Children’s birthday parties are the most confusing and exhausting tasks for parents because there are so many options to choose from, and parents feel confused about what to choose and what to let go of.
The birthday party’s theme is the crucial party which must be according to your kid’s liking. Now, if your kid is into sports, two ideas might spring in your head.
First, whether you should take your kids to Laser Quest, where they can play the game, have fun with their friends and enjoy a great time.
Related: Best Laser Tag Sets
Secondly, if your kids are a bit older, you might be thinking of taking them to paintball, which is also a great game but more suitable for a bit older kids because it allows them to get messy, and older kids can easily manage that. Laser tag gained immense popularity in the ’80s, and 90’s when kids developed an obsession with this game.
Children were seen everywhere scrambling to play laser tag games. However, airsoft has been around for a longer time, almost since the ’70s. Both these games are super fun to play, and most importantly, these are the most suitable outdoor games for kids of all ages.
One can’t say with utmost surety that one game is superior to the other or more thrilling than the other because both are fun games on their own.
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Paintball Vs Laser Tag
We cannot argue about which game is better than the other. It is a difficult question because both these games are enjoyable, and not only kids, teens, and adults too love to play these games. Likewise, both of these games have benefits as well as drawbacks.
Although playing laser tag games is excellent for kids, this game, however, can get boring as you grow older. Because in the case of indoor laser tag game, you and other players are confined in a small space where you all run, hide, tag each other and finish the game, which becomes boring after some time.
This is why most of the players consider getting their own laser tag set and play this game all by themselves. On the other hand, paintball is an equally thrilling game, but just like laser tag, it has some points you might not like.
So in the next section, we will talk about the pros and cons of both laser tag and paintball games.
Check Out: How to Win at Laser Tag
Pros and Cons of Laser Tag Game
Pros:
- It is not simple to summarise the pros and cons of a game. It all depends on your personal experience with the game, the team players, the equipment you use, and the place where you play the game. Laser tag game is played both indoors as well as outdoors. So depending on where you play this game, your opinion will be different about the nature of the game. If you have been playing laser tag at a gaming center, then you must have had an enjoyable experience.
- Laser tag game is all about fun, unlike airsoft or paintball, which are considered serious games. If you do not want to play a competitive game and have fun with friends or family, laser tag is a great option.
- Some people think the laser tag game is a costly sport, but that’s not true. If you buy your own laser tag set, it becomes very cheap, and you can have all the fun at a pretty low price. And even if you plan to visit Laser Quest to play laser tag, it will still cost you less than paintball because you do not need to replenish ammo for laser tag.
- Laser tag game is also an excellent option for kids. You can include kids, teens, and people from different age groups in your laser tag team and have all the fun you cannot have while playing paintball because of its slightly different rules.
- One of the best advantages of laser tag games is that they can be played indoors and outdoors. You are not restricted to recreating it at one spot. A laser tag arena can be organized anywhere, and if arranging an indoor arena feels like a hassle, you can always go for an outdoor arena.
Cons:
- Most of the time, people want to play a competitive game and do not stick with the fun and thrill. But laser tag game is a genuine camaraderie, an essential element in other outdoor games. So, this might not be an excellent option for everyone due to the lack of competitiveness in laser tag.
- The quality of laser tag guns has improved a lot over the years, and although these guns emit infrared lights, many players feel they get hit, but the guns do not register that. This aspect of laser tag is brushed off under the rug most of the time, but it can be frustrating at times.
Check Out: What to Wear to Play Laser Tag Game?
Pros and Cons of Paintball
Paintball has many great qualities, and as a source of fun and great physical activity, it teaches players a lot. Firstly, it teaches the players to trust each other and promotes teamwork. It also compels the players to stick together with their teammates or lose the game.
If you aim to be good at paintball, you need to work hard and learn all its strategies and tactics, but it is still not easy because sometimes you play with much better people than you. After all, they have been playing for a long time. This further motivates you to get better at paintball.
The pro ones at paintball run around and pounce on each other while aiming and trying to win, and when they win the game, they brag about it to others and how good they are.
But some players try to sneak away from their team members and plan to win the game themselves, which is a highly unfair practice. So here are some of the pros and cons of paintball.
Pros:
- Paintball gives you a 100% surety when you have hit your opponent. It does not let you get confused or doubt, unlike laser tag, in which often the target misses the vest’s sensor and hit goes to waste. Hits are also difficult to notice in certain types of laser tag games, so it depends on the kind of game you are playing. But in the case of paintball, you are never in doubt whether you hit the opponent or not.
- Another advantage of a paintball game is that, in general, it feels much more realistic than a laser tag game. Because when you are firing laser tag guns, it does not feel as realistic as when you are playing a paintball game.
- If you are into tactical games that require a bit of strategy and competition, then paintball is a great option. Paintball game requires you to work in teams and boost team spirit amongst players to ensure your survival and that of your teammates. But this is not the case in laser tag games.
- The paintball game can be extended for over a day, but the laser tag game finishes off quickly. Most laser tag games have fixed timings, some can last for 15 or 20 minutes, and some take a bit longer. The fun is over in no time in laser tag, but paintball is the opposite.
Cons:
- Paintball is a costly game, especially if you play it at a paintball center, then it charges more than a regular outdoor paintball game. To avoid this problem, you can also get a paintball gun for beginners, costing you less than it does in playing centers. It will also lower your rental costs, but the ammo is still expensive.
- Paintball does not hurt a lot, but one drawback of this game is that it hurts a little when the paintball hits you. This is exceptionally negligible for adults, but in the case of younger children and kids, the pain is not so insignificant.
Check Out: Do Dave and Busters have Laser Tag Games?
Bottom Line:
There is hardly any similarity between Paintball vs Laser Tag when we compare both. But a few noticeable differences are that laser tag is more suitable for younger kids or players who are not into competitive games.
Still, paintball, on the other hand, is a very competitive game and suits serious players more. Paintball also requires more exercise before entering the game arena than laser tag, and it is also played outside in the terrain. All the prerequisites require more stealth.
So if you have young kids aged 9-10, you should base the birthday party on a laser tag theme. Invite their friends over so all the kids can have lots of fun playing this thrilling and exciting game.
But if you have an older child in teens, paintball will suit them more because their friends will also prefer a similar kind of competitive and hectic game. Hopefully, this article will clear your confusion in both laser tag and paintball.
Thank you for reading!