MUSKEGON — Expect the unexpected with this year’s Summer Celebration Fourth of July fireworks.

A new company, American Fireworks of Ohio, is doing them and the company has its own term for what will be lighting up the sky (and Muskegon Lake) — a pyro-musical.

“It’s something that will be really amazing,” said Brian Teeling, lead pyro-technician for Muskegon’s show. “People will go away with their jaws dropping. They’ll go away saying they can’t wait to see it again next year.”

The fireworks will begin after the final of tonight’s three musical acts, which typically is about 10:20 p.m. The concerts begin at 6 p.m. with Jimmy Buffett tribute band Live Bait and will be followed by Kalamazoo’s Matt Giraud of “American Idol” jazz fame. Tribute band Echoes of Pink Floyd takes the stage at 9 p.m. for a concert and laser-light show.

Concert-goers will get to see all the concerts and the fireworks for $20 from the Heritage Landing venue. However, those wanting to view the fireworks only from inside the concert grounds also must pay the $20.

Roberto Sorgi, owner of American Fireworks, said the 28-minute show will be choreographed to 30 songs, including tunes from Beyonce, Jimmy Buffett, Kiss and ZZ Top.

The fireworks will be launched from a barge in Muskegon Lake.

“It will feature products never seen before in Muskegon, such as 3-D effects, which will be neat,” Sorgi said. “We will always have something going on, from water to sky.”

This includes a shell that explodes in the water. “There’s a product that shoots into the water and burns on the water,” Teeling said.

That might sound dangerous, but Teeling said it isn’t.

“A computer fires the entire show,” he said. “Nobody is near the product the entire show. … This is as state-of-the-art as you can possibly get with fireworks.”

There’s also a safety perimeter of about 800 feet around the barge where no boats are permitted.

In addition, it’s not something you throw together in a couple of days.

“We’ve spent over a week on the Muskegon show — a week for 28 minutes,” Sorgi said.

The company has about 100 displays of various sizes going on over the Fourth of July weekend. Joe Austin, Summer Celebration’s executive director, said that budget-wise, Muskegon is in the top 15 shows the company’s putting on.

While Austin didn’t reveal how much the display costs, it is believed to be in the $40,000-$50,000 range.

Source : mlive.com

Mike Gould has a very unique passion: playing with lasers. As a member of Illuminatus 2.1, he puts together laser shows.

“Illuminatus 2.1, a laser light show, is the driving creative force for my life,” Gould said.

The history of Illuminatus stretches back to 1972 when Gould began constructing laser devices as a hobby with partner Wayne Gillis. Gould calls this period of time “Illuminatus 1.0,” during which they performed very basic light shows using one laser.

“We did light shows up through the 70s,” he said. “It kind of petered out because, really, the only place you could do light shows was in discos, and we were not into disco.”

During the 80s and 90s, however, Gould found it difficult to popularize the lasers.

It was not until 2009 that Gould resumed his activity with the laser light shows. He was asked to perform at Penguicon, an open source software convention. This was the beginning of Illuminatus 2.0, during which he built the first generation of laser lunchboxes: laser devices that had been embedded into metal lunchboxes and could be projected out from within.

“We had to put (the lasers) into a metal box for protection,” Gould explained. “In searching for cheap metal boxes, this idea came to me. So we found a bunch of lunchboxes on eBay. They were just the right size to hold a device.”

Gould said that unique idea was what got the ball rolling for him and his team. After writing an article for Make magazine about his lunchbox lasers, he was sponsored by eBay to attend Pop Tech, a technology conference in Maine. There, he demonstrated his laser show.

“We thought it was pretty hard to aim a lunchbox,” he admitted. “We decided they were too hard to use in performance so I thought about what light source can you aim. Obviously stage lights came to mind so we started building up these antique stage lights.”

This was the beginning of Illuminatus 2.1, Gould’s current project. Working with partners David Bloom, Wayne Gillis and Steve Rich, he prepares music and psychedelic imagery for the laser lights shows. He then projects these images and aims the lasers on the walls and ceilings of the venue to create a light show with music.

“It is our goal to have much more control over what the lasers are projecting such that we can have a closer integration between the musical aspects and the visual aspects of the show,” he explained.

From childhood, Gould was fascinated with building technology.

“When I was five years old, I got a crystal radio kit,” he recalled. “So I built a crystal radio and all of a sudden I could listen to a radio.”

