As we’re about to close out the last day of this decade, I’m feeling so fortunate to have had some remarkable experiences in the last year. As one friend of mine recently told me “you’ve done the impossible!” And I would certainly agree that a few of the things on this list certainly would have seemed impossible to me a relatively short time ago. I’d like to take a moment to reflect on my top ten laser tag highlights of 2019. 1. Playing laser tag with George Carter III and, in doing so, completing my goal to become the first person ever to play laser tag in all 50 states. This was absolutely the greatest highlight of my year without question. I made a little bit of history while playing a ga

I set out for New Jersey on the Sunday before Christmas to be part of the first ever Christmas tournament at Laser One in Wantage, NJ. I didn’t know how many people would actually show up on the weekend right before a holiday, but I was delighted to see they had an excellent turn out! I showed up early in order to get in a few practice games before the tournament began and chatted with the owner, Jim, about the things to be attentive to with this system. He pointed out a few things (including the accuracy bonus) and this was the first time I connected the similarities between Darklight and Intersphere….interesting to note! I almost never get to play this system and made a point to participat

Since I was already in the area, I decided to visit one of the other local laser tag sites nearby. I walked in and found it to be a very quiet night, but a few teenagers were playing the arcade games and the staff told me that this group was just waiting for a few others to arrive. So, I adopted my usual seat and waited as well…and waited. A little more than half an hour went by before anyone else showed up for laser tag, but eventually things turned around when the rest of the group arrived and I realized it was worth the wait. It turns out they had a really good size group of enthusiastic players and once they got everyone organized, I could tell that this would be a good night of tag. Sin

It’s always exciting when a new laser tag arena opens, especially when it’s right in your own backyard! This weekend I didn’t have to go very far to find a new laser tag site to play because I had a chance to visit Apex Entertainment in Albany, NY during their first week open for business in the Crossgates Mall. Apex is a large family entertainment center with plenty of other attractions including bowling, food, arcade and a lot more, however my attention was “laser focused” (forgive the pun) on trying out the new Gen 8 Laserforce equipment in an arena that impressed me for multiple reasons. When I first arrived, I took a seat at a table near the arena entrance and waited for my opportunity

This weekend I celebrated my fifth anniversary of launching this blog, although to be specific today is the actual anniversary of when I posted my first entry. That was long before I ever thought anyone would actually read it, lol…many thanks to those who do! I got a few nice congratulations from some celebrities who have a little something to say about their laser tag experiences also… I can’t believe how much has happened in the last five years! I look back to the early days of my blog when, quite frankly I was clueless, but I was having a good time just journaling about “what happened last night at tag”. From there I’ve had remarkable opportunities…playing laser tag across the country and

Tracee and I took a trip out to the Xtreme Fun Center in Largo, FL so we could play at the first Zone location in the United States to have installed Helios 2 with the new video bases that I had seen making their North American debut that same week at IAAPA. I love to be in on a first! After all, I rushed to travel to Lansing, MI so that I could be there first to play the first installed Helios 2 arena in the country, so to find out the first installed video bases were so close to where we were was amazing luck! Let’s check out these video bases… Of course there are plenty of game options where these video bases are far more interactive, but for playing in a standard public game it was still

Following IAAPA I wanted to pay a visit to see my friend Tracee who now lives just outside of Tampa. Since she is living so close to one of the longest running Q-Zar locations (and one of the distinctive few still operating in the country) I suggested we go play some laser tag at Q-Zar Tampa. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Zac Adams, the general manager who I had met at IAAPA earlier in the week when he was kind enough to share his perspective of Q-Zar as a longtime player who has been enjoying the game since 1987. Here’s what he had to say during our interview… Zac then showed us around the place that still has a wonderful retro feel and we took a moment for some photos by the

I spent three wonderful days in Orlando attending this year’s IAAPA Expo conference and trade show where my time was spent seeing the latest in laser tag, visiting with friends and interviewing some of the founders and key players from the major laser tag manufacturers in attendance. This year I was not simply there for the enjoyment of seeing all the latest innovations that they were introducing at the show, but also to record some history and stories about how each of these laser tag companies began and the origins of their systems. There was so much great information and historical perspective offered which will be incorporated into a video series I am producing for the Laser Tag Museum.