I’ve been fortunate enough to play in quite a few laser tag arenas (145 as of this writing) which has afforded me the chance to compare a lot of different map layouts, game styles and design aesthetics. And one thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of arenas really look a lot alike, which is why I always comment when I see one that is distinctively different. I can identify the hallmarks of a Creative Works arena instantly (and that is not a criticism, just a statement of fact) and that is fine because they make some cool looking props and walls. However, I recently noticed a phenomenon that I want to discuss…twinning arenas. I’m not talking about identical layouts since every space is diffe

There’s an old theatrical superstition that says if you have a bad dress rehearsal you will have a great show. Well, I certainly hope the same applies in laser tag. Even though the next “show” is still a couple of weeks away, I went in treating last night as my “rehearsal” time to practice the relevant game formats and get my game polished up. I figured it’s an asset to be able to get in some practice in my home arena before I travel to compete out of state again and it would probably give me a good confidence boost to have a night just to do well at home in Syracuse first. Well…let’s just say that did NOT happen last night! XD At the beginning of the night I made a request to play a few spe

Gotta say, I am absolutely loving my new hoodie that just arrived today from the land down under! The Melbourne Laser Tag Association (MLTA) did a great job putting together this design with their logo on the front and my code name with a Helios Pro phaser silhouette on the back. Such a great way to show some love for my favorite laser tag system and also my support from afar for this laser tag league that participates in the Zone Laser Tag Australasian Championships. You can see more about that here… https://m.facebook.com/groups/652730834791808 Someday I hope to have the chance to play laser tag in Australia and since I’m a Zone girl I’m especially proud to sport this shirt that combines a

The last laser tag location I got to play on Long Island was at Laser Bounce. Here we got to play some Lasertron 10. The arena was on the small side and set up a little differently than I expected. We were told to shoot the bases which were located at each side’s painted alien. However, the game master also instructed that there were hidden targets on the towers. Now, this was an unusual turn of phrase because where these targets were “hidden” was actually on the arch where I would normally look for a base anyhow…so it sort of sounded like it was presented backwards, but a distinction without a real difference. The game went for a solid 15 minutes (instead of being broken up into a couple of

The main reason I wanted to tag on Long Island was to have a chance to visit Q-Zar NY. After having such a great time playing at Q-Zar in Concord, CA I wanted to experience the game again in a real arena (not just in a ‘geddon setting) and since the options are pretty limited (to Concord, CA, Carle Place, NY or Tampa, FL) this was the main catalyst for my weekend excursion. Now, since the choices are few and far between I can really only compare between the NY and CA sites. NY definitely felt smaller. The lobby area was packed with people and it felt a little bit like we were sardines. After logging my info at the ipad station I made my way to the front to get game passes for the night. Ther

OMG, Lazerland of LI was PACKED on a Saturday night! When I went to the counter to buy my game passes I asked if I could get into the game that was going in at that moment. However, there was no chance of that. In fact I was sent to wait in a line for the next opportunity and just barely got into that game because they had so many people there waiting for a chance to play some Nexus in the arena. Now THIS is the kind of game I was looking forward to! The arena was two levels and that made it feel a lot bigger than it probably was (although it was certainly a decent sized space). It almost felt like two separate games were being played between the two levels. The only thing I really wasn’t wi

The next stop was a business owned by the family of Mike O., one of my Baltigeddon teammates from a couple of years ago. It was actually a nice surprise to cross paths with him again as we entered into the lobby of Active Kidz, which had a name that (thankfully) did not fully describe the turnout of players. They actually had a nice blend of all ages including kids, teens and adults to make for a decent game of Laserforce. Unfortunately, they were not set up to accept my membership card to give me a proper level balance, so I was sent in as a level one just like everyone else. I grabbed a pack called Karma got ready for the first of two games. I really enjoyed playing at this site, from targ

For awhile now I’ve wanted make a trip down to Long Island for a weekend just to check out the tag sites. So when my original weekend plans got changed at the last minute I decided that this was the perfect time to do it. First stop once we got to Long Island was the Laser Kingdom in Farmingdale. There are actually two Laser Kingdom locations, but timing would not allow a visit to the Coram site to happen this trip. We walked in to see a game in progress through the big observation window. They were playing some classic Hyper Blast in an “unusual terrain”. Once inside I got a chance to check out their arena design. It was a mountainous space design with lots of cave-like structures in place

I recently paid a visit to Wood N Wheel in Ulster Park, NY as I was headed down to Long Island. I was fully expecting to play a game of Laserforce (which I did). But when the woman behind the counter handed me this ticket… I knew right away this was going to be another case of arena identity crisis. One of my personal pet peeves is when I see an arena that runs one laser tag system while using logos and branding from another… and I’ve noticed this the most with former Storm arenas. This was exactly the case here. I asked this woman about this inquiring whether they actually run Laser Storm (knowing the answer already) and completely without irony she said “no, we run laser tag”. (face palm…b