Hi friends!
Welcome back to the blog! For those of you who follow me on socials, you’ll have seen that last month I was invited back to Houston, Texas for Palooza 2023 hosted by evike.comand High Ground Airsoft. I flew into Houston from London a little early so I could attend their over 21’s night - BBs n Brews! And this one, in particular, was a themed night, Romper night!
For a little background information on High Ground Airsoft for those who are unfamiliar with the field: HGA is located in Cypress, Texas. The new store/field site was previously a Walmart and as such, it is enormous and has a large car park. They’ve just added their signage and the building has been freshly painted in the evike.com colours so it’s unmissable. The building has both the Evike Outpost and the field contained within it so as you go through the sliding doors, there are then two doors - one that leads to the Evike Outpost storefront (you can read my review of that here) and the other door leads to the players' lounge.
The facilities at HGA are fantastic. On the way through to the players' lounge, there are men's and women's toilets - they also have a disabled toilet and a family bathroom. The sign-in desk is just before the player's lounge and is always staffed by a friendly face. Here you can pay for your arena entry (although you do get a discount if you pre-book online!) And you can also pick up your Skirmesh band. The player's lounge has plenty of tables and chairs for airsofters to prep their gear and get ready for the day. It’s air-conditioned so even in the Texas heat it’s a comfortable place to set up. There are 2 party rooms (also air-conditioned). There is also a full snack bar and a bar.
It is a sizable facility - the player's lounge and bar is 6,000 sq ft and the playable area is 25,000 sq feet which includes two full-size two-story buildings. By far one of the most notable buildings is the Alamo which is located in the very centre of the play floor with two elevated towers inside. One of my personal favourites is the arcade room which had a load of old, battered arcade machines to fight around.
All players are given a comprehensive safety brief explaining the rules and regulations of the site before they enter the arena to ensure safe gameplay. The brief covers everything from Chrono limits, what do to when you get hit, emergencies, pyrotechnics and MEDs. One of the things I dislike most about American sites is the MED and bang rules - in the UK we don’t have MEDs and we don’t operate a bang-bang rule so going to a site that implements a MED of if you can reach out and touch them with a rifle you’re too close but otherwise crack on is a breath of fresh air.
The games played include a variety of deathmatches and objective-based games - most of which are just 7 minutes long which means the games are fast-paced and keep players on their toes. The arena can handle 40 on 40 play but usually, they run at 20 v 20 games which means the play is fast but not overwhelming. The entire field is set up with the Skirmesh.net system for prop interaction and stat tracking - each player is given a rubberised wristband that they can scan in respawns to track their in-game ‘deaths’ or in objective areas so points can be collected for areas held or for the time held. There are live video feeds of the play floor in both party rooms and the bar along with Skirmesh live game tracking so spectators can watch the action. There is also a projector in the player's lounge with live game tracking and updates.
The site itself plays well and isn’t geared towards speedsofters which is pleasantly refreshing. It is a mix of different-sized rooms and open spaces with cover which makes it a varied site to play.
The Marshalls are a really friendly bunch who do a great job of keeping the games running smoothly and on time. They were super helpful during my visit and nothing was too much trouble - which I greatly appreciated.
Now onto BBs n Brews! BBs n Brews is High Ground Airsoft's over 21’s night. It is every Wednesday night and runs from 6 pm-10 pm with 3 hours of play from 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm. For this event, you have to be over the age of 21 due to the presence of alcohol on site. Players are allowed to bring their own alcoholic beverages to consume however it is important to note that if you are too intoxicated you won’t be allowed to enter the gaming area (so please drink responsibly!)
For this BBs n Brews, it was themed night and players got a $5 discount if they turned up in a romper, yes, a romper! Now, unfortunately, the romper I ordered didn’t turn up on time so Kurt from HGA kindly lent me a Reno 911 Halloween costume which somewhat resembled a romper. Now I will say playing airsoft in a tight polyester costume did suck a little but I embraced the suck and it ended up being a really fun evening.
It was a great laugh and as you can see from the photos a lot of players joined in the fun. What I really love about these nights is that no one takes it too far - there is always a great atmosphere. I absolutely love these nights at HGA and I can’t wait to be back soon!
Originally posted Friday 2 June 2023
Comments