Laser Quest Party

As you guys might know if you actually read my blog or check out my social media posts, Nini and I threw a laser quest party at Tag Team Inc for our boyfriends for their birthday recently. We had a lot of fun, mainly because of the company, not really about the game, we wished the fun was longer and that someone had told us what to expect during the party. While it was a really interesting idea for a party, I thought a post on how to improve on it would help some of you if you are planning to throw a laser quest party for your loved ones. This post also includes a review on Tag Team Inc.

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GUIDE TO THROWING A LASER QUEST PARTY 101.

WHAT IS A LASER QUEST PARTY?

Wait! Do you not even watch 'How I Met Your Mother' or whattttttt?

It's the game that Barney Stinson likes to play so much.

Laser quest is something like paintball, excluding the bruises after the game. It uses infrared guns and vest and the whole purpose of the game is to carefully eliminate your rivals by shooting at them and avoid getting shot. Lives are usually unlimited, except that the less times you lose, the more points you get.

The guns and vest you might be using.

It is usually played in a dark room like the one you see above, but there are some laser quest venues that are located outdoors and are played in the day like this one :

WHEN SHOULD I THROW A LASER QUEST PARTY?

Erm. Anytime you like? But also, maybe you can be like me and throw it on special occasions like birthdays, team bonding, company day or a bachelor/ette party? The possibilities are endless. You can also throw a laser quest party as and when you like it, just make sure you have the money to pay for it. Heh.

WHY THROW A LASER QUEST PARTY?

1) It is a perfect icebreaker between your different group of friends.

2) Because hotel room party is common and boring and almost everyone you know seem to have had it once in their lifetime before.

3) Hotel room party gets messy and some guests will feel neglected. The birthday baby will have to run around to different part of the room trying to strike a conversation with every group, and also because sometimes not all of our friends are friends with each other, so it gets weird when there is no icebreaker.

4) Also, because why not?

WHO CAN PLAY LASER QUEST?

Usually, I use the term loosely here, try to get your participants be of age 7 and above. Most laser quest places will not allow you to run around, so you do not necessarily have to be physically fit to play this game. You can be pregnant and still shoot the lives out of somebody so yeah. Your father? Bring him! Your grandmother? Drag her!

WHERE CAN I HAVE A LASER QUEST PARTY?

Did you know that you can choose to have an indoor OR and outdoor laser quest party? You know how sometimes you have visited every indoor laser quest and you know the place inside out and could manoeuvre out of it even with your eyes closed, so you want another challenge? There are very limited places in Singapore at the moment that offers indoor laser quest, so you can also check out the outdoor laser quest venues, or if you have a venue in mind that you would like to bring the party to, just check it out with them! Here is a list:

Indoor :

1) HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok

2) LaserOps

3) Tag Team Inc

Outdoor and/or Mobile :

1) Combat Skirmish Singapore

2) Adrenaline Laser Tag

3) Anergy Singapore

4) G Warfare

5) Battlestrike (opening in 2016)

As I have enquired a few companies for their party rates when I was booking for the party we had a few weeks ago, I thought I would share it with you guys what their rates are like and you may consider your options.

I was really just looking at indoor laser quest venues, as it was November and weather is usually wet during this time of the year. But I did enquire on some outdoor/mobile laser quest companies for their prices and requirements so I am just going to list it all here for those that I know of.

HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok

 

LaserOps

 

TagTeam Inc

Combat Skirmish

After comparing the rates between the four, you would see that the cheapest is actually HomeTeam NS for the Party Package A at $335 for HTNS members/off peak, it is only $16.75/pax for 3 customised mission for 20 pax, 2 hours of party room usage WITHOUT exclusive use of the arena. 

If you choose their Party Package B, which is $575 for HTNS members/off peak, it is only $19.20/pax for 2 HOURS UNLIMITED mission (!!!) for 30 pax, 3 hours of party room usage AND exclusive use of the arena. The whole place belongs to you!! Plus they will also throw in a complimentary invitation cards and a mystery gift for the birthday baby!

