Having broken free, and realizing with surprise that we were still alive, we decided to party hard, for which purpose we headed back to the dorm. I must report that a 15-minute walk from our dorm there are not only the two biggest shopping malls in the Baltics - ALFA and DOMINA, but also a massive entertainment center GO PLANET.
According to the reports of individuals who had already visited this amusement park, there's a lot to see, and even more to try. Proper cilveki (that is people in Latvian), like ihavedream, didn't drop any spoilers, but merely informed us that visiting this establishment is an absolute must. But incontinent blabbermouths (we won't point fingers) reported in detail on all the secrets, a behavior that I personally find quite unappealing.
Consisting of three boys and one girl, the gang began moving along the road passing by the dorm. At the same time, we didn't even look at a map. We stomped along a busy highway until we found ourselves in a dense forest. Having narrowly avoided a critical error in the form of taking a wrong turn, yours truly still made it to the coveted goal thanks to my geographical intuition and the precise instructions of the aforementioned blabbermouths.
You can't see anything, but it's immediately clear that this is our target
Having gotten inside, we were surprised to behold a Formula 1 car attached to the wall.
Formula 1
Next, we borrowed a price list for services at the ticket office, inspected the complex, and found out what attractions were available and how much they cost. To the joy of the working class, the establishment features:
- A bunch of childish and not-so-childish simulators and computer games in the simulatori hall. Some of the simulators even have cabins that convulsively shake and jerk to create the most authentic sensations for visitors. They cost from $1 to 2.5$
- Go-karts. Quite ordinary, but the track is large and convoluted, which is nice. Costs 10$.
- A 4D cinema, which was the goal of our visit. An ordinary person will say that 4D is impossible. A craftier person will say that any 3D cinema is actually 4D, since the fourth dimension is time. And a really sly one, or someone involved in economics, will shrug their shoulders and indifferently mumble something about marketing. Costs 5$ for 10 minutes, and they only screen 2 different movies.
- Car acceleration simulator. This is a car on rails, with wide rubber bands attached to the sides, hooked to the floor. The car is pulled back to the wall by a special cart, stretching the rubber bands. Then they let go, and the passengers sitting in the seats experience incomparable sensations, similar to the sensations of astronauts blasting off, or owners of expensive sports cars accelerating to 100 km/h in 8 seconds. One problem - the car jerks back and forth until it comes to a complete stop, which doesn't add any joy at all, but might, on the contrary, lead to the loss of your stomach contents. This dubious pleasure costs a whopping 10$, which doesn't make it any more appealing.
- A Hummer jeep with two machine guns and 3D glasses. The jeep pretends to actually be driving, and, judging by the convulsive jerks and rocking from side to side, it's not driving on the best road. And you and your partner meanwhile are shooting off various malicious adversaries in outdated computer graphics. But it is 3D. When I first put the glasses on and saw a frag grenade flying at me, I almost screamed.
- Billiards, slides for kids, and other minor stuff.
First we visited the 4D cinema. I won't say what's inside, so as not to spoil the fun for those who haven't been yet, I'll only say this - you should go, but don't expect too much from it.
Then we went to play laser tagging, which wasn't mentioned above - with the cunning goal of talking about it only at this point.
For us, it was actually called DarkLight, while laser tagging is the general name for such amusements. The gist is as follows.
This is what the worn armor looks like
Participants (usually 10-30 people) are issued armor with light bulbs and guns that shoot a "laser" beam. Then a person is released into a two-story labyrinth with cardboard walls and ramps instead of stairs, where in the dark they must shoot their opponents from other teams, identified by the color of their bulbs. Moreover, you only need to shoot at the bulbs on the armor or the gun, otherwise there will be no effect. Upon a successful hit, the adversary is disabled for 6 seconds. (Of course, all parameters are adjustable, and I am only talking about what we had).
The goal of the game is well known to fans of computer games like Quake and consists of the virtual killing ("tagging") of as many opponents from other teams as possible. After the game ends (15 minutes), everyone receives a detailed printout of the results, which is nice. Yours truly was only in 18th place out of 28, which for a first time is not too bad.
Mindless running around and shooting temporary enemies, it turns out, brings a very real adrenaline rush and complete moral satisfaction, not to mention a noble fatigue. So, despite the slightly inflated price of 5$ for 15 minutes, I will surely return more than once, and not alone, but with comrades.
The verdict of all this is as follows - the money-sucker GOPLANET is wonderful, highly recommended to everyone for emptying wallets and purses, as well as annihilating spare bills and coins. In return you'll get a mountain of fun, at least the first few times.
And we, having admired the Formula 1 simulator installed right near the entrance, calmly headed to the dorm, which we reached unexpectedly fast. There I chatted for a few more hours with my colleague ihavedream, because, despite some disagreements in our views, I don't really have anyone else to talk about music with in real life.
All in all, the day turned out to be simply amazing. Let's hope there will be more like this.
P.S. The next day, as usual, I went home on the 4-hour express train, and in the morning I caught a screening of the movie "Day Watch".
But about that - next time.
P.P.S. Unfortunately, they don't pay me for advertising GOPLANET. But it would be nice.