Laser tag

We had a childhood flashback yesterday when a group of 15 technically grownup adults played laser tag for a friend's birthday party. Laser Force, Laser Tag, Laser Strike - call it what you will. There is something hugely appealing about having juvenile fun running walking madly (no running allowed - you'll be warned then deactivated!) around a 400 m² maze shooting coloured targets. Add flashy lights, loud music and kick-ass names like Gravity, Infinity, Enigma and Predator and you've suddenly got the makings of a winner-takes-all competition where friends become foes in an instant. So much fun!

Each 10 minute round flies by and before you know it everybody's back outside, puffing a bit and asking big questions such as, "Who's Gladiator at the top?" and "How did Rogue get me so many times?" as the scoreboard is dutifully checked. Then it's back in to home base to start all over again.

Just in case you're worried about the retro-geeky images laser tag conjures up, just remember that if it is cool enough for Barney Stintson then it's cool enough for us all. But a word of advice: skip the Timeout section while you're waiting. It's little more than a crammed collection of poorly maintained arcade games that swallow game tokens, accompanied by a single-sided air hockey table and some random shoot-em-ups with poor graphics ... but trust me when I say that laser tag is still as awesome as it was when we were kids.

Why don't we do this every weekend, or at least for every birthday?