This passion continued throughout high school where he built audio and electronic devices, as well as an entire recording studio. Later, he attended Kalamazoo College and majored in biology. After graduation, he worked at the University of Michigan as a Macintosh computer expert. He retired from that job to pursue his passions with lasers and other interests.

Currently Gould is working on a marketable laser lunchbox. He has a shop in his garage where he has learned to cut, drill and polish aluminum for portable lasers that he and the team are looking to sell.

“It’s the lava lamp of the 21st century,” he said.

Gould said that he and the team have been receiving more publicity about their shows and lasers. He hopes that in the future, he could connect with other laser enthusiasts and make Illuminatus more popular to people.

“I’d like to have a big laser light show where everything is controllable and has artistic merit,” he said. “After all, the motto of the laser light show is ‘lux plus esto’ which is Latin for ‘let there be more light.’”

Ellora Gupta is a junior at the University of Michigan with a strong interest in passionate people. If you want to share your passions or the passions of others, please contact her at egupta@umich.edu.

Source :  annarbor.com

Health

The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, compared the effects of laser therapy versus corticosteroid ointment in 13 patients with what is known as the prurigo form of atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis is a type of eczema, or skin inflammation, that arises from an allergic reaction; the prurigo form is marked by small, hard, intensely itchy nodules on the skin.

Only a small proportion of people with atopic dermatitis have the prurigo form, but the condition can be challenging to manage, according to Dr. Elian E.A. Brenninkmeijer, a dermatologist at the University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and the lead researcher on the study.

The current findings, while based on only a small number of patients, suggest that when topical treatments fail to improve prurigo atopic dermatitis, laser therapy may be a suitable option, Brenninkmeijer told Reuters Health in an email.

Specifically, a device called the 308-nm excimer laser is approved in the U.S. for treating atopic dermatitis and certain other skin conditions, including psoriasis and vitiligo. It works by emitting a concentrated beam of ultraviolet B (UVB) light directly to patches of affected skin, avoiding the healthy surrounding skin.

UVB light has long been used to treat some cases of atopic dermatitis; it is thought to help by quelling the exaggerated immune response causing the skin inflammation. The purported advantage of the excimer laser over traditional UVB therapy is that it more precisely targets the problem areas of the skin.

However, there are only limited study data on the effectiveness of the laser therapy for atopic dermatitis, and almost nothing known about how it works for the prurigo form.

To investigate, Brenninkmeijer and his colleagues recruited 13 adults with atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodules on the upper or lower extremities on both sides of the body.

Over 10 weeks, the patients received twice-weekly laser treatments on one side of the body, and used prescription corticosteroid ointment — clobetasol propionate — on the other side of the body. Both the laser treatment and the ointment were applied directly to the prurigo nodules.

By the end of the treatment period, the study found, both therapies were similarly effective in reducing the number of skin nodules, inflammation and itchiness. All but one patient showed improvements; for three patients, the laser-treated side of the body showed greater improvements, while for four, the corticosteroid-treated side fared better.

However, the benefits of the laser tended to be longer lasting. Six months after treatment, eight patients had maintained a significant improvement on the laser-treated side, while only three showed similar results on the corticosteroid-treated side.

According to Brenninkmeijer, larger clinical trials are now needed to confirm the effectiveness of laser therapy for this form of atopic dermatitis, as well as its cost-effectiveness.

Topical corticosteroids have an obvious advantage in that they are inexpensive and convenient. But for people whose skin condition does not improve with topical treatment, Brenninkmeijer said, “the excimer laser might be a good alternative.”

The potential short-term risks of the laser therapy include burns (similar to a sunburn), blistering and skin darkening. Little is known about the possible long-term side effects, including whether there is any increase in skin cancer risk, according to Brenninkmeijer.

Researchers are still unsure whether traditional UVB therapy carries a heightened risk of skin cancer in the long term. It’s possible, Brenninkmeijer noted, that any such risk would be less with the excimer laser, since it targets only small areas of affected skin, but that remains to be seen.

SOURCE: here British Journal of Dermatology, online May 20, 2010.

Even the new remote-sensing technologies, so effective in recent decades at surveying other archaeological sites, were no help. Imaging radar and multispectral surveys by air and from space could not “see” through the trees.

