Posted by Lee (TheCaretaker) on July 2, 2008, 7:41 am, in reply to "Re: Danger: Slippery Slope Ahead, Time To Go to 4WD"

It has indeed been a slippery slope. The first kid brought 2 friends and we all shared 2 taggers quite amiably, even my 5yr old. Yesterday, my last ebay pkg came and the kids returned-- they're bored to tears apparently. We opened it together like Xmas and now totaled 2 deluxes, 1 drone, 1TMB modded w/the launcher cut off. We got over our fears of failure/unfair play/uneven tagger abilities and it started clicking pretty well. Mega tags were back on: it offset the TMBs greater ability to 'search the brush' with it's bigger lenses. Then a stranger kid showed up, same age as the rest. This hood is stiff with really bored kids. He didn't want to play because he was into paintball and was a victim of paintball machismo. So we left him alone, and he sat on his bike in the middle of some very cool firefights. He became less aloof as the taggers showed their range and he heard the shields a-clanging, and we chatted a bit about LTTO. I never mentioned the mess and expense of paintball. It sort of spoke for itself. Also, my 5yr old was laying down a beautiful covering fire for his much older teammate, and I was yelling encouragement. New guy was soon playing and even decided it was okay to smile. They're coming back tomorrow xcept the original kid, whom I'm losing to camp for a week (Nuts!). Met two sets of parents, which is more neighbor contact than I've had for years. Everyone had their triumphs. Once, my 5yr old's teammate got tagged out and he was left alone. We told him to wade in and 'die bravely' and he plunged into the brush after the last (10yr old) opponent and disappeared. Much zapping and clanging later, he came back the winner. Pure gold.

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