The air is buzzing with anticipation.
Each shallow breath seems louder than the blood pumping in your ears.
The arena is a dark labyrinth, brightened only by blinking lights, and the light from packs and phasors bouncing off fluorescent graffiti splashed across the walls.
Footsteps are masked by the type of music you’d expect to hear at a rave, not a battlefield.
In this world, time slows down, as everything speeds up.
It only takes a second and a base is taken, a player deactivated, the game is over.
Step into the arena of the Zone Laser Tag Australasian Competition (ZLTAC), where every moment counts.
For many, laser tag is a school holiday or birthday party pastime. It’s fun, chaotic and usually a way to tire out the kids before bed.
But for competitors like Broderick ‘Packing’ Petty, it’s a demanding sport that requires teamwork, strategy and laser focus.
“The difference is crazy if competitive players play social. It’s brutal,” Mr Petty said.
“Most sites ban competitive players from playing with (the) public.”
Known in the Laser Tag world as ‘Packing’, Mr Petty picked up a phasor nine years ago and hasn’t put it down since.
After injuring his knee, which left him unable to play contact sports, he found himself invited into the competitive side of laser tag.
Now a father of four, ZLTAC 2025 meant an opportunity to double up on a fun family holiday, with a few additions in the form of his teammates.
“It is difficult to balance between the two [family and teammates] but I went on my own the first year and honestly it is a bit more of boys club which I enjoy,” Mr Petty said.
“But when you have a family, two weeks is a long time [to be away].”
Originally held in Winter until 2010, then each March until COVID disruptions, ZLTAC draws players from across Australia and New Zealand to battle it out for the top spot.
One player, Peter ‘Master Guardian’ Maskell has been playing laser tag for 35 years. He has participated in all but one Championship since the first tournament in 1999. He has no plans to retire any time soon.
“I hold the record for playing the most Nationals and have seen a massive difference in how the game is played, run, refed, coordinated and recognised,” Mr Maskell said.
“I could spend hours explaining the leaps and bounds this tournament has come. It’s been amazing to witness this from the start!”
From its first year of seven teams, the tournament reached its peak participation of 37 teams in 2018, when it was held for the first time in Albury.
Since COVID, ZLTAC continues to rebuild its numbers, with the next Championship set to be held in Auckland, New Zealand early next year.
There are rules and guidelines surrounding who can and cannot participate, with each host location having more team slots available for their home teams, which can account for fluctuating participation.
Time of year and distance to travel are also important factors that players need to consider before being able to commit to the competition.
Source: Zone Laser Tag Australasian Championship
Each year the venue changes, forcing competitors to travel across the country, or even across the Tasman Sea, and adapt to unfamiliar arenas.
The 2025 event was hosted on the Sunshine Coast where competitors faced nine days of brutal competition.
Complete with an opening and closing ceremony, ZLTAC is not only a place for players to show off their skills, but it is also a place for community and light-hearted fun between rounds.
This year, the resident old man of the tournament, Master Guardian, was presented with the ‘Wooden Spoon’ award for his team (Absolute Debacle), which finished at the bottom of the competition ladder.
Legend: Broderick “Packing” Petty – plays for Outlaws (Brown), Peter “Master Guardian” Maskell – plays for Absolute Debacle (Green), Lachlan “Spyder” Whittington – plays for Rampage (Blue)
Source: Basedump
The event features a variety of formats including team events, solos, doubles, triples, and divisions for masters, women, and juniors. There is also a Lord of the Rings style event aimed at warming the body up and increasing accuracy.
Each division is governed by a strict set of rules to ensure safety and fairness, regulated by a qualified team of officials.
In contrast to the typical chaos of social games, competitive tag is diligently supervised and regulated.
The official competition rulebook covers everything from how players are allowed to hold their phasers to how they are to move through the arena.
Source: ZLTAC Official Competition Rulebook
Depending on what format is being played, matches will either be overseen by an event coordinator (any side event) or a tournament coordinator, as well as a team of qualified referees.
Any broken rules earn penalties referred to as a ‘term’ and depending on the severity can impact the outcome of the match.
Illawarra resident, Lachlan “Spyder” Whittington finished the Championship with the highest individual player rating, and for the last three years has acted in an official capacity as a master referee.
Master referee is the title given to players with a high understanding of the rulebook, and who volunteers to train new players to understand the rules and referee games throughout the competition.
“We are just looking out for issues that would slow down or affect the competition,” Mr Whittington said.
“It is a very fast game with lots of moving parts, so as a referee you can only do and see so much.
“I deal with cheating continuously, it’s the reality of an underground sport.
“A lot of the time it is by accident, rarely do you find someone who cheats on purpose for an advantage.”
The penalty system is like that of soccer, with level one penalties being a warning and level two being termination.
The most common penalties are handed out for player collisions or for people covering their sensors (pack blocking).
Source: ZLTAC Tech Team
The fun side of laser tag might give way to white line fever when the packs are on, but the childlike sense of fun with team mates follows in these players footsteps, like the comfort of the shadowy arena and the overwhelming sense of camaraderie that the event attracts.