From novice to laser slinger: My afternoon at a Cape Cod-themed laser tag arena

HYANNIS — A group of excited boys, sisters and mothers entered the laser tag arena at Ryan’s Ten Pin Eatery awaiting their game. The boys blurted demands — “I really want it to be boys vs. girls!” — and began assembling their team, the three of them against everyone else.

As the teams, red and blue, were created, the boys' only demand was tarnished by an unequal ratio of players as I — a reporter crashing Roger Case’s birthday party for an assignment — and his sister, Kiley Case, donned blue-lit vests alongside the boys against the all-female red team.

A round of laser tag runs for $9 per person. Two rounds are $15 and from 4 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays, two hours of laser tag — around 8 games — is $16.95 per person. Each game can accommodate up to 24 players.

“We get a lot of requests for laser tag and there's a lot of people that play it,” Zack McCaul, director of operations at Ryan’s Family Amusements said about the Thursday evening deal. “We thought it was a good idea to have something to offer them where it could be an unlimited special.”

Takes only moments to get caught up in battle at Hyannis laser tag

An instruction video explaining how to put on the vests and the rules of the game rolled on as we prepared for our intense battle. I had high hopes going into the game. Being on a team with three revved-up boys and an older sister celebrating a birthday, I thought we had it won before we began.

I was mistaken.

After eight minutes of ruthless gameplay and running past buoys and a lighthouse in the Cape Cod-themed arena, the red team claimed victory. In the aftermath, the boys seemed to care less about the victor and more about when they could play again — and to be honest, I was right there with them.

In the span of a game, I went from a stranger to a full-fledged laser slinger. I had motives and targets — and became one myself — and found myself completely immersed in trying to win. It didn’t matter that I had known these people for only a few minutes before being placed in the arena, what mattered was my vest was blue and anyone whose vest was red, was out to get me.

Birthday boy finally tall enough for laser tag

As our group exited, another ecstatic birthday boy — Kieran Rodrigues, 8, and his party entered. Jillian Rodrigues, Kieran’s mother, said he wanted to play laser tag as he’s never been tall enough to but watches videos online about the game. This year, he finally reached the required height mark to play.

“It's really nice that they're offering a reasonable deal for a kid's birthday party,” she said. “Winter birthdays are so hard. We can't be outside or have space. So it's been nice to be able to find somewhere indoors that the kids can have a good time and act like children.”

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No matter how teams are chosen, family time is at core

For McCaul, the attraction of a trip to Ryan’s lies in the family aspect, especially now that winter is in full swing on Cape Cod.

“A lot of the places are seasonal, we're not,” he said. “It's great to have a place where families can go and play games, laser tag, (in) the arcade, virtual reality (and) can sit there and have a good meal with their family, too. You're there for a couple of hours at a time to spend some great quality time with your family, which is the most important thing to all of us.”

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Ryan's Ten Pin Eatery is located inside the Cape Cod Mall at 769 Iyannough Road in Hyannis. It is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Frankie Rowley covers entertainment and things to do. Contact her at frowley@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Laser tag: Perfect for birthday parties, winter days on Cape Cod