CEDAR CITY — A laser tag team with three players from Cedar City recently took first place at a world championship tournament held in Auckland, New Zealand.

USA West, a six-person team comprising Cedar Fun Center employees Caleb Bittar, Brandon Eves and Dallen Forsyth, plus three players from Sacramento, California, went undefeated at the Laserforce Space Marines 5 International Championship in late July.

Eves said the competition started in a round-robin format, with each of the six teams playing the others once.

“We were then seeded into a double elimination bracket,” Eves said.

USA West’s closest game came in the tournament finals against a team from Brisbane, Australia.

“It was a pretty close one,” Bittar said. “We actually lost the first game in the match, but the second game we came back.”

The championship match was ultimately decided via a tiebreaker based on overall points scored, Bittar added.

“We were the first team to beat Brisbane in a neutral arena in more than 15 years,” Bittar noted. “Also, we were the first American team ever to beat Brisbane outside their own arena, and the first American team to win an international competition in the southern hemisphere.”

Bittar said that while they were in New Zealand, some people asked if they were there to attend FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer matches.

“They heard our American accents and were like, ‘Oh, are you guys here for the Women’s World Cup?’” Bittar said. “And so we’re like, ‘No, we’re actually here for the Laserforce World Cup.'”

The 33-year-old Eves said the victory represents “the culmination of a lot of hard work and practice.”

“This is my 21st year playing laser tag on a weekly basis,” Eves said, noting that he has thousands of hours of competitive laser tag experience under his belt.

“I’ve played 5,200 games in 60 arenas around the world, seven or eight world championship tournaments, so it feels good to win one,” Eves added.

“Brandon’s been playing actually longer than I’ve been alive,” the 21-year-old Bittar said of his teammate Eves. Bittar added that he himself has been playing since he was 14. The 23-year-old Forsyth also has years of playing experience, as do each of their Sacramento teammates, namely Dave Schrumpf, Kaemon Heureux and Aiden Todd.

Space Marines 5, or simply “SM5,” is an expert-level strategy game wherein each team member takes on one of five specialized roles (commander, heavy weapons, ammo carrier, medic and scout) as they strive to survive while eliminating the members of the other team.

“You have to understand each of the positions that your teammates are playing, and (that) your opponents are also playing those positions,” Eves explained. “You have to understand their strengths and weaknesses and exploit them.”

Although the next year’s Laserforce international tournament is scheduled to take place in Loveland, Colorado, Bittar said Cedar Fun Center is gearing up to host it the following year, in 2025.

By then, he added, the center’s laser tag arena will have been renovated and expanded.

Much like a golf pro lending their expertise to developing golf courses, Bittar noted, Eves will take the lead in redesigning Cedar Fun Center’s laser tag facility.

“We’re in the process of getting city approval for construction,” Eves said of the expansion plans.

Eves said that even novices can learn how to play SM5, which is one of several game modes currently available at Cedar Fun Center.

“Anybody can walk in today and play that tournament,” Eves said. “We can teach them how to play. I mean, it’s not easy, but with a little bit of learning, anybody can play it.”

Eves said Cedar Fun Center will be starting laser tag leagues soon. For more information, call 435-263-0200 or visit the center at 170 E. Fiddlers Canyon Rd., Cedar City.

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