Then, in the dry spring season a year ago, the husband-and-wife team of Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase tried a new approach using airborne laser signals that penetrate the jungle cover and are reflected from the ground below. They yielded 3-D images of the site of ancient Caracol, in Belize, one of the great cities of the Maya lowlands.

In only four days, a twin-engine aircraft equipped with an advanced version of lidar (light detection and ranging) flew back and forth over the jungle and collected data surpassing the results of two and a half decades of on-the-ground mapping, the archaeologists said. After three weeks of laboratory processing, the almost 10 hours of laser measurements showed topographic detail over an area of 80 square miles, notably settlement patterns of grand architecture and modest house mounds, roadways and agricultural terraces.

“We were blown away,” Dr. Diane Chase said recently, recalling their first examination of the images. “We believe that lidar will help transform Maya archaeology much in the same way that radiocarbon dating did in the 1950s and interpretations of Maya hieroglyphs did in the 1980s and ’90s.”

The Chases, who are professors of anthropology at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, had determined from earlier surveys that Caracol extended over a wide area in its heyday, between A.D. 550 and 900. From a ceremonial center of palaces and broad plazas, it stretched out to industrial zones and poor neighborhoods and beyond to suburbs of substantial houses, markets and terraced fields and reservoirs.

This picture of urban sprawl led the Chases to estimate the city’s population at its peak at more than 115,000. But some archaeologists doubted the evidence warranted such expansive interpretations.

“Now we have a totality of data and see the entire landscape,” Dr. Arlen Chase said of the laser findings. “We know the size of the site, its boundaries, and this confirms our population estimates, and we see all this terracing and begin to know how the people fed themselves.”

The Caracol survey was the first application of the advanced laser technology on such a large archaeological site. Several journal articles describe the use of lidar in the vicinity of Stonehenge in England and elsewhere at an Iron Age fort and American plantation sites. Only last year, Sarah H. Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham predicted, “Lidar imagery will have much to offer the archaeology of the rain forest regions.”

The Chases said they had been unaware of Dr. Parcak’s assessment, in her book “Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology” (Routledge, 2009), when they embarked on the Caracol survey. They acted on the recommendation of a Central Florida colleague, John F. Weishampel, a biologist who had for years used airborne laser sensors to study forests and other vegetation.

Dr. Weishampel arranged for the primary financing of the project from the little-known space archaeology program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The flights were conducted by the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, operated by the University of Florida and the University of California, Berkeley.

Other archaeologists, who were not involved in the research but were familiar with the results, said the technology should be a boon to explorations, especially ones in the tropics, with its heavily overgrown vegetation, including pre-Columbian sites throughout Mexico and Central America. But they emphasized that it would not obviate the need to follow up with traditional mapping to establish “ground truth.”

Jeremy A. Sabloff, a former director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and now president of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, said he wished he had had lidar when he was working in the Maya ruins at Sayil, in Mexico.

The new laser technology, Dr. Sabloff said, “would definitely have speeded up our mapping, given us more details and would have enabled us to refine our research questions and hypotheses much earlier in our field program than was possible in the 1980s.”

At first, Payson D. Sheets, a University of Colorado archaeologist, was not impressed with lidar. A NASA aircraft tested the laser system over his research area in Costa Rica, he said, “but when I saw it recorded the water in a lake sloping at 14 degrees, I did not use it again.”

Now, after examining the imagery from Caracol, Dr. Sheets said he planned to try lidar, with its improved technology, again. “I was stunned by the crisp precision and fine-grained resolution,” he said.

“Finally, we have a nondestructive and rapid means of documenting the present ground surface through heavy vegetation cover,” Dr. Sheets said, adding, “One can easily imagine, given the Caracol success, how important this would be in Southeast Asia, with the Khmer civilization at places like Angkor Wat.”

In recent reports at meetings of Mayanists and in interviews, the Chases noted that previous remote-sensing techniques focused more on the discovery of archaeological sites than on the detailed imaging of on-ground remains. The sensors could not see through much of the forest to resolve just how big the ancient cities had been. As a consequence, archaeologists may have underestimated the scope of Mayan accomplishments.

For the Caracol survey, the aircraft flew less than a half-mile above the terrain at the end of the dry season, when foliage is less dense. The Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper, as the specific advanced system is named, issued steady light pulses along 62 north-south flight lines and 60 east-west lines. This reached to what appeared to be the fringes of the city’s outer suburbs and most agricultural terraces, showing that the urban expanse encompassed at least 70 square miles.

