Last night I let another player get under my skin and I decided to teach a little lesson. The names will be changed here to protect the guilty. Let's just call him The Unnamed Player...and you'll understand that to be a much more clever pseudonym if you happen to be from our site. :) My agitation with a situation actually started building last week as I watched multiple times where this player did nothing but go all try-hard in some very tame public games by farming huge easy points off kids and inexperienced players (I know, you're saying "it's laser tag, nothing new there") and additionally by staking out the newest addition to our arena, a third tablet beacon. This third beacon is great i

Normally when I play tag locally I still have to drive an hour and a half to get to the nearest arena, but this past weekend the arena came to me! The Fun Warehouse brought their mobile laser tag arena to a local festival that was happening very close to where I live. Perfect, since I was already planning to be at the festival! This hometown event was an ideal opportunity for the tag guys to come out to my neck of the woods. This festival arranged to cover the cost of the tag so that it was free for the public to enjoy at the event. Needless to say I played my fill and enjoyed a beautiful day out on the field in between games, some of which included a few highlights. One of my favorite round

The final stop on my journey was to play some tag in North Dakota, checking that off as my 49th state played. There were two options...one was an oversized entertainment park where the tag option would have been Lazer Runner (I was going to call this my backup option if timing didn’t work out for my first choice) or driving an hour beyond that (and over three hours from my last stop) to Northern Air Family Fun Center in Grand Forks, ND. By some miracle the timing all worked. I called ahead from South Dakota and Elena told me if I got there by 6:30 I would still be able to play the last game before closing. It looked like I would just make it! So I hit the road again. Remember I actually star

When I rushed through the door at Univerzal Lazer in Watertown, SD I knew I was playing a game of beat the clock in order to get back on the road in time to make the three hour drive to the arena in North Dakota in time to play. But I couldn’t pass by without trying to get a game in at this site too. So I burst through the door in a hurried state, no doubt startling the laid back group of guys inside playing Magic The Gathering at the tables inside. One of them, Adam, got up from his table and came over to greet me. I asked if I could play a game of laser tag and he told me there was a group scheduled in a little while. I told him I was really pressed for time and didn’t have the time to wai

My next stop in South Dakota was to Galaxy Gaming in Sioux Falls. I had a great time here, but unfortunately I have no idea what brand of tactical laser tag I was playing. They refer to it as Laser Combat, but I’m not certain (and neither were the employees) whether this was a manufacturer’s name I am unfamiliar with or an internal branding, so forgive my lack of specifics and please email me if you recognize this gear. I was given the option of two phasers, one longer… …and one shorter. With a digital screen for game info and a red reload button. I selected the shorter one because it seemed closer to the traditional phasers I am most comfortable with. Hailey gave me some instruction on how

I really love finding interesting and unusual ways to play laser tag, so I was very interested to visit the Laser Barn in Yankton, South Dakota. My original schedule did not allow enough time for a visit so I want to express big thanks to owners Kim and Peggy who were kind enough to open up early so that I could get a game in at the start of my day driving northbound. The Laser Barn runs Adventure Sports HQ tactical laser tag gear which was a first for me. Peggy gave me some history and told me that this equipment was designed in part for kids who wanted to have a paintball experience, but were unable to do so (such as children in the Make-A-Wish program)…this laser tag equipment made it pos

When I visited the Power Play Entertainment Center in Shawnee, Kansas I bought a pass for laser tag and was told where to go wait in line for the next game. Even though there were plenty of people at this entertainment center enjoying the arcade and other attractions my timing was bad and I appeared to be the only one there for tag at the moment. So I approached a teenage employee and asked if there was any chance that a staff member might do a one on one game with me. Holding the company line, he replied exactly as he was taught and told me that unfortunately employees were not allowed to play against the public. I understood he was just following the policy rules of the site and I encounte

It was early on a Saturday evening when I arrived at Advanced Laser Tag in Olathe, Kansas. This was on my list because it was a Laserforce site…and coincidentally I went in wearing my new t-shirt from the Warehouse with Laserforce in bright orange letters across the front. As I’ve mentioned before, I like tag swag. When I walked up to the front counter I was told that there was nobody there for laser tag at the moment and that there were no groups scheduled, so they couldn’t guarantee any more games would happen this night. Well, to my mind it was a little too early to be giving up on the night. I asked about playing against an employee and at first my request was refused until I explained w

When I learned that the only site in North America to play Laser Maxx Laser Trooper was in Topeka, Kansas I knew I had to plan a visit with my friends Miranda and Elaine and go try this out! Fortunately they live right in town, so we got to visit over a nice lunch before heading over to the West Ridge Mall to meet up with site owner Kip Walker and his family and learn about this system that I have never before had an opportunity to play. Upon arrival I learned just how few places currently have this system, but hopefully Kip will be a part of expanding Laser Trooper’s presence in the U.S. For now, these are the sites identified on their poster. Although I do not play a lot of tactical laser

Sometimes when I travel I have to show up at arenas at odd times just to be able to stay on track to visit as many sites as possible. This was the case when I got into Manhattan, KS and walked into Widgets Family Fun at 10:00 in the morning. Now, some sites are cool with accommodating me early in the day, but that doesn’t always translate into a decent game. However here when I requested to play against a couple of staff members they really brought a good game to get my heart rate up at the start of my day! I vested up for a game of Helios against Alyssa and Caleb. We entered their “Clockwork Quest” arena and something immediately struck me. Everything around me looked like it had the hallma

My boss has a favorite saying…”perception is reality”. Well, not entirely so in the case of my second stop in Omaha. I had a list of places I had planned to visit, but as I mentioned previously there was a significant flight delay that threw my schedule way off track. So I had to make some decisions about which sites to visit and which to cut from my list. My first one was a no brainer to keep and for my second one I selected a site which had impressed me with their website. The website for Family Fun Center XL promotes their Black Ops Laser Tag and games with “awesome new themes” like Wizarding Laser Tag, Rebel Squad Laser Tag and a list of “intermediate game modes” and also “advanced game

It was probably more than a year ago that I first stumbled upon a video promoting projection walls at The Mark in Omaha, Nebraska. I decided that when I finally got to visit this part of the midwest that this site would be a MUST just to check out these walls. The Mark is a big entertainment site of the lanes, games and bar/grill variety. After having my flight delayed six hours, my first stop upon arriving was to grab some food at the bar. But after re-energizing myself with some delicious three cheese mac and cheese I was ready to see what this was all about. I introduced myself to one of the managers, John, and I think my interest took him by surprise because he did not realize that the w

I recently took another tag trip that had some amazing highlights that I can't wait to share. I visited with my friends Miranda and Elaine in Kansas where we played at the only Laser Maxx Laser Trooper site in all of North America. I saw projection walls up close in Nebraska. I played A LOT of tactical in South Dakota and I finished up with one of the most interesting games of Delta Strike in North Dakota, bringing the total of states where I have played laser tag up to 49. I have not yet had the time to properly go through all the photos and document the experiences of this most recent trip, but I have had time to reflect on how remarkable the entire journey has been. To be sitting here loo