HONESTLY SO DAMN WORTH IT.

The only drawback is that they are ALWAYS almost fully booked. So try to get your bookings early, like 6 months prior would be a good gauge.

If you still want a laser quest party, but could not get HomeTeamNS because they are fully booked, you may want to consider LaserOps.

They are on a much pricier side, but between LaserOps and TagTeam Inc, my best bet would be LaserOps. LaserOps is much more professional, in which you get to really experience a dark room with the lights, music and the works. Check out their video below :

Laser Ops provide the guns and vests like HomeTeamNS does with their basic package. It is $738 for 18 pax, which means it's about $41/pax. You get 3 missions per pax, exclusive gameplay in the arena, use of open party area for 2 hours, lockers, chillers to store the birthday cake, drinks for 18 pax, LaserOps souvenirs and a gift for the birthday baby! I know the price seems exorbitant compared to HomeTeamNS, but it is ways better than Tag Team Inc.

This is what Tag Team Inc's game play arena looked like :

This is at Tag Team Inc ECP Parkland.

And this is at Tag Team Inc Downtown East.

It is super mild and boring right? Plus if you book Tag Team Mystery Room (their dark room), it is $300 for 10 pax during their off peak period, which is about $30/pax, but you only get 4 missions to be played within 1 hour, and their 1 mission is only about 7 minutes or so? You pay that amount for that plus the use of their party table for 2 hours, exclusive use of their very small and uninteresting arena and souvenir for birthday babies (that we do not get actually but we could not be bothered to ask, because if it is a souvenir, it should be given without being asked, no?)

I am going to rant about TagTeamInc. If you dislike my rants but want to continue reading, just scroll until [End of Rant].

[START OF RANT]

TagTeam Inc don't have the full gear like the vest, cool guns or a big cool room like HomeTeamNS or LaserOps does, but beggars can't be choosers so we settled for them. Honestly though, I will never come back to TagTeamInc for laser quest or even anything. While their staff during our mission was superb, their backroom staff was less sophisticated. Even their receptionist gave us a black face when we came in. Zzz. Email replies were constant between me and them UNTIL I have made the payment, in which they did not reply or acknowledge receipt of payment or to confirm the party until 1 day before. While I admit that the booking I made was a little last minute, but their email did state that they will reply to all emails within 24 hours, and I did wait for 24 hours before I started calling their landline.

Even through calling, they did not pick up the phone. Tried their alternative number and I got rejected.

So I decided to drop them a whatsapp text instead, in which they took a few hours to reply me. I just wanted to confirm that they received the payment because it was quite a sum and with so many scams around, I just wanted to be sure the money was transferred to them safely. But they could not even acknowledge the payment within 24 hours. How like that.....

If I ever do plan another laser quest party, I am gonna make sure it will be at HomeTeamNS. I do not care if it will take me 6 months prior to book it, I will choose HomeTeamNS, if not at least Laser Ops instead. NEVERRRRR COMING BACK TO TAG TEAM INC URGHS.

[END OF RANT]

In conclusion, if you would like to throw a laser tag party, I highly recommend you to get the HomeTeamNS Party Package B! And if you can't, spend a little bit more on LaserOps to get a fantastic party instead of paying less for disappointment. Go book HTNS early to avoid disappointment!

Note : No, while I know it may sound like a paid post, this is not. I am not being paid to post about any of the companies mentioned in this post. It was all by research and a little bit of googling here and there plus a little bit of personal experience. All images are from Google Search.

Hidayat's 24th Birthday Celebration

Last year, for Yat's birthday, who also happen to have his birthday on the same date as his best friend, Syahmir, me and Nini threw a small birthday celebration at HomeTeamNS Sembawang Chalet for them. You can check out the gist of it in Dan's video here :

Separately, I booked a room at Marina Bay Sands Hotel for Yat a few days after his birthday as he had never been there before and he mentioned to me that he would like to try the infinity pool one day. So I granted him his wish. (There was no birthday post on my blog for Yat last year because I went MIA on my blog and only started writing again this year heh.)

