What Makes a Laser Tag Field?

A nice thing about Steradian laser tag, is you can play about anywhere. Indoors or outdoors, concrete basketball court, a hundred acres of woods.

Before we talk about what type of field to use, here are a few thing common to all fields.

The first thing you need when setting up a laser tag field is permission to use the land. Thankfully, since laser tag is harmless, and leaves no residue or waste, getting permission is more achievable.

If you are using public land, make sure to phone the local police a few hours ahead of game time, and let them know you are holding an event. They appreciate this, and it greatly reduces the chance for hassles.

You need to carry insurance in case somebody trips and falls. Many public places will require proof of insurance before they let you play there.

Whether you own the land or just borrow it, there are many things you can do to create a fantastic field.

Example Fields

LaserBlitz or SpeedballField

This type of field has multiple names. In laser tag it is called a LaserBlitz field, in paintball it is called a speedball field. The best way to implement this format is to become an offical LaserBlitz field.

This is a barrier game, which can be played on small to medium fields, and is the main format for indoor play. A full-length basketball court is considered the minimum size. The barriers should be large enough to fully hide behind. Fold up plywood is great for mobile businesses. Set up as many barriers as seems appropriate for your area.

Teams are usually 5 people per team, 2 teams. The goal is either team elimination or capture the flag.

Team strategy usually involves a leapfrog approach across the field to get into a wide-angle shooting position. The other team should have nowhere left to hide.
Time limits are usually imposed, 5 minutes is typical.

Medium Forest Field

This field is a small area of forest, typically a few acres. The example field shown here is about 5 acres, and is one of the home fields for the Lafayette Lazers, also part of the large field used to host Tagcon 2003.

One major advantage of a forested field, is you don't need to build any barriers. You instead use the natural barriers already there.

Look at the field below. This is a rough overhead map of the playing area. The olive colored area is out of bounds, mainly cornfield. The dark green is in-bounds. The dark blue line is a creek, just a foot or two deep in the summer. The light green lines are paths suitable for running on. The darkened area is an dry creekbed, now only sand. The red dot is the starting point and dead zone for the Red team, and the blue dot is for the Blue team.

Forest Play Style

Forest play is quite different from close range barrier play found in LaserBlitz style games. One major advantage is the ability to conduct large strategic plays out of the sight of your enemy. Rest assured that your opponents are doing the same. Since you are using trees and underbrush for cover, it is possible to see someone from far distances, but almost impossible to track him if he moves. So how do you play? Teamwork.

It is recommended that most players have radios. Inexpensive FRS radios (USA) provide reliable comunication between teammates on this size of field, and offer countless strategic possiblites. (Many people ask about the other team listening in. Let them! Because while they are listening to the other team, they are not listening to their own team, and will often miss a vital bit of imformation.)

Typical Game

The best way to show this style of play is to walk through a sample game.
2 teams of 5. Game is started via radio.
"Red team ready."
"Blue team ready."
"Game start, confirmed?"
"Confirmed!"

At this point both teams are running towards the middle ground, the black bar on the map. Blue team gets there first, stops, set themselves, and looks for the Red team. The Red team is still jogging up when several of them take hits from the better prepared Blue team. Red scatters, most of their plans are put on hold until they can locate the hiding Blue team. Blue has the advantage, and they are going to use it. While three players hold the center and lay cover fire over the whole Red team, the two other Blue players break up wide right and left. The right flank player gets shots in on Red from a new angle, forcing them to bury themselves even deeper into cover.

But the Blue left flank player has made it to the creek. In a brilliant move, he quietly slides down into the creek, now below where Red can see. He carefully walks his way up the creek, until he gets deep into Red territory. He now carefully climbs up the bank, and stays very still. He is now behind the Red team, and hopefully they don't know it. He can still hear the fighting at center field, and over the radio he has heard that one of his team has been tagged out. Now is his time to move.

Being stealthy and staying low to the ground, he finds a hiding place where he can see 3 of the Red team. He aquires the first one in his scope, and pulls off just one shot. The target hits the ground, still thinking it came from midfield. He proceeds to tag the second Red player, and finally lays into the 3rd player full blast. He calls over the radio for a full assult. After the ensuing mayhem, 2 Blue and 1 Red players are left.

The Red player runs full speed until he gets out of sight. The two blue players co-ordinate their attack approach.

The Red player's heart is beating hard, his breath is ragged. He knows one of the Blue players only has 1 hit left. He orients himself to attack that player first. Trying to slow down his breathing and stop his shooting hand from shaking, he sees movement, pulls up his gun, sees a head pop out from behind a tree, and he fires. Yes! Got him! Tagged out!

Of course, the Red player never saw the other Blue player right behind him.

Blue wins the day!

Large Forest Field

20 acres and more, these are very similar to the medium fields, but the scale introduces a few new problems. 20 acres will play more than 25 people, up to 100. If you have fewer than 25 people, you should tape off a smaller part of the field. The equation works out to:
(number of players) x (terrain) = speed of game

If you have 100 players on 20 acres, the game will start out very fast. Because the player density is high, it is a very target rich environment. After only 5 minutes, you are down to 50 players. Now players have to work harder to find their targets. After 10 minutes you are down to 20 players. These remaining players, lets say 10 on each team, now reorganize and come up with good strategies. The play is more deliberate now, and many consider this to be the prime stage in the game. After another 15 minutes you are down to 1 person against 3. This last battle can easily take another hour to complete.

Therefore, you need a game timer to speed this up. If nothing changes by the end of the game, count up the total number of health points left on each team. The team with the most wins. Radios or an airhorn are the best way to signal end of game. If you use our Scenario Master software to control the game, you can have the guns automatically shut down after a selectable length of time, as well as tell you automatically who won.

And important thing with a field this size is to clearly mark all the trails, and provide a map to new players. When done right, it is too much fun!