SU Presents AUC’s First Laser Tag Tournament

By: Nesrien Abdelkader 

@NesrienAshraf 

Team Helsinki dominated the competition to win the 5000 EGP prize at the SU Events committee’s first ever ‘Laser Heist’ tournament in the gardens from November 3 until November 7.

The winning team, named after the city Helsinki, was comprised of students Aser Elshazly, Ahmed Gadallah, Mohamed Ashraf and Youssef Abdelkader. They beat out 63 other teams in rounds of laser tag battles. 

The theme of the event was based off of “La Casa de Papel,” also known as Money Heist, a popular Spanish Netflix series. It follows a group of criminals nicknamed after famous cities who break into The Royal Mint of Spain and attempt to print billions of Euros while taking hostages and facing off with police. 

SU General Manager Mohamed El-Araby said they were trying to reach students through the theme as it is a very popular show. 

“It’s very fashionable these days and the next season is coming out soon. People can relate and they love the series,” he said.

He added that the event has successfully gathered a large amount of interest from different students. 

“There were supposed to be two days of sign ups. The first day we collected all of the 64 teams within the first 20 minutes. We didn’t even have sign ups the next day, ” El- Araby said. 

He also mentioned that this is the first laser tag tournament to happen on campus and that the SU previously hosted a successful paintball tournament but decided to go with laser tag this year to ensure students’ safety. 

“It’s very fun, its free for all people to play and each day the game is modified. There are rounds with an elimination mode where you get eliminated once you’re hit and the team continues without you, capture the flag or domination,” he said. 

Haya Hossam, SU Events Planning and Entertainment co-head, explained that there were five different rounds starting on November 3 with the finals taking place during assembly hour on November 7.  

“The ‘Money Heist’ theme was relatable to the game. They use guns and steal money [in the show] so we tried to merge that with the laser tag game and had students act as if they were doing the same,” she said. 

She mentioned that the cash prize was another incentive used by the SU that helped them gain so many participants. 

Fans of “La Casa de Papel” jumped at the chance to reenact the onscreen events right here on campus. 

Construction Engineering sophomore Sumeya Mahat signed up for the tournament with her friends for fun and was happy to recognize the theme as one of her favorite shows.

“I like adventure and engaging activities. It sounded relatable and current so it interested me,” Mahat said. 

However students who had not watched the show were also still drawn to the event and ended up enjoying it too. 

Abdelrahman Hassan, a construction engineering junior, said that he didn’t know anything about the show until the competition but he will definitely look it up now.  

“I would definitely participate again but I wish they had better equipment and a bigger field for us to run on,” he said. 

Besides the laser tag tournament, the SU also provided students with different inflatable activities including a maze game to compete in. The maze challenged teams of students to race to find a key, unlock their team’s box and steal the money inside faster than their opponents could and it was also an opportunity for extra points during one of the rounds. 

The SU is still planning on hosting three or four more events later on in the semester besides tournaments. They are also considering holding another Quidditch tournament in the future after the positive reactions from students to the first one.