Big thanks to RePlay Magazine for including our Tag 4 A Cause event to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation in their November issue. We held this fundraiser during the September regional draft tournament at Skyway Laser Storm.
The Epilepsy Foundation also recently shared the news in the fall/winter edition of their community magazine called Foundation Quarterly! You can read about it on page 22 and 23 here…
On this week’s episode of Laser Unfocused Tag Talk we get to hear all about the latest in laser tag directly from the manufacturers themselves who were exhibiting their newest laser tag innovations during the recent IAAPA Expo in Orlando, FL.
Battle Company brought more than just their new laser tag equipment to this year’s IAAPA Expo and I was excited to see just what exactly was hiding behind this wall!
I noticed my friend, laser tag operator Marc Mueller, visiting at the booth and checking out some of the newest equipment that Battle Company had to share this year, including the updated Titan phaser and the circular Nova tagger.
They were showcasing these two new laser tag products along with a new neckband sensor, all of which had me intrigued.
Director of Sales Brian Sytkowski told me all about their excitement in showcasing these products at the show.
I wanted to try the equipment for myself and, with Marc right there, it was the perfect opportunity to experience a game.
But where could we play? Well, this year Battle Company had a complete micro-arena built on-site as part of their set-up on the show floor, so a proper demo game was able to happen right there at the booth! Check out what I experienced while trying out their latest gear.
Good game Marc! It really was awesome to not only try out some of the latest innovations from Battle Company, but to do so while catching up with a few familiar faces as well. :)
Soaking up some sun while in Orlando was definitely good. Playing some laser tag while I did so was even better! That’s what I experienced when I got to play an impromptu outdoor game of tag with the team from LaserMaxx while visiting their booth during IAAPA, where the sun was always shining!
This was a great opportunity to learn more about this system, which is growing its presence in North America with locations having opened on both coasts, many of which I have visited during my travels. I was eager to hear about it directly from Philip Aldis, the president and CEO of LaserMaxx North America and David Van Valkengoed, a representative from the LaserMaxx manufacturer, who both shared insights about their laser tag equipment along with a few thoughts for operators.
I already had some familiarity the packs with the black plastic phaser, but I was definitely intrigued by something I was seeing for the first time…the clear, vestless phaser they call LaserPlay.
This really is the year of the vestless phaser, so I was definitely interested in learning more as David showed me how the lights and sensors glow visibly through the clear plastic for a self-contained piece of game equipment.
He explained to me that this is a one-handed phaser, so clearly there are some notable differences between this and the LaserMaxx packs that I had experienced before.
Philip demonstrated the durability of the equipment and then we used that very same gear for a demo game along with David and Mackenzie, which gave me a chance to play with the pros and experience both the traditional system vs the vestless LaserPlay.
This visit was quite informative and I feel like I learned a lot more about the LaserMaxx system. Of course I won’t be dropping any packs on the ground next time I play, but it’s certainly good to know that everything would still be fine if I did!
There was a Fusion of cool elements going on over at the Laserforce booth at IAAPA this year and I was looking forward to seeing exactly what they were bringing to the party.
Look ma, no vest!
The Fusion vestless phaser was the new product that Laserforce had to share, with plenty of excitement on the heels of being named a brass ring finalist for this new phaser debut.
Rohan Kelly, Director of Laserforce Australia, shared that the name Fusion comes from all the features of Gen 8 Infinity being “fused” directly into the phaser, which provides an alternative equipment option for smaller spaces or smaller budgets. He noted that this could serve as a ref phaser in place of having a staff member wear a whole pack and also mentioned the convenience of the magnetic charging.
Of course I had to try it out! No twisting my arm for this, as I love to experience new innovations first and I always enjoy playing a game with Rohan.
I had another first experience when I saw that the phaser style had also been incorporated into their sister product from Pixel World called Quickshot. Tim, please come join me for a game!
The Fusion feels all at once both familiar and new, but the Quickshot game was a fresh way to incorporate the Laserforce gear into a different way to play. Now I think I’m ready for a rematch! ;)
I have visited the Gel Blaster Nexus booth every year since they debuted their product at IAAPA in 2023 and this year I had a chance to see how much progress they have made in that short time with the release of their new Gen 2 system.
In actuality, I had already experienced a real world game with the Gen 2 gear just prior to my trip to Florida at one of the very earliest locations where it was installed in advance of the show, so I went in with a few first-hand questions that I was pleased to be able to ask directly to Gel Blaster founder and CEO, Colin Guinn.
He told me all about the process of getting from the product introduction to Gen 2 in the short span of only a couple of years.
I was delighted to see his surprise upon learning I had already experienced the new Gen 2 gear “out in the wild”, though of course I was also ready to check it out again at their booth.
However, he had a bigger surprise for me when he invited me to be among the first to try an upcoming feature, on the way, but still in the beta testing stage, that he showed me during a demo night at Main Event Orlando.
This is where I first saw their auto content generating tool that allows for video to be taken during an actual game and immediately edited into a highlight reel. Let’s check this out!
Suffice it to say, we were both pleasantly surprised with unexpected things during this visit! It was great to experience the very latest coming from Gel Blaster Nexus and I look forward to seeing where this newest innovation goes!
