Tiviachick Loves Laser Tag: What Do You Call “Laser Tag?”

When I go to an FEC and ask “do you have laser tag?” you might think the answer would be a simple yes or no. However, lately there has been some grey area with a bit of confusion with some operators and their staff regarding what specifically I am asking to play. This has come up several times now in the context of arenas that have equipment with capabilities going unused. Specifically, I am finding this happening with Gel Blaster Nexus. To be clear, this is not a criticism of the system itself, but simply an awareness that nomenclature matters.

I went to Celebration Station in Mesquite after finding them listed on the Gel Blaster Nexus app (while wishing that other manufacturers made it that easy for me). I saw they had this system, so I assumed that if I went to play laser tag this would be what they would be using. However, when I walked in I saw a huge sign that read “Lasertron”. So if I go up to the counter and ask to play a game of laser tag, which way will this go? I suspected I already knew the answer.

My experience so far has been that if I enter a facility that only uses GBN then when I ask “do you have laser tag” they say yes and I get to play the gellet-free, non-projectile version of GBN laser tag. However, some places are adding GBN in addition to already having another laser tag system in place, so in those instances when I ask to play a game of laser tag the staff assumes I mean the traditional system and even when I try to clarify my question about which one they offer there appears to be some confusion. I think in many instances they simply don’t realize that GBN has a laser tag option. In this case, I asked for laser tag having walked in expecting to play GBN, but this center apparently only uses the gellet version of the game and does not even offer the GBN laser tag option. Instead, what this center refers to as laser tag is their upstairs Lasertron system. I have encountered similar situations more than once in the last year, so it deserves a note to address what appears to be a bit of a branding issue.

Obviously, I am the unicorn who will play whatever system is in front of me and either game was fine by me in that moment, but my point in explaining this is that there will continue to be confusion until the GBN laser tag format is better distinguished from it’s gellet-game counterpart. It’s like the childlike empress from The Neverending Story, perhaps in need of a new name!

After conversing with the manager and being told that Gel Blaster is available there, but GBN laser tag is not, I proceeded with my purchase of a game of Lasertron and that’s where we will pick up the story of this arena visit.

I headed upstairs to suit up for a game of Tron.

The vesting area is located on a balcony high above the rest of the facility.

The entrance is through this hexagonal archway…nice touch!

And the arena itself is a pretty standard single level build. We went in for a free for all game.

Considering it was FFA I am not sure why the game marshal made a point to steer up towards the recharge stations. It seemed to me that a few competitors were returning on the regular for absolutely no reason. Meanwhile I racked up some points and simply enjoyed a game, thinking to myself that it was pretty cool that somehow I had already managed to play eight different laser tag systems on this one single day and the day was not event done!

However, before long the game was. I did not really need to check the scoreboard as my pack was already dinging to let me know I was the high score player.