‘‘A lot of laser tag places are just a random hodgepodge. Ours is purposefully built to be symmetrical. That way there’s no disadvantage,” Mueller said.
Teams and players can garner an advantage by attending multiple regional tournaments and racking up points. Points are gained by tagging opponents and opposing teams’ bases.
When Zack Barry, the 18-year-old Elkridge resident and world championship top player for three years, first tells people about his hobby, they normally say ‘‘Oh, that’s for little kids birthday parties,” he said.
‘‘They don’t really see the other level. It’s like comparing pee wee football to the NFL,” the high school football player said. ‘‘[It’s] more of a high-tech game of chess with cardio thrown in.”
Although running is prohibited in the game, players said it’s still physically taxing. They yell their locations to one another, dodge opponents’ guns and are constantly on guard for a six-minute game. During four hours on Sunday, players exited the arena drenched in sweat, and rested for six minutes until the next game.
Some of the competitors have been playing for years, like 33-year-old Dallas Pierce of Perry Hall, who has played for 20 years.
‘‘I grew up with the guys I played with,” he said. ‘‘Now our kids play together.”
Pierce left the area for 15 years while he was in the Army, and when he came back, laser tag helped him reconnect with his old friends.
‘‘This is what has kept us together this whole time,” he said. Now he and his teammates, The Professionals, hold practices throughout the week, like other competitive teams.
Ex-Marine Carl Breindel and his sister, Kelly, made the trip from Buffalo, NY for the tournament. They played on and off since 1988, but competed for five years.
Carl Breindel left the Marines because of back problems and said laser tag appeals to him because similar teamwork and coordination skills are needed for the game.
‘‘It’s a way for them to keep in touch with their training,” said Kelly Breindel, who was one of the few female competitors in the male-dominated game.
Players agreed that the competitive world of laser tag brings a diverse group of people together and creates a sense of community, like for teammates James Jackson, 35, of Mitchellville and Tim McGarvey, 34, of Columbia. Technology consultant McGarvey recruited Jackson, a physical education teacher at Patuxent Elementary School in Upper Marlboro, in 2005, and now the team gets together for practices and meals.
‘‘It’s a strange common interest but it brings a lot of people together,” Pierce’s fiancée and unofficial team manager, Sara Wheelbargei said. ‘‘The team basically became family.”
By the end of the two-day event, Pierce’s team, TBD, narrowly edged out Barry’s team, The Professionals. The next regional tournament will be held on March 1 and 2 in Richmond, Va.
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.
