Team building. Two words that can mean anything from a quiet lunch to an activity that leaves you questioning your fitness, your strategy, and the loyalty of your colleagues. Our latest team building adventure took us to the British Naval prison building situated in Kordin, Paola, Malta. The plan was simple: play laser tag, work together, have fun.
Simple, right? Not quite.
What followed was two hours of running, hiding, climbing stairs, chasing opponents, getting shot, respawning, getting shot again, and occasionally finding yourself face-to-face with an opponent. In those moments, you had approximately half a second to decide who gets to pull the trigger first. Spoiler: it was usually them.
“Wait, HEY!”
Friendly competition has a funny way of bringing out people’s different personalities. At some point during the game, the battlefield became less about strategy and more about defending our honour.
A dramatic accusation of boundary-pushing. A moment of disbelief. A little frustration. And then, shortly afterwards: “Sorry”.
Honestly, the apology is more priceless than the call-out – it was much more sincere than our collective willingness to win the game. In fact, when the adrenaline kicks in, our inner champions definitely come out to play.
The 120-Minute Burn
For two hours, everyone was constantly moving up and down the stairs, running through corridors, changing positions, hiding behind doors, and chasing opponents. Additionally, we were trying not to become an easy target.
By the end, our structured team building had completely devolved into a high-stakes, laser-fuelled survival sprint. And somehow, despite the exhaustion, everyone kept going.
Strategy, Adrenaline and Six Very Long Minutes
Laser tag isn’t just about running around and blasting everything that moves. There is actual strategy involved. For example, you have to decide when to hunt, when to hide, when to stalk an opponent, and when to dig in and defend.
Then came the tower defence phase: six minutes – just six minutes.
Yet when you’re crouched, guarding a tower, trying not to get killed, and desperate to keep that light shining your team’s colour, six minutes becomes an eternity.
Every tiny sound makes you wonder if you’re about to be ambushed.
Every shadow looks suspicious.
You’re trying your best to stay hidden while simultaneously fighting the overwhelming urge to chase down the first opponent you spot.
And when you finally see someone? You shoot. Or, more accurately, you desperately try to tag them before they tag you, or steal your tower.
Sometimes you get them, sometimes they get you and sometimes you think you’ve successfully conquered the tower. But then, you glance back as you’re running away and realise an opponent has already flipped it back to their colour.
And then there are those moments where you end up staring at each other from point-blank range. Both reach the exact same realisation just a fraction of a second too late.
The Art of the Instant Respawn
One of the best parts of the day was the relentless pace of the game. The second you get shot, you didn’t have time to sit around and feel defeated. Instead, you were immediately to run back to your base, respawn and back in the action – diving straight into the next wave of chaos.
That frantic turnaround sparked the ultimate highlights of the morning: the shock of getting caught off guard, the sweet satisfaction of hunting down the person who just tagged you, the sudden panic of bumping face-to-face with an enemy, and the inevitable fits of laughter afterwards. It was beautifully competitive, but never took itself too seriously. Well, most of the time.
More Than Just a Game
The brilliance of the whole setup was how seamlessly it blended strategy, non-stop movement, and pure, chaotic fun. The best part? There was never a dull moment, and a role for everyone. Whether your style was hunting down the opposition, fiercely guarding a position, hiding out in the shadows, or simply trying to survive the next thirty seconds, you had a place.
Would We Do It Again?
Absolutely.
You can’t beat the rush of the chase, the ridiculous amount of accidental cardio, or the sheer panic of protecting a tower for what feels like an entire geological era. There is nothing quite like the sweet satisfaction of finally tagging the person who got you five minutes earlier. Furthermore, there is the collective hilarity when someone’s carefully planned strategy completely falls apart. In the end, the laughs were definitely our real victory.
