Celebrating with my 700th Arena

3 days ago
3 min read

In celebration of International Laser Tag Day, I wanted to mark the occasion with a milestone of my own by playing my 700th laser tag arena during a visit to Recoil Trampoline Park in Valdosta, GA.

I gave a great deal of thought to the selection of this arena, which has been on my radar for quite some time. Owner Trent Coggins has been a familiar face at Amusement Expo where I recently discussed my plans with him. I was confident his business would be an excellent location for this visit. I must say, I was literally “jumping” for joy at the idea!

Every weekend for the last two months has been building towards coordinating the timing for my 700th arena to take place on Laser Tag Day. Now that it was finally here, I arrived with as much excitement as the kids I saw enthusiastically bouncing on the trampolines when I entered!

Manager Karsyn greeted me and took me back to the laser tag arena where there was an awesome group already assembling to play. We took a moment for a photo underneath the sign with the big red arrow directly pointing us towards the game.

Before anything else, we watched a VERY engaging original briefing video, unlike any I have seen before! This was so well done. It began like you were just watching tv with a commercial for soap being interrupted by a special news report informing us that that the “base was under attack.”

It cut to a “press conference” where we were given instructions about what we could do and how to use our gear to defend the base. Very clever approach!

We suited up with our Delta Strike Genesis packs.

I took a moment to revel in the fact that I was about to play tag in Georgia again, making this the 30th state completed on my “3rd Time’s the Charm” effort to play in all 50 states yet again.

Ok, time to enter the arena! Probably the first thing to catch my eye was this A-10 plane looming overhead.

There is a target on the underside of the plane, so I made a point to tag it.

Then I explored the terrain of this 3500 square foot arena space with lots of structures, obstacles and the shaped-edge walls I particularly like.

You can see there are a few aircraft watching over this arena.

In one corner there is a raised platform with windows for an elevated perspective.

And video base stations allow you to get additional power-ups during the game.

Plenty of things in this arena to keep your mind engaged and immerse you in the experience!

I had a great time laser tagging with this awesome group!

And I got a tour of the rest of the facility, which is a huge 42,000 square foot family entertainment center with a large arcade, ninja course, “glow” kart track, outdoor ropes course and my other favorite (just second to laser tag)…trampolines!