Not all the laser pulses transmitted from the aircraft made it to the surface. Some were reflected by the tops of trees. But enough reached the ground and were reflected back to the airborne instruments. These signals, measured and triangulated by GPS receivers and processed by computers, produced images of the surface contours. This revealed distinct patterns of building ruins, causeways and other human modifications of the landscape.

The years the Chases spent on traditional explorations at Caracol laid the foundation for confirming the effectiveness of the laser technology. Details in the new images clearly matched their maps of known structures and cultural features, the archaeologists said. When the teams returned to the field, they used the laser images to find several causeways, terraced fields and many ruins they had overlooked.

The Chases said the new research demonstrates how a large, sustainable agricultural society could thrive in a tropical environment and thus account for the robust Maya civilization in its classic period from A.D. 250 to 900.

“This will revolutionize the way we do settlement studies of the Maya,” Dr. Arlen Chase said on returning from this spring’s research at Caracol.

Lidar is not expected to have universal application. Dr. Sheets said that, for example, it would not be useful at his pre-Columbian site at Cerén, in El Salvador. The ancient village and what were its surrounding manioc fields are buried under many feet of volcanic ash, beyond laser detection.

Other modern technologies, including radar and satellite imaging, are already proving effective in the land beyond the temples at Angkor, in Cambodia, and in surveys of the Nile delta and ancient irrigation systems in Iraq.

Laser signals breaking through jungle cover are only the newest form of remote sensing in the pursuit of knowledge of past cultures, which began in earnest about a century ago with the advent of aerial photography. Charles Lindbergh drew attention to its application in archaeology with picture-taking flights over unexplored Pueblo cliff dwellings in the American Southwest.

NASA recently stepped up its promotion of technologies developed for broad surveys of Earth and other planets to be used in archaeological research. Starting with a few preliminary tests over the years, the agency has now established a formal program for financing archaeological remote-sensing projects by air and space.

“We’re not looking for monoliths on the Moon,” joked Craig Dobson, manager of the NASA space archaeology program.

Every two years, Dr. Dobson said, NASA issues several three-year grants for the use of remote sensing at ancient sites. In addition to the Caracol tests, the program is supporting two other Maya research efforts, surveys of settlement patterns in North Africa and Mexico and reconnaissance of ancient ruins in the Mekong River Valley and around Angkor Wat.

Nothing like a latter-day Apollo project, of course, but the archaeology program is growing, Dr. Dobson said, and will soon double in size, to an annual budget of $1 million.

Source : The New York Times

“Smooth as butter” is how Laser Force President Chris Stuart describes the work of his animation director, Carl Graves. The company entered the ILDA Awards competition for the first time this year and took a total of six awards in four categories, including ISP Cel Animation and both the ISP and non-ISP Graphic Module categories.

The company’s pieces incorporate traditional hand-drawn frames, plus computer-generated animations, plus a third style that blends together the best of both worlds. This fall, Laser Force will begin releasing a series of compact discs chock-full of their trademark animations. The discs will also include “Module Makers” designed to help laserists easily generate customized animations from the stock frames. Laser Force plans to release one new themed disc each quarter, with the first disc focusing on fire effects. The Laserist recently talked to Graves about his special style of animation. To see examples of the animation and learn more about the Module Makers CD series, visit the company’s Web site at: www.laserforce.net

Laserist: Tell me about what you call “computer-enhanced animation.” How is that different from the way animators usually work?
Graves: Traditionally, laser animation has been very heavy on the digitizing side. Take the example of 24 frames for one second of film or laser output. In the past, I would draw those 24 frames by hand, then hand them over to a digitizer and then possibly someone else to colorize those frames. With the approach I have now, I may only need to animate 6 of those 24 drawings, and maybe only digitize one or two of those drawings and then let the computer do the math between the motions.

Laserist: How is that different than just giving the computer a start position and an end position and then letting the computer do the in-between animation frames?
Graves: Animation requires a lot of fine touches to be appealing. If I give the computer a start point and an end point it will give me a flat move from A to B. But I may change an eyebrow or move a lip or bend a finger to give the animation that extra bit of realism, that extra bit of action and ultimately appeal. You cannot get that with straight computer animation. With computer-enhanced animation, you create key frames and digitize those keys and then let the computer blend those two key frames for you.

