If you’ve come across people prancing through Fadden Pines in Tuggeranong armed with guns – and yes, grenades too – don’t panic: it’s just Canberra’s first outdoor laser-tag venue.

Previously, if you wanted to don colourful vests and shoot your colleagues or friends with friendly laser-based fire, you had to do it indoors.

But now, First Strike Laser Tag offers the choice between coming to you – your workplace, wedding venue, or home – or playing in a fenced-off section of Fadden Pines in Tuggeranong, leased from the ACT Government for the purpose.

The company was founded by two Canberra guys, Jon Yagos and Simon Heery, who were put in touch with each other by the same Ukrainian supplier they were buying laser weapons from – and the rest is history.

Because good journalism requires doing hard yards and being on the ground in the thick of action, etc., we had to give it a go.

First Strike Laser Tag founders Jon Yagos and Simon Heery. Photo: First Strike Laser Tag.

First Strike runs two sessions every second Saturday at Fadden Pines, and takes bookings to come to you at other times.

So, over about an hour around midday, we trialled three games, ranging from “shoot as many of your colleagues as many times as you can” to a more strategic game with several tactics going on at once, such as capturing enemy bases while also preventing said enemies from shooting a main target in the middle of the field.

To make matters more complicated, you could also throw ‘grenades’ that would ‘hit’ within a 10-metre radius – and yes, that does include yourself if you don’t move fast enough (trust us).

You can read all about First Strike Laser Tag, and how it came about, in a previous story.

For now, here’s how it went for us:

Visit First Strike Laser Tag for more information.