Adventures in Canada: LaserMaxx is What You “Otta” Play In Ottawa!

I know I really tortured the pun in this title, but the bottom line is it was well worth making the drive from New York to Ottawa to have my first experience playing LaserMaxx…and if you have the opportunity, you “otta” play there too! :)

I decided to make a day trip up to Canada this past weekend. I had a mid-morning reservation, but arrived early enough to check out the arena and get a guided tour by Simon aka “Says” (I’m embarrassed to say I was halfway to Montreal before it dawned on me how clever his codename is!) and I learned quite a bit very quickly.

Inside the vesting room I got my first chance to really check out the equipment up close.

The pack was fairly light as I detached the phaser from the clip under the front sensor.

We entered the large arena that was formerly an LQ site. While I am told that it has been updated (now delineated into two halves), I would have still recognized it immediately as a typical LQ arena, but I can’t speak to how much they changed because I had not played there previously. What I can say is that this equipment blends together very well with this space. Sometimes an arena feels particularly suited to a certain kind of gear, but this LaserMaxx felt like a natural fit.

Says pointed out a few key locations in the arena including the Termin8r Alley…

Chance’s corner (haunted?)…

And the Stone Cold tower. I tag this corner in memory of Harry.

And multiple levels of play space afforded a great view from the top.

I experimented a bit with the phaser, taking note of the sounds of player tags and what happened when I completed base tags.

There were two styles of bases in the arena. One required you to shoot the screen several times until a shield icon appeared and a power-up was acquired.

The other had a diamond of lights and the goal was to tag the base five times (with a gap of several seconds between tags).

However, the player who starts the sequence will not necessarily be the one to finish it. Whoever completes the fifth tag in the series gets the reward.

I looked down at the screen at the top of my chest sensor panel. It started with my codename loaded and ready to go.

During the game this screen gives you some key information, including what power-ups you earn when tagging a base.

And at the end of the game you exit through a very familiar looking gate.

My first time through the arena was just to get my bearings, but a group was gathering and I was excited to experience a proper game.

The game was a lot of fun! Plenty of mirrors throughout the arena allow players to make shots from unusual angles. I worked that to my advantage. :)

We saw an “information screen” at the end of the game, but didn’t see our scores until we exited the vesting area.

I was delighted to see my name at the top of the leaderboard!

Want to get a better idea of how my game went? They issue scorecards at the end, which is a nice souvenir of the experience.

And they sent me home with a couple other souvenirs of my visit to LaserMaxx Ottawa.

I had not ventured into Canada since before the pandemic, so to return and get to play a unique system that cannot currently be experienced in most parts of the United States (unless you venture to the west coast) made this trip well worthwhile and I think next time I’m in Ottawa I “Otta” return to LaserMaxx!