Treat time
It's been an amazing first year for Neon Play, surpassing all our expectations, and following our win as the UK's Best Startup at the Nectar Business Awards, it felt like a good time to treat the team to a bit of a day out. So we packed up early and headed off to the stunning metropolis of Gloucester.
The destination was a Mecca of entertainment and sweat where we had a session of Laser Quest and then a ferocious go-karting contest.
Here are the team at the "safety" briefing. Bunch of convicts.
Laser Quest
The first event was Laser Quest and as we got kitted out in our Robocop-style kit, we entered the hot and dark playing arena and the lights lit up and we all ran around like crazy fools shooting each other (and our team mates) in a stream of red lasers and "oos" and "ahhs". Even though each of the two games only took 10 minutes, it felt like a lot longer and the team looked like red, flushed, exhausted and sweaty soldiers of fortune by the end. Chris and Jon emerged as the sharpest shooters at the end of each game.
Go karting
Then it was time to don the all-in-one overalls and sit through a hilarious video of a Michael Schumacher lookalike doing a shoddy German accent giving a safety briefing. We were then ready to enter the pit lane and the field of dreams.
With 8 qualifying sessions, every driver had the chance to prove that the occasional accident or being taken out by a fellow Neon Player was levelled out. Jon, who had made himself favourite for the event, humiliated himself by not even making the final.
Here is a video of the first semi-final's first few laps:
But the final six were Neal, Nick, Mark, Paul, Glenn and Oli. Adrenalin flowed, acrid smoke bellowed, the noise level rose and the lights went green. Oli passed pole sitter Nick at the first corner and others passed Nick as he was squeezed into the barriers. Eight laps of furious competition followed with daring passing moves and fearless corner-taking.
However, as the chequered flag was waved in celebration, it was one Oli Christie whose arm was raised aloft, in a sort of Lewis Hamilton winning at Sliverstone-type way (without the talent or money or pop-star fiancee). Glenn and Paul picked up the other podium places.
Here is a video of the muted podium celebrations:
All in all it was a great day out and we rounded it off with more poppadoms that is humanly necessary, pints of Kingfisher lager, all sorts of curry flavours and a good post-mortem of the tales of go-karting woe (or excuses as they're commonly called). A well-deserved treat for Cirencester's number one mobile games studio...and the UK's Best Startup.
