Halloween Tagging

If there's one thing that my laser tagging group, the OLCA, doesn't do much of, it's themed games.  Role Playing doesn't find it's way into our games much since we usually just try to play the game and have fun with it.  I have a few friends who are into LARP (Live Action Role Play) who have approached me about doing themed games, and while the concept is neat, I've yet to really try it out for fear that it wouldn't fly well with some of our players who just come out to enjoy the game.  I think at some point I might actually try a LARP game, but so far we've yet to do one.  The Middle Georgia League (MGL) has been known for their LARP games, especially their themed Halloween and Christmas games, but they're not very public about it.

The closest we have come have been a few Halloween games that have occurred in recent years.  As an active student at my University, I've been approached by several student groups to lead laser tag games on campus that have been a BLAST to organize and play.  Some of those games are for parties, like for Halloween, and the clash of Costumes and Combat was really fun for me to be a part of.  Last year, for instance, I used some of my tactical gear, put some "GI Joe" patches on my rig, and went as GI Joe.  It was pretty fun and, with Halloween around the corner again, I couldn't help but think what I could do to step up from last year.

Several of my friends are into costuming.  You may have seen some shots of our resident Stormtrooper playing laser tag with us in our park or caught a glimpse of a guy wearing a Bandanna a la Snake from the Metal Gear series.  So this year, I'm holding a Halloween Laser Tagging event for the OLCA with costumes required and I'm working up something that I think will be a big hit:  Captain America.  It's been fun to start work on this costume trying to track down parts to use to replicate his geddup as closely as possible.  I may even try to use left over parts from my M41A Pulse Rifle, which is based off of a Thomson M1A1 Airsoft gun, to build a quick laser tag Thompson (a WWII era machinegun that was even seen used in the film).  Not sure if I'll go with a shield when I play laser tag in costume, but I think it's probably a good idea to have the iconic shield if I'm going as Captain America.  Especially since I'm thinking of doing away with the helmet/mask.

I'm excited just to get the costume itself together, let alone to play games in it.  I'm hosting a game with the University's Choir for their annual Halloween Party on Saturday, October 29th and then holding the OLCA's Halloween Laser Tag Game the following Sunday.  Not to mention, using the costume on Halloween itself when I have two gigs in the local music scene here in town.  I'll post pictures when it's done, with appropriate laser tag blasters to go with it too!