Totally Top Notch at The City Forum

The City Forum is well named and well worth a visit if you find yourself anywhere near Clarksville, TN. I had a few choices in front of me as I decided which direction I should go for my next laser tag game and I definitely picked the right one. :)

I walked into the entrance and before I purchase my game I was already smiling at the dad joke posted on the wall!

Then when I made my way into the entertainment area I was blown away by what I saw. This place is massive, but with a unique, classy style which sets it apart from many of the FECs I have visited. At 120,000 square feet, the size of the warehouse in which the facility is built makes it one of the largest indoor entertainment centers in the country! What’s more is that this is not part of a corporate chain, but rather a locally owned business started in May of 2018 and operated by owners Trent and Dana Knott and their family including Chase Knott and Luci and Jon Armistead.

The first thing I noticed upon entering The City Forum was the massive mini golf course with fountains and structures right in the center of it all.

It was surrounded by an arcade, indoor race track, snack area, bowling and of course (my reason for being there) laser tag.

This place is seriously impressive and I continued to be impressed even before entering the arena. You see, this site runs Laserforce Gen 7 and I am very well acquainted with the LF provided briefing video. However, The City Forum has made their own briefing video that included more relevant info, a graphic of the map and better instructions than what I typically see before a game. Their briefing video is very thorough, good quality and actually (in my opinion) better than the LF video.

I asked who made the video because it was so well done and I was told that it was Jon Armistead who was on site and whom I could meet following my game.

I entered the 4500 square-foot, two story arena and continued to be impressed. It is a CW built site, but it had a much more stylized and distinctive look than the standard CW themes I normally come across.

When I met Jon after the game he explained a bit about how the arena aesthetic came to be. He told me his wife, Luci, gave Creative Works her idea and vision for this to represent the city with unique, local touches like the water tower (which is also where you will find the generator).

Her concept was for the first level to represent the city underground with a darker, grunge-style look while the upper level would be bright and showcase the city you would see above ground.

During the pandemic this business did have to close for eight weeks, but with the family owning the building they were in a better position to bounce back and from what I observed it looks like this is a thriving site. Jon told me they have plans to continue improving with intentions of upgrading to Gen 8 equipment and adding the membership feature in the future. It’s nice to hear an operator who speaks so highly of their chosen laser tag manufacturer as well as Jon told me (unsolicited) that Laserforce is their absolute favorite vendor that they have and they have never had an issue that LF couldn’t solve for them quickly. High praise indicating that laser tag is likely to stay a strong and vibrant part of the landscape at The City Forum.

If you are looking for a fun and varied gaming experience in northwestern Tennessee I highly recommend paying a visit…and apparently so does your mom!