Having broken free and realized with surprise that we were still alive, we decided to party hard, for which purpose we headed back to the dorm. It should be mentioned that a 15-minute walk from our dorm lie not only the two largest shopping malls in the Baltics - ALFA and DOMINA, but also a whopping massive entertainment center, GO PLANET.
According to folks who had already visited this amusement park, there is plenty to see there, and even more to try. The proper cilveki (which means people in Latvian), like ihavedream, didn't spill any spoilers, but merely reported that this establishment absolutely must be visited. Whereas the loose-lipped blabbermouths (we won't point fingers) reported in detail on all the secrets, which is behavior I personally find quite unappealing.
Consisting of three boys and one girl, our crew began moving down the road that runs past the dorm. Meanwhile, we didn't even glance at a map. We trudged along the busy highway until we ended up in a dense forest. Having narrowly avoided a critical mistake in the form of taking a wrong turn, yours truly still made it to the coveted destination thanks to my geographic intuition and the precise directions of the aforementioned blabbermouths.
You can't see a thing, but it's immediately clear this is our goal
Once inside, we were surprised to behold a Formula 1 car attached to the wall.
Formula 1
Next, we borrowed a price list for the services at the checkout, inspected the complex, and found out what rides were available and what they cost. To the working people's delight, 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 frantically shake and jerk to create the most authentic sensations possible for the visitors. They cost from $1 to 2.5$
- Go-karts. Pretty standard, but the track is large and convoluted, which is a joy. Costs 10$.
- The 4D cinema, which was the very purpose of our visit. An ordinary person would say that 4D can't exist. A smarter person would say that any 3D cinema is actually 4D, since the fourth dimension is time. And a really smart one, or someone involved in economics, will shrug and indifferently mumble something about marketing. It costs 5$ for 10 minutes, and they only screen 2 different movies.
- Car acceleration simulator. It's a car on rails, with wide rubber bands attached to its sides and hooked to the floor. The car is pulled back to the wall by a special trolley, stretching the rubber bands. Then it's released, and the passengers sitting in the seats experience incomparable sensations, akin to those of launching astronauts, 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 to the joy at all, and might, on the contrary, lead to the loss of your stomach contents. This questionable pleasure costs a whopping 10$, which adds no appeal to it.
- A "Hummer" jeep with two machine guns and 3D glasses. The jeep pretends it's actually driving, and judging by the frantic jerks and swaying from side to side, it's not driving on the best of roads. Meanwhile, you and your partner shoot down various evil foes in outdated computer graphics. But hey, it's three-dimensional. When I put the glasses on for the first time and saw a frag grenade flying at me, I almost screamed.
- Billiards, slides for kids, and other minor stuff.
We visited the 4D cinema first. I won't talk about what's inside, so as not to spoil the fun for those who haven't been yet, I'll just say - 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 sly goal of talking about it only right here.
Actually, for us it was called DarkLight, while laser tagging is just the general name for such amusements. The gist is as follows.
This is what the armor looks like when worn
The participants (usually 10-30 people) are issued armor with light bulbs and guns that shoot a "laser" beam. Then the person is let into a two-story maze 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 light 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 put out of action for 6 seconds. (Of course, all the settings are adjustable, and I'm merely 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 gets a detailed printout of the results, which is nice. Yours truly was only in 18th place out of 28, which isn't too bad for a first time.
Mindless running and shooting temporary enemies, it turns out, brings a very real shot of adrenaline and total moral satisfaction, not to mention a noble fatigue. So, despite the slightly inflated price of 5$ for 15 minutes, I will surely return many more times, and not alone, but with my buddies.
The verdict for all this is as follows - the GOPLANET money-sucker is wonderful, highly recommended to everyone for emptying wallets and purses, as well as destroying spare bills and coins. In return, you will get a mountain of fun, at least the first few times.
As for us, having admired the Formula 1 simulator installed right by the entrance, we calmly headed off to the dorm, which we reached unexpectedly quickly. There, I spent another few hours chatting with my colleague ihavedream, because, despite some differences in views, in real life I don't really have anyone else to talk to about music.
In general, the day turned out to be simply amazing. Let's hope there will be many more like it.
P.S.The next day I went home as usual on the 4-hour express train, and in the morning I caught the movie "Day Watch".
But more on that - next time.
P.P.S. Unfortunately, I don't get paid for advertising GOPLANET. But it sure would be nice.