Laserist: I’ve seen your work and it seems amazing that you can get such fluid, lifelike motion by only drawing a handful of key frames. How is that possible?
Graves: It’s all in the pre-production. As any animator does, you examine the movement from A to B, every part, every detail—you figure the motion, the path, the flow and pretty much calculate it. But instead of drawing every frame of it you can create the same kind of appeal and flow within a computer enhanced model.

Laserist: How much time does this save?
Graves: You save a considerable amount in the digitizing and colorizing end. If you can imagine 24 frames dwindled down to maybe 2, that is a great cut and you might be able to eliminate colorizing all those frames as well. But, because it is so reliant on pre-production, it doesn’t necessarily save a lot on the animator’s time. You are still plotting, still drawing and you will do reference keys and rough drawings.

Laserist: What about the tools you use? I understand you mix and match between hand-drawn animation, computer enhanced animation, and full-on digital animation all within the same show.
Graves: It is a balance between all the tools. If I am doing something that is very cartoony—something that is slapstick—I might want to go for more of a traditional look and not even use computer enhanced animation because I can’t capture the exaggerated look I want. Exaggerated motion doesn’t necessarily need to be as smooth as butter, so you use a more traditional style of art work. If you want mathematically correct perspective images you will go with a platform like 3D Studio Max (a conventional computer graphics animation program). If you want to kind of juggle in between, I think that type of animation is perfect for computer enhanced animation. It is just a matter of applying the right tool for the right job.

Laserist: I understand that some of these modules incorporate several styles.
Graves: Yes, it depends on the project. Various scenes might require one tool versus another. You may do 80% of your show with traditional hand-drawn animation, 15% with computer-enhanced animation and maybe 5% with LCMax [a Pangolin plug-in that renders 3D Studio Max output in laser light].

Laserist: I understand Laser Force is working on a series of animations and graphics that will be available for sale. Tellus about the additional tools these CDs will include to help people expand on the images.
Graves: Well, let’s say you are looking at a new or intermediate Pangolin user who generally will purchase graphics from another company and probably never use a lot of the tools that could possibly save them time or money. What I hope to do with Module Maker is not only offer great frames, but also include tips for Pangolin Showtime effects along with tutorials that help you get better use out of the equipment you have. It’s a whole suite of show-building materials that helps minimize production time.

Laserist: Can you give me a couple of examples of the effects in Showtime they might use?
Graves:For example, let’s say you want to create a star field moving through space. That is a very difficult thing to do by hand. You could do it on the computer and make that happen, but you might want some variations. You might want to go into a warp or you might want to pull out of a warp or slow it down or even change angles. Showtime effects can help do that without creating separate animations. You can change perspective, change scale, change position and add certain accelerations and decelerations within Showtime to achieve a different look. And most of these things we will show you how to do on the disk

Laserist: You aren’t afraid of giving away trade secrets, are you?
Graves: This is a service. It is something that we wish to share because of our passion for it, for the quality level that we wish to achieve. And it keeps us doing something we love and we have fun doing it, so I don’t think we are giving away too many trade secrets. Besides, when you boil it all down, it’s creativity and imagination that are most important.

Laserist: Let’s wind up here on the big picture. A lot of people look at lasers and they see them as a poor stepchild to traditional cel animation found in film and video. Critics don’t see laser displays on par with other forms of animation. How do you feel about that?
Graves: When I first started in the industry, I did share that opinion. I started in the traditional fields of animation, so doing lasers was really kind of an awkward thing. But the more I learned and the more I saw, I began to realize how it [laser display] really does the same things as traditional animation. You are not going to get the mega budgets for it, but you still get a lot of the same audience appeal. You can reach out and touch people in a variety of venues with lasers. It is more of a—I don’t know what the word is I am looking for— it’s a unique connection with the audience. I don’t think it pales in any way to other forms of animation. You are still communicating and you are still entertaining.

Location:  Memorial Lawn

Stone Mountain park honors our troops and their families, in a three-day celebration of American spirit at Atlanta’s largest Memorial Day Weekend celebration.

Enjoy the park with an all-attractions Adventure Pass which will provide entry to all Stone Mountain Park attractions including Sky Hike, one of the nation’s largest adventure courses set high in the tree tops. Get your heart racing in a thrilling Journey to the Center of the Earth 4D Adventure located in Crossroads®. For an unprecedented view of the Atlanta Skyline, hop aboard the Summit Skyride. And of course, your family is sure to enjoy the Scenic Railroad, Mini-Golf, the Great Barn and more! Ask about adding a Ride the Ducks™ tour to your Adventure Pass for only $8 (plus tax).