Except that he had to solve a crossword puzzle to actually get there where I was waiting for him.

He did quite a good job on last year's crossword puzzle that I actually thought this would be a good tradition for the rest of his birthdays for years to come.

This year, as no one else from Triple Threat was free on the 12/11 for their actual birthday, I thought we could just spend the day just the both of us and celebrate with them the day after.

I actually started planning for Yat's birthday 6 months before, but nearer to the date, the initial plan was scraped and I had a new plan instead 2 months before his birthday. There were some changes in my plan and what made it worse was that I was scheduled to work on both 12 and 13 November and that I was not able to get someone else to cover me. I was doing part-time in a gym and the working hours was only 11-2pm, but it did push some of my plans back a little and I had to make a lot of changes to accomodate my working schedule to the birthday plan.

11 November 2015 - Pre-Birthday

So anyway, the day before Yat's birthday, we went out to the gym in the evening and bought a take out for dinner to eat at Changi Beach. We left the beach about 11pm to make way to my place but an accident happened to someone right in front of our eyes, so we stopped to help for awhile. Yat technically started his birthday at an accident scene and it sort of dampened the atmosphere for a bit. 

Got back to my place about 20 minutes after midnight and I told him to wait under my block as I wanted to pass him a birthday card.

Brought down his birthday card, along with a slice of his favourite mango strawberry cake. It was supposed to be at midnight but yeah hahaha.

He got the same cake last year, except that this year it was only a slice because both of us need to watch our weight HAHAHAHAHA.

Also, he got another crossword puzzle to solve.

He needed to solve the crossword by that night because it contains all the instructions he need to follow the next day. Things on what to wear, what to bring, where to go and how to go were all in that puzzle so he had to answer them correctly. This year's puzzle was a little harder than last year's and he needed way more help. HAHAHA.

He managed to solve them eventually after a lot of clues from me and he went home.

12 November 2015 - The Birthday

The instructions stated that he had to be at Vivocity, at a certain location by 2.30pm. And because we are talking about Hidayat, he turned up late. At this point, he still had no idea where we are going or what we are doing. He knew it will involve something wet because I told him to bring his board short and he thought we were going to WaveHouse - erm, no?

Upon reaching, he need to complete a word search puzzle this time round.

Busy completing the word search and guessing where we are going.

After completing the word search, his guess was the S.E.A Aquarium. I told him that he was right, and to guess what we are doing there to which he came up empty.

I told him that we were going to Dive with The Sharks, and his face lit up.

You can read about our Dive with The Sharks experience HERE. 

After the dive, we took the Sentosa Bus to Beach Station and took the Sentosa Express train back to Vivocity where I parked the bike. The plan was for me to ride the bike while Yat become the pillion, but I asked him if he was more comfortable riding or being a pillion and he chose to ride while I gave him the directions.

He was laughing out loud when we reached because he kind of guessed it when I asked him about Studio M the other day. I actually booked the Studio Loft at Studio M but received a complimentary upgrade to Premier Loft upon checking in. Hehe. Exceptional service from the front desk team, definitely. 

Reached the room and he plopped on the bed until it was time to get ready for dinner at Royz et Vouz Specialty Coffee.

The food was pretty good. Yat had the Smoked Duck while I had the Prawn & Crayfish Pasta. We had the buffalo wings for appetisers and we walked out of there stuffed and happy. The price was reasonable too for the portion and ambience so no one is complaining.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and there was another cake waiting for Yat in the room. This time, it was his number 1 favourite cake - strawberry shortcake - and it was really good because Yat finished both two slices on his own. *glares*

After stuffing cake into his face, we watched TV and fell asleep because I have work in the morning the next day.

13 November 2015 - Post-Birthday

Yat sent me to work and headed home to unpack and went for his Friday prayers before fetching me from work and heading straight to Carlton Hotel for a couple spa appointment. I booked a 1 hour massage for two pax. TIP: check out what kind of membership you or your partner have, then check out what you guys get to redeem during your birthday month. You will be surprised at the kind of offers available for birthday babies on your birthday month!

