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[Radar]: X Club

We've located a new laser tag bar near the outer rim of the French Concession system. Prepare a landing crew at once and set phasers to "drunk."
Last updated: 2015-11-09
Area: Zhaojiabang Lu near Xiangyang Nan Lu, right at the final frontier of the French Concession, where the tree-lined streets and quaint colonial villas recede into multilane thoroughfares and apartment towers covered in hideously colored tile.

What it is: If you've passed by this basement bar writing it off as a seedy sexpat lounge or some such wretched hive of scum and villainy, you couldn't have been more wrong. Don't let the pink mudflap girl on the sign out front fool you. X Club is an arena for engaging in glorious combat. Your weapon, a rifle emitting a lethal infrared beam. It hits a sensor on your opponent that disables their weapon. The battleground, an indoor maze full of pillboxes, perches, and alcoves from which to neutralize the enemy. Your protection, only your cunning my friend, only your cunning.

To grease up that trigger finger, there is a bar with a fair selection of reasonably priced booze and beer. For those weary from battle, there is a food menu. Think ready-made pizzas and pastas and pretty much anything that you can dunk in a deep fryer.

While not in combat, there are several opportunities for some R and R. Among them: billiards, karaoke, or you can watch the laser carnage going on inside the arena on one of the many monitors on the wall.

Atmosphere: At the entrance, a towering statue of a Transformer with laser beam eyes (awesome!) stands vigil. Inside, it's somewhere between Austin Powers’ shag pad and the set of a pre-Star Wars space opera. The walls and carpet are awash in themes both galactic and psychedelic – swirls, planets, comets and stuff. Round pleather lounge booths circle the karaoke stage. Rooms are partitioned by spacecraft sliding doors. You’ll have to provide the Star Trek “swish” sound yourself. I did. It helps.

Damage: First things first. One round of laser combat will cost you 50rmb. That lasts 15 minutes, which, given the poor ventilation in the laser arena, is more than enough time, believe me. The best deal is the 100rmb package, which gets you three sessions. Bottles of beer are 20-35rmb. Drafts, 20-30. Cocktails and shooters are uniformly 50 and 40rmb respectively with daily half-off specials. Pizzas go for 38-78rmb. Pastas are 35-40.

Who’s going: So far, all I’ve seen is freeloaders from the English-language media community, myself included. Hopefully that'll change because we need some fresh meat.

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