regards to team skill. There are 6 games in each cascade. Cascade 1 is played, the leaderboard is reshuffled, then the same algorithm is used again for 6 games in Cascade 2, and the leaderboards get shuffled again.

In Cascade 1, we had 1 third, 1 second, and 4 first places, which pushed us 3 ranks up the leaderboard to 28th. 

In Cascade 2, we had 3 thirds, 2 seconds and 1 first place, where we held our spot at 28th.

Ascension works a bit differently. It's still 3 teams of 5 playing at a time in the arena, however the schedule is comprised of three "tracks". 33rd.  32nd and 31st start on the bottom track, where second and third place get eliminated and places finalised on the leaderboard. The top two tracks, first place continues on in the same track. If your team places second or third on either of these, you drop to the lower track, until you place second or third on the bottom track and get eliminated. 

We played on the second track in Ascension, and went 1 first, then a third and moved to the bottom track. We then snatched another first and moved to the middle track, then played a second (dropping us back to the bottom track), then a third to receive our final leaderboard position of 27th.

 

At the end of the two weeks, everyone was exhausted and nursing injuries and muscle strains, but I couldn't be more proud of the team I played with. We exceeded all expectations and finished 4 placed above where we were predicted, and we've also come home better players.

 

I've attached some images of the arena layout, and the teams schedule for reference if anyone's interested! Our team is Code Red Cerberus.

 

Some final stats:

Teams - 33 games played

Lord of the Ring - 6 games played

Solos - 3 games played

Doubles - 3 games played

Triples - 3 games played

A total of 48 games played in 2 weeks, plus 6 pre-comp training sessions, which were essentially more team games.

Our longest days comprised of 6 LoR games plus 6 training sessions for 12 games, and 6 Cascade 2 rounds plus 5 Ascension rounds for 11 games.

 

 

[mrsswordfisherman]

That looks fun Luke!!

I bet lots of raiders would love to get into that.

[Wellzy94]

We all had a blast, and met a ton of people too!

Age is no barrier for these people. Boys, girls, men and women play from any age between 13 and I think the oldest player was in his mid-50s. On top of that, the atmosphere was amazing!

I discovered that it's a tradition at nationals to trade team jerseys with one another as well. I got involved, and traded 3 out of my four jerseys. Here's a front+back view of my Cerberus jersey (my alias is Voli), and the three jerseys I traded for.

Left to right:

Queensland Tempest - Alias 'Winter'

Adelaide Desolators - Alias 'Exile'

New Zealand Mayhem - Alias 'Bronftw'

 

[mrsswordfisherman]

Love the jersey swaps !!!

[Scratchie]

Looks like heaps of fun Luke! I played laser tag for about two years when it first went big in Australia early 90's. I don't think many people would understand just how fit you need to be to play it. I'm to old now!  

cheers scratchie!!! 

[Rah]

Great stuff mate. 

It is a lot of fun that's for sure. 

[Wellzy94]

Like I said scratchie, the oldest person that competed was mid-50s! You're still young

It's even more fun with things like attacking and defending bases, being stunned if certain sensors are shot, and the competition rules thrown in as well!

Cheers,

Wellzy

[Scratchie]

I'm sure it has advanced dramatically since I played. But remember it fondly, running around like gi-jo with a few mates for bragging rights! Do you still have to re-energise? 

[Wellzy94]

Most game formats yes. You have 7 lives and 45 ammo, and can recharge at 3 lives and 10 ammo or less!

Some formats (solos for example) are unlimited lives and shots, or are elimination (unlimited shots, limited lives, no recharge).

[rickmarlin62]

but the big question is   did u hav a fish over there ??

[Wellzy94]

Unfortunately mate, I didn't get a chance!

[silverbike]

thats awesome stuff, great stuff that you finished better than expected.

love the cerebus jersey