Time to earn the Laserforce Halloween achievement! Or, so I thought. So I headed out for a few games, donning my cat mask as my costume, and ready to earn earn a little digital badge on my membership card for playing on Halloween. However, you’ll notice that this is not it... This kitty is giving side eye because in spite of best intentions I could not make this happen today. The trouble is that I learned once I got there that THIS is the actual achievement, which would require me to be playing at midnight just as the clock crosses over to the next day...ha! With the current limited hours of operation this was just not going to be possible for me tonight. Honestly, this does not really matte

I have made some wonderful friends through laser tag and I’m delighted that, with the world being so well connected through technology, I can occasionally even make tag friends on different continents. One such wonderful soul in Australia was recently kind enough to connect me with a couple of Zone V3 packs for my personal collection for which I am deeply moved and appreciative! A parcel arrived at my house yesterday containing these amazing pieces of Zone history! These packs are significant to me because they represent a very early stage in the history of one of my favorite brands. In a way, it’s similar to the appreciation I have for Photon in that, even though this version was retired ov

This week I took on the Badass Running Company’s “Beam Me Up 5K” virtual charity race as a laser tag challenge with my participation helping to support Feeding America to provide 40 meals for those in need. This is my third 5K challenge this month that I have completed in a laser tag arena instead of as a traditional run/walk and I love that these challenges are giving me a renewed purpose for going out to tag while also inspiring me with ways that I can make a difference as well (stay tuned). Since last weekend I focused on the central NY arenas, I decided this week to head east, back to Apex Entertainment in Albany. This arena is part of an FEC in a mall, so I took a seat and waited for

If it weren’t for the pandemic, I was supposed to have been in Denver this past weekend laser tagging in support of the Doreen Katz Memorial Cancer Foundation. Since that couldn’t happen, I decided to support anyway and tag another 5K locally in honor of Doreen. I did it as a progressive 5K, doing a mile (roughly four games) in each of three local arenas so I could still end the day having tagged for this great cause. Remembering back to when I was leaving LQ Phoenix after the last DKMCF fundraiser on the night of March 15th (heading home right as things were beginning to lock down throughout the United States), I had no idea how the world was about to change. One of the last things I said t

The third stop of my Tron Trek was…interesting. I don’t mean that as necessarily good or bad, just interesting in that there were things I was not expecting when I visited Pinz in Milford, MA. When I arrived there were a handful of customers milling about, but I could tell I was the only one there looking to laser tag, so I enlisted staff member Tim to do a one on one and he showed me to the entrance in front of a stairway to the upper level arena. The first thing to make me go “hmmm” was seeing the Lasertron logo at the top of a Lazer Runner stargate. I assumed this arena must have previously operated with Runner, but didn’t spend too much time on that thought as I was led to the combo brie

Having played so far at all the Xtreme Craze locations except for one, I decided this trip to Massachusetts I would rectify that and check the last one off my list. That’s what prompted me to make a visit to Foxborough, where I think I had the best time out of all of them! When I showed up I was told that they could accommodate a game in about twenty minutes, so I took this opportunity to visit the sushi restaurant just up the road. AMAZING sushi at Sushi Madness…just saying! By the time I returned the place was bustling with some customers, but none signed up right then for laser tag, so instead I had the chance to play a four round session with staff member Conner who gave me some EXCELLEN

I took a Tron Trek…yeah, I just made that name up. However, it seems like a fitting way to describe an afternoon spent traveling to eastern Massachusetts and playing at three arenas in a row that are all running Lasertron equipment….so there you go, a Tron Trek. My first stop was to In The Game in Peabody, MA. I was greeted at the door when I arrived and I appreciate their diligence in checking my temperature and signing me in as part of their steps to keep things safe inside their facility. I was shown the way to the arena where, after a four hour drive, I was ready to burn off some energy and enjoy playing three games of shields up/down solo format with Dylan and Sam while I continued tes

This weekend laser tag returned at the Fun Warehouse in Syracuse! And I was right back there to support my home site on opening day with a new goal in front of me. I planned to laser tag my way to 5K…and of course I mean distance, not score, lol. With so many run/walk events going virtual I thought it would be interesting to track how many games it would take me to laser tag that same distance inside an arena. So I got involved with an online runners group (even though the first rule in every laser tag arena is “I will not run”) and received tremendous support for this idea! I purchased a fitness tracker with an app to keep a log of my steps and distance covered in each game. What I found wa

I love eBay! When you are a collector it is like a treasure trove and I love to explore different search topics and see what pops up. Recently I stumbled upon a seller who had a tremendous amount of cool, vintage Lazer Tag items from the Worlds of Wonder collection. What caught my eye first was a grouped lot of three Lazer Tag novels (I believe they were of the “choose your own adventure” variety), which I have always been curious about and noticed that they were selling together at a very reasonable price. This purchase lead to my shopping with this same seller and finding a few more vintage Lazer Tag items of interest, so we messaged back and forth about the shipping options. Then somethin

The last time I had ventured into CT I won a gift card loaded up with laser tag and game cash from the tournament in Bristol, so it seemed appropriate to use that up in CT also with a visit to Spare Time locations in Vernon and Windsor Locks. What I love about Spare Time is that after visiting several of them (five or six I think) I have not seen the same arena theme repeated twice! Unlike another large FEC chain where I can stand in the same spot and take the same photo in every location (we’re all thinking of the same place, right?) I did not have that redundancy here and have really enjoyed each Spare Time for the unique experience I’ve had at each one. Vernon was up first and I really LO

As I continued touring the northern Connecticut tag scene I stumbled upon a wonderful surprise when I visited Nomad’s Adventure Quest in South Windsor. I arrived just in time to join a group of six players heading into Nomad’s Lost City Laser Battle. I followed them in looking fierce in my Mandarr Mask, lol. The game master asked if we wanted to play teams or solo and the group decided solo, with the most alpha male of the bunch speaking up confidently that “yeah, the game where I can get the high score”. I was glad to have a mask to hide the smile that spread across my face when I realized I could play a little more intensely now that I knew he thought he had this. But that wasn’t the nice

I live in New York and I have been (and will continue to be) very diligent during the course of the last few months about following recommendations and safety precautions. The big three recommendations (wear a mask, wash your hands and keep your social distance) are actually very reasonable to follow in a laser tag setting, so I am starting to feel more comfortable with following that guidance while baby-stepping back into a few laser tag activities in the places where it is currently permitted and the businesses are open. As an advocate for the industry and also as someone who has witnessed safety precautions in several arenas first-hand I feel comfortable with this, particularly knowing th