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Set phasers to stun

Frustrated from overwork? Marital woes getting you down? Shooting the place up at Lazertreks may help. PHOTO COURTESY OF LASERTREKS

Shooting at people with toy guns is fun, and the Taipei area offers no shortage of places where weekend warriors can engage in friendly battles. The problem is that most paintball and BB gun venues are in out-of-the-way places like Wulai (烏來). Motivating a group of people to make the trip can be a hassle, and bad weather can ruin everything.

Enter LazerTreks, a new laser tag arena inside K-Mall, the shopping and restaurant arcade that occupies the first several floors of a high-rise next to the Shinkong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) building. Located just outside the Taipei Main Station MRT's Exit No. 6, LaserTreks is easy to find and, since it's indoors, games are not affected by rain.

At LazerTreks, players score points by shooting opponents with hand-held "phasers," which send out infrared breams, and wear vests with infrared-sensitive targets, which register when a player has been "tagged," or hit. The phasers also emit a low-powered red laser that allows players to aim at their targets and adds to the game's sci-fi ambience. The vests vibrate when a player has been tagged and have embedded speakers that announce things like "good shot" or "game over."

Performance notes: LazerTreks is located inside K-Mall at 4F, 50 Zhongxiao W Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市忠孝西路一段50號4F). Business hours are Monday through Friday, from 1pm to 10pm, on Saturday from 11am to 10:30pm, and on Sunday from 11am to 9:30pm. For more information, call (02) 2388-6565 or visit www.lazertreks.com

The action takes place in a dark "arena," a 330m2 maze with pulsing techno music, fog machines and black lights. The space resembles a nightclub and was designed by a local graffiti artist. A computer tracks the action in real time and displays scores on a video monitor in a lounge outside the playing arena. A session lasts around 20 minutes — including setup, pre-game briefings and post-game roundups — and costs NT$250 per person, with discounts and package deals if you purchase more than one game. Actual playing time averages around nine minutes or so per game.

Director Jean-Marc Compain describes his business as "a mix between advanced paintball and a kind of online [first-person shooter] game," like Counterstrike. "The girls prefer this one to paintball, and the bad thing for the guys is that the girls are much more clever," he said. The game is easy to play but the software can be tweaked for hard-core enthusiasts with more complicated rules and elaborate scenarios like hostage rescues. It's good for getting children away from their computers, and LazerTreks offers package deals for corporate outings. While it might be satisfying to shoot your boss, be careful: after each game players get score sheets that detail who shot whom and how often.

I dragged a group of five, myself included, to LaserTreks for a test run on Tuesday. The first game was every man for himself. In the second game we divided into two teams and attacked our opponents and their home bases, panels with red targets that defended themselves with automated taggers.

Three LazerTreks employees joined in our games because we lacked a sufficient number of players. They were friendly and explained the rules in fluent English, but they were also superior competitors and could hit a moving person easily, even at long range.

One of the group noted that the price of NT$450 for two games that lasted around eight minutes each was a bit steep, but we had a lot of fun and got a good workout. The package deals seem more reasonable: For groups of eight or more, NT$699 per person gets four games, snacks and drinks. On weekdays, unlimited play is available for NT$800 per person. There are also student discounts and promotions like "Girlfriend's Day," when women get in free when their partners purchase a game.

Compain said the lasers used in this game are not harmful, unless you point one directly at someone's eye for 20 minutes. But the activity is not suitable for anyone wearing a pacemaker. Those with heart-related health problems should not participate, and people with asthma and epilepsy should advise staff of their conditions prior to their games.
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