Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
A few weeks ago my family and I went to the press day at the brand new Rumble Live at Rutland Water in Rutland near Nottinghamshire and we had such a brilliant afternoon.
This brand-new Rumble Live is in addition to the one at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire and is a live-action game – a bit like laser tag but outdoors and more fun! The custom-built outdoor arenas at Grafham Water and Rutland Water each have a central Rangers’ cabin where the games are controlled and where you find out your missions, and the large-screen tv displays your team and individual stats which you can look at once each mission is complete. There are virtual medals awarded for all kinds of things – best shot-to-kill ratio, ‘survivalist’, most trigger happy and top gun.
The rest of my group did SO much better than me each time, despite the fact I thought I’d done brilliantly! The kids definitely have an advantage, being smaller and harder to spot as well as being able to move a lot faster than us oldies!
The arena at Rutland Water is made up of 6,000 square metres of woodland and built-out grassland so there are lots of trees to hide behind as well as a great range of hides, towers and bases to take cover and use to advance towards your targets. These include three large bases at each team baseline, two 15ft sniper towers and over 100 hides. Up to 40 people can play at once at this site, so it would be a brilliant thing to do in a group for say a hen do or a fun family event.
Rumble Live can be played by anyone over the age of eight as long as you are fit and healthy. It IS knackering running about through the woods and dipping up and down to hide, but if anyone doesn’t want to do loads of running then you can easily stay back in a hideout and shoot people from there, especially during the missions where you have a sniper and you would still have loads of fun and feel like you were joining in as you keep the enemy pinned down and support those on the ground!
We had a fantastic afternoon taking part in the different challenges or ‘missions’ set for us in our teams and were absolutely worn out by the end of it. You get an hour of gameplay in the arena (you can book back-to-back sessions, but my god, I think that would actually kill me) and there are plenty of ‘Rumble Rangers’ around to help you out and explain your missions.
When our timeslot came around we were split into teams, keeping our group of 5 together and then we each had to grab a weapon and the headband-sensor-lasery-thingy (that’s the technical term) that goes over your head and then we were briefed on our first mission, told where our base was and the types of weapon we would be using.
You have one ‘gun’ throughout the game but the type of weapon it is changes depending on the individual challenges, and you can also change between two types for most of the games. Your rifle is fitted with a ‘red-dot’ sight which can pick out your target over 250 metres away with pinpoint accuracy and it’s so much fun spotting a target through your sight, aiming and shooting and taking them (hypothetically!) out.
Then there are utility boxes hidden throughout where you can receive extra ammo, more lives and special weapons – the kids were brilliant at finding these but I was clueless!
If you love gaming then you will particularly love the fact that you can get respawns, medic packs, ammo boxes, and special weapon upgrades, as well as achieve kill streaks – I was pretty proud of my kill streak by the end! It’s super cool chasing your enemy, even if that’s a loved one – for one game, our teams were mixed up and my daughter and nephew took great pleasure in chasing and shooting me over and over!
It is best to wear comfy trousers (or shorts if it’s hot) and a T-shirt with layers if it’s cold, as well as old comfy trainers or boots that you don’t mind getting muddy and that you can run easily in as you will be doing lots of running. The day we went was absolutely freezing cold by the water (despite the fact it was April) but we quickly got boiling hot and had to take off all of our layers – you can leave them and any bags in the central cabin.
Make sure you take plenty of water with you because you’ll be desperate for it after each mission, and also a snack for afterwards is a good idea after burning off so much energy, particularly for tired and grumpy kids.
Rumble Live at Rutland Water in the county of Rutland is set in beautiful surroundings right next to the water, on the north shore of the reservoir off the A606 between Oakham and Stamford. Use the postcode LE15 8QL, park at the Sykes Lane car park and head right from there as you are facing the water – walk for a couple of minutes and you will come across Rumble on your left.
Rutland Water is a lovely place to visit, where you can have long walks and enjoy the countryside and reservoir, hire bikes, enjoy a coffee in the cafe and play at the park. In the summer months, there is also an Aqua Park which I have also done and it is a lot of fun!
There are two arenas at the Cambridgeshire Rumble Live location, located on the banks of Grafham Water, situated just south of the A14 and west of the A1 – use postcode PE28 0BH and you will get within a few metres of the main car park entrance. There is plenty to see and do here as well and also an Aqua Park in the summertime.
It costs £18 per person for one hour of gameplay. It’s not the cheapest activity to do and so it’s not something we could do all the time, but for a special event like a birthday or just an occasional, fun treat I think it’s absolutely worth it and we would definitely pay to go ourselves and we really want to go back.
We had a brilliant time and the kids (and the adults tbh!) couldn’t stop raving about it for ages afterwards – in fact, the next day I was sent a picture of my nephews dressed in headbands and with random implements they were using as guns and hiding out in trees!
We were gifted tickets for Rumble Live for our group but all words and opinions are my own. See my full disclosure policy here: About this site.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
Contact: [email protected]
