Communication Basics
Competitive laser tag (in general) is a team sport. This means communication is essential to the game, even more so than other sports because there’s so much in a maze that we can’t see. Unfortunately for new players, this doesn’t come easy. But even a little communication will make you a much better player; a player who communicates even if constantly deactivated is much more helpful than a player who can hold their own some of the time but never communicates.
There are a lot of different kinds of communication in a game of laser tag, but as a beginner you should start off with just some basic calling and reacting.
Calling Location
The first kind of call you should practice is location. This is calling out where one or more of your opponents is. For experienced players, all common positions in a maze will have a name. You might pick up on some of them as you play with these players, but you shouldn’t worry about them for now. Instead, focus on standard locations – all bases have a front and back, and some have a mid (although this can all depend on where you play – see meme below). Calling “One at front!” lets your teammates know where their opponent is, and what door they may need to focus their defence on. Positions inside the base are also very important to learn (more so than outside). Common inside positions include under (directly under the base) and facing (directly facing the base). Calling these positions is often the difference between your opponent getting the base or not. If you call where they’re taking from (“Taking under!), your teammates don’t have to use valuable time trying to find your opponent.
Calling: “Double!”
Calling “Double!” is another very useful call for your team mates, and is one of the easiest to make. It lets your team mates know that your opponent has just been deactivated (so not to worry about that), but that you have been too (meaning they can’t rely on you at the moment). In Nexus systems, this is even more important because the active player has the advantage; if you’ve just doubled, then you don’t have the advantage anymore, and your team mates may need to prepare for you losing the double next time and your opponent attempting to take the base.
“Take too long and the call doesn’t apply anymore.”
Reacting to “Take!”
“Take!” is a common call from more experienced players trying to help you get the base. Is it a sure thing? Certainly not, but you should never let this get to you. You need to react quickly and start shooting the base immediately. (Most) Players making this call aren’t doing so willy-nilly. It will be based on their side being clear of active opponents, and they are also possibly active and ready to defend you. If you hesitate, all this can change and taking becomes a lot more risky; a deactivated player may become active and now has time to deny you where they didn’t before. Take too long, and the call doesn’t apply anymore. Remember that.
Reacting to “Taking!”
This is arguably one of the most important calls to both make and react to. Movement is a skill in itself, so beginners usually struggle when it comes to reacting to this call, but it is an important step to take to improve your game. When someone calls “Taking!”, this means someone is taking the base. On defence, there’s no chance for this to be a team mate, so it’s an easy choice to make – get in there and shoot! Listen out to any location calls too, as this might help you shoot in the right place. By doing this, you are stopping your opponent from getting a base so they have to keep trying (losing them and their team more time), losing them lots of points (500-1000 depending on the number of shots they made), as well as gaining for yourself a lovely 250 bonus points.
On attack, hopefully you’ve been listening enough to have an idea about who’s shooting the base, but often even then you don’t know. If you don’t know, you still shouldn’t hesitate – get in there – just don’t be trigger happy. Be prepared to spin and defend if it’s your team mate (or more than likely, walk out deactivated as your team mate shoots you reflexively.)
For now, just focus on those four things – calling location and doubles, and reacting to ‘take’ and ‘taking’ calls. As you develop these skills, you’ll naturally start to make and react to other calls too. Eventually you’ll start calling and reacting without even having to think about it.
If you think you’ve mastered these steps and are ready to advance your communication skills further, check out Comms 101, a comprehensive guide to communication.