Plus, join Stone Mountain Park as we salute our troops during the Lasershow Spectacular with a special fireworks finale. Marvel as the skies above light up in a specially choreographed musical tribute honoring the brave men and women who protect our country. The special fireworks display can be seen Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Memorial Weekend after the regular Lasershow Spectacular.

Save even more for your family members when you pre-purchase your tickets at the following bases:

Dobbins Air Reserve Base – Marietta, GA 
Fort McPherson – Atlanta, GA 
Fort Rucker ITT - Dale County, AL  
Kings Bay MWR ITT- Kings Bay, GA  
MCCS MWR ITT – Albany, GA
Robins Air Force Base – Warner Robins, GA 
Maxwell Air Force Base – Montgomery, AL 
Naval Supply Corps School - Athens, GA
NAS Jacksonville – Jacksonville, FL 
Mayport Naval Station – Duval County/Mayport, FL
Omega World Travel (Fort Benning) – Columbus, GA

Be sure to take advantage of this free admission special offer for active duty military & veterans along with special savings for their families.

In addition, military ID holders will also receive 20% off most food, beverage and merchandise items each day during Memorial Weekend. Restricions apply to glow vendors, existing deals/coupons and sundries. Simply present your military ID at the register to receive your discount.

Not a member of the military, but still looking for a value? Head to your neighborhood Kroger for best ticket pricing on Adventure Passes and Mountain Memberships.

Heroes and sports medleys plus a patriotic finale including choreographed state-of-the-art graphics are also inlcuded. You’ll also hear some of your favorites like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” “An American Trilogy” and “Celestial Soda Pop”.

Relax on the lawn as Stone Mountain is transformed into a natural amphitheater.  The Stone Mountain Park signature event combines colorful lasers, surround sound and special effects into a 40 minute light show, precisely choreographed to music.

Don’t miss the Flame Cannon effect and the Laser Canopy that creates a ceiling of light right over your head. The grand fireworks finale makes your evening complete. The Lasershow is free with your $10.00 vehicle entrance to Stone Mountain Park.*

Everything you need to enjoy the Lasershow is right near the Laser lawn at the all-new Marketplace. From fresh food including deli sandwiches, salads and fruit as well as heartier fare, Marketplace is the perfect stop along your way to a fun-filled evening with friends and family. Blankets are also available for purchase at Marketplace if you’d like to enjoy your food while watching the Lasershow.

Stone Mountain Park is in the process of restoring the Laser Lawn to make it easier and more enjoyable for guests to view the historical mountain and its carving. Please note that during this restoration and renovation period, only the lower lawn section will be available during the Lasershow. Parking for the Lasershow is available in the Crossroads, Triangle and Yellow Daisy lots.

Click HERE to view the Lasershow schedule.

Source : Stone Mountain Park Festivals & Events

Inside the tent you’ll find teens running around holding laser guns, trying to out-tag each other in a dark 3,500 sq-ft chamber with fluorescent and neon artwork of various cult characters such as Batman and his nemesis, the Joker.

They are playing Laser Tag, a game that combines physical agility with the thrill of a video game.

Within a week of its launch, the game is already a fad among teens. It has also found an audience in corporate houses that are using it as a tool to strengthen teamwork and lower stress levels among employees, said proprietor Devesh Mallani.

“It’s great because you get to play an exciting game and get some physical activity at the same time,” said Karan Srivastava (21), an MSc student from SIES College.

A player aims to tag others by firing laser beams at sensors fitted onto players’ jackets. Real time scores are visible on an LCD screen outside the playing arena.

It’s a hi-tech version of paintball, only without the heavy body armour and pellet shots and merges video games such as Star Wars and Counter Strike.

“It makes you feel like the protagonist of a computer game. You feel a rush of emotions — fear, excitement and suspense. It combines quick thinking and movement, making it all the more fun,” said Anant Rajan (21), a student of NM College.

The play area being air-conditioned, is another draw given the heat.

It’s open to children above 8 years, and a 10-minute game costs Rs 180.

The game was a huge success during the IIT Techfest in January, with around 2,500 participants playing during three days.

“When asked to rate the game on a scale of 1 to 10, 91 per cent students gave it an 8-plus rating,” said Mallani.

Source : hindustantimes