General Rules

All participants must read the UKLTA General Rules. You signify your understanding of them by completing a booking form. Any behaviour that goes against the General Rules should be reported to a GM or other game organiser so action can be taken. Failure to adhere to any part of the General Rules may lead to you being asked to leave or not being allowed to attend future events.

  • For insurance and legal reasons, you must be over eighteen years of age and must have completed a booking form before being able to take part in the event. We also have a Risk Assessment for every event and you are expected to have read and understood it.
  • Be courteous and polite to neighbours and any members of public that may stray onto the event site. Go out of your way to allay any fears and never intimidate, alienate, threaten, be abusive or point any weapon towards them.
  • No props that could be mistaken for weapons are to be carried or displayed away from the event site and must be packed away out of sight during transit.
  • Do not move, remove or damage any of the site’s fixtures and fittings. Do not bring any blank firing guns or starter pistols.
  • No smoke bombs or other pyrotechnics will be allowed on site unless authorised by the event organisers.
  • Keep litter to a minimum and dispose of all litter (bins and bags will be provided).
  • No Campfires are allowed (even for cooking purposes) except at a designated fire pit or as per local site rules.

Fair play

All LARP expects fair play from its participants. While UKLTA games rely on Laser-Tag equipment and less on player memory or knowledge to keep track in combat there are still rules related to its use you must follow.

  • During time-in all players are expected to wear a Laser-Tag sensor compatible with the UKLTA standards and it must be switched on. Most games run now also require that it is DOT compatible.
  • Every sensor must be sensitive to shots from all reasonable angles and not obscured. This may be tested before play starts.
  • It is a player's responsibility to ensure their sensor remains sensitive to shots throughout play.
  • Should you realise your sensor has failed in some way, or have it pointed out to you, it is your responsibility to fix this. If necessary, leave the game to do so. Usually spare sensors are available from the GM team if yours has failed completely.
  • When conducting aimed fire, your sensor must be visible to the target. You should pay attention to this if firing from a 'sniper' position or from a small gap. Un-aimed fire from cover, for example firing a pistol around a corner is acceptable.
  • Any weapon you use must have a bright 'muzzle flash' that would be visible within its effective range at night.
  • Any weapon you use must have a sound system audible from a fair distance.
  • Any weapons with a rate of fire greater than 1 shot per second and a range greater than 100metres should not have a sight fitted unless they have a fire limiting device (times lock-out, ammo counter etc.) also fitted. An ammunition counter should disable the weapon from firing when the magazine has emptied. The magazine size will be no more than 100 shot's and the disable time no less than 5 seconds or 0.75 seconds per 10 shots.

Game organisers may choose to amend rule 5 and forbid un-aimed fire. Event crew will normally follow the same rules as players but game organisers are free to change things to even opposition and provide dramatic combat.

Signals

All players must carry a whistle in case of emergency. They are also used to signal the start and stop of play to players and crew.

Time In

One blast on a whistle (usually accompanied by call of “Time In”) indicates that the game is starting.

Time Out

Three long blasts on a whistle (usually accompanied by call of “Time Out”) indicates that the game has ended or paused.

Everyone should stop play and return to the starting area. If you're breaking for lunch etc. please remember where you were and what you were doing so you can return to it later. If, appropriate at final Time Out, congregate around the GM team for debrief.

Time Freeze

When a Time Freeze is called this represents an event happening instantaneously, so you should close your eyes and hum loudly until you hear the call to continue gameplay (Time In). Normally this is a local event not accompanied by a whistle.

Emergency

Continuous blasts on whistles (or also cries of “Man Down” or "Woman Down") indicate that there is an emergency, typically an injury. Everyone should stop play and close on the whistle blower to offer aid. These are happily very rare.

Obviously, do not use this signal in play except in an actual out-of-game emergency.