We got a complimentary upgrade to a couple room. Also, this is by far THE BEST spa experience the both of us ever had. From the start till the end, it was such a good service by the LifeSpa team that I am even thinking of booking a massage for my mum there one day.

After the massage, we were supposed find a birthday present for Syahmir before we head to East Coast Park. However, some unforeseen circumstances happened, and we need to make a detour back to my place to pick something up before heading to East Coast.

This year, for the combined celebration between the two boys, Nini and I thought of doing something different as this time, Nini and Dan has started working full-time and it is harder to plan a day out for all six of us. So when we knew Dan was in town on Friday, 13th November but have to leave Singapore very early the next day, we chose to do a day event instead of an overnight party. 

Initially, Nini and I was thinking of making a McDonald's Birthday Party but the only timing available for our choice of venue was at 3pm and it did not suit our itinerary. We needed something preferably in the evening... so we chose to do a laser quest party. We wanted to book the one at HomeTeamNS at Bukit Batok, but they were fully booked, so our last choice was Tag Team Inc at East Coast Park instead of LaserOps at Dhoby Ghaut because we were a little tight on budget hahahahaha.

When we reached East Coast, Yat was blindfolded before I led him to the spot where his friends will be waiting for him. But I needed to liaise with Nini on this as she will be dragging Syahmir to the same spot too at the same time. 

I think we can all agree when I say that Nini and I need to work on our surprises. Hahaha. We dragged the boys and asked them to open their blindfold and we went like "surprise!" lol. HAHAHAHAHAH. Technically it was not even a surprise. The boys KNEW they will be meeting each other and that there WILL be a surprise. Pfft.

All the more reason why Nini and I shouldn't make anymore surprises for the both of them for next year, or the year after..........

Anyway, we reached about 5.30. Nini and I booked the party slot from 5-7pm, and our game was at 5-6pm, while we can use the party tables from 5-7pm. We were left with only 30 minutes to complete our 4 missions.

We entered the game room about 5.40pm and had a short briefing on how to use the gun and we played 4 missions until we sweat like crazy and was out of the room by 6.05pm. So one mission is roughly about 5 minutes I guess?

Note : I have so many things I want to rant about our experience at Tag Team Inc, but I shall keep that for another post because this is supposed to be a happy post for memories sake so I shall zip it hahaha.

After our time was up in the game room, we headed back to our table to eat the food that Nini and I brought from home. Took a whole lot of photos but because of the low light and because Syahmir was moving wayyyyy too much, most of the pictures turned out blur. But here are some of the good ones!

After we were done with eating and taking nonsensical photos, it was already 7.30pm or so. Initial plan was to go get the boys try the GMAX at Clarke Quay but because Syahmir was shy of heights, we decided to head over to Playnation for 2 hours of board and card games till 10pm. I know it sounded really boring, but I am telling you that this was one of the times that I actually laughed until my stomach hurts.

I could even feel my abs growing. HAHAHAH.

It was such a good day out with my man, and I am so glad that he chose to spend it with me, his best friend and a few of his friends that mattered to him. To Shanis and Dan, thank you for helping us. To my sister, thank you for being awesome and running errands for me. To my mum, thank you for cooking up a feast for the 10 of us. To Farhan, Saddam, Mike, Hassan- thank you guys for coming and making up the numbers hahahaha. It was a great night!

Happy 24th Birthday, Hidayat and Syahmir! 

I hope you guys enjoyed yourself during the celebration and that you guys liked what Nini and I planned for you two. HAHAHA. I wish that you guys will grow up soon. Heh. Also, all the best in life and in everything that you guys choose to do. May you achieve all your goals in life, be contented with what life has to offer and be a better partner for me and Nini. Amin.

p.s We are not doing anymore surprises for you guys next year. It's just gonna be dinner and cake with Triple Threat because you guys will be expecting a surprise, and that is not going to be a surprise anymore. :)