Battle For The Fort: Day 1

I finally made my way up to Fort Wayne, Indiana to play in the Battle For The Fort tournament with our laser tag team, Ascendance.

I'm so glad to be playing alongside people who love the game as much as I do. We gathered at the Ultrazone center around 6:45.

And Amber came back from the captain's meeting with more t-shirts!

Meanwhile I was picking up some fun Zone souvenirs.

There was ample time before the first event got underway. Tonight it was team tactical...aka the Big Team Grinder...aka essentially a cage match! Seriously, we were literally playing inside a cage kind of structure that had been constructed in the back garage of the center (the arena here is impressive, but we didn't actually get to play there yet).

In this competition team members would go in two at a time to try to eliminate two players from the other team. Then they'd be followed by two more players from each. Rinse and repeat. OK, this was actually a really unnerving experience, which I was not expecting. I've never been so conscious of everyone watching me (and mind you I used to compete in pageants with a swimsuit competition and this was STILL one of my more self conscious experiences!), but it didn't last long. The entire round was only five minutes. This was not a strong showing to go in with, but at least it got the nerves out of the way early. It was a first for me...well, I came here for some new tag experiences and it looks like that is exactly what BFTF will deliver! Looking forward to more. :)

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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Indiana: X-Site to the X-treme

Sometimes you can look at the outside of a laser tag center and get a pretty good idea of what kind of place it will be. Based on the entrance to X-Site in Indianapolis, IN I just knew this place would be pretty cool.

Plus it came well recommended. It's a Zone site with layered levels of arena space and a bright space theme throughout the whole center including their upper level observation deck (which I think is an asset whenever I find a center that has one).

I was called in with several groups and during the briefing each group was asked to huddle together to determine their team color. I joined with a group of younger players because I would rather shoot with the kids than at them. There were enough older players to be reasonable competition. In fact, this game had about thirty players, so pretty good turnout in the middle of the day in the middle of the week!

There were lots of cool spaces to tuck away and get some decent angles within the arena.

This is the first time I've played Zone with five separate teams using extra colors. It's just not been something that has been offered in regular games at most of the arenas I've been to, so that was a cool different element. I asked how that impacts the ability to get all the bases (since I was on the red team and couldn't take that base). I was told that I should have been able to get it anyway, but this was not the case in this game. Since I stumbled upon the red base first I tested it before moving on to deactivate the other bases considering the multi-color format, but this was not a free for all so it seemed my standard expectation held...not that it made a big difference to me. Just taking note of the unique things that I observed.

I also found it interesting that this arena had stairs...and a lot of them!

Until this trip I had never experienced an arena with stairs and in the last couple of days I've been in two of them. That's the only thing I wasn't really wild about, but I suppose the game masters have a handle on keeping players from moving too fast for it to be an issue.

I took the top spot as Condor and as we checked out the view screen there were some nice comments about it.

The staff here was fantastic and so accommodating to let me take pics and ask questions about their facility. This is an impressive center that had a lot to offer, had appeal for a wide age spectrum and everyone seemed to enjoy the game. I certainly did!

And I picked up a t-shirt and a slushie for the road before I left.

This was a great mid-point to stop and play as I was making my way North to Fort Wayne. I'd love to return to play at this center next time I pass through Indianapolis!

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

More Tag in Kentucky: Tag at 9:00 AM on a Thursday? Sure!

Before leaving Kentucky I wanted to visit at least one more center, but time was not on my side. However, Main Event in Louisville had business hours starting at 9:00 in the morning.I called ahead not expecting that there would be anyone there at that early hour on a weekday, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn they were running a summer special that brought people in and I had a nice group to play against.

They use Delta Strike equipment. What a joy this game was. For the first time I got to really experience properly functioning Delta Strike! It's like a whole different game when the phasers work well and this was a smooth game.

This arena was a double level with lots of open space, but some nice cubby hideaways as well and the group predominantly played on the upper level the whole time. bYou can also see there are some hints of Tron with a few familiar looking towers here and there, so I wonder if they had previously been a Lasertron location?

I had a conversation the night before about the intuitiveness (or lack thereof) of this system, but this time it all seemed like an easy flow. I played as Luigi...my best game of Delta Strike so far (although I wasn't pushing it very hard this morning).

And my thanks to the staff and management who were kind enough to send me off with a souvenir shot glass with the Main Event logo. Yay to tag swag. :) 

And thanks to Main Event for a great start to my day!

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Kentucky: Lazer Blaze and the Laser Tag Museum

Oh my goodness, there was too much awesomeness to this stop that I can't do it proper justice without a completely separate post dedicated to the museum! However, in the meantime I would love to tell you about the most incredible stop of my trip. I went to Lazer Blaze in Louisville, KY where I was greeted upon arrival by Erik Guthrie, curator of the museum and Vice President of Zone Laser Tag US. He's a great guy who I have interviewed before and he was kind enough to make a two hour drive to come to Louisville and give me a guided tour of the museum collection, as the entryway to Lazer Blaze is home to the display for the Laser Tag Museum (www.lasertagmuseum.com).

Erik gave me a tour of Lazer Blaze and we went in for a game. What was incredible about the game (besides the fact that I was playing Zone laser tag with the VP of Zone Laser Tag...how cool is that?) was the arena itself. We were playing on the last original Photon field in existence!

That made my Photon heart so happy! It was a great time playing. Erik took the opportunity to teach the game to a younger player we had teamed with and I took the time to explore and enjoy the experience for all it was worth. I played as Hawkeye and had a great time.

And they hooked me up with a Lazer Blaze temporary tattoo for my tag swag collection. :)

Then we took a thorough tour of the museum collection. I will be posting a video in the near future to share the virtual experience of being there and getting a first-hand look at all that history. However, I was fortunate enough to be able to hold some real rarities in my own hands.

This is the number three gun ever manufactured by Zone laser tag, which was a gift to Brad Parks in Australia who was generous enough to let the museum acquire it. The first several guns were gifted to the beta testers of Zone laser tag and this was the third one ever made. Amazing!

And this little (or big) beauty is the fabled Worlds of Wonder Lazer Tag black Starlight Rifle!

They also have the white starlight on display too (as featured in this year's International Laser Tag Day poster) and they both still work. :)

And to wrap up the night I took a pic with Erik in the arena.

Big thanks to Erik Guthrie for a personal tour of what is an amazing collection documenting the history of laser tag. There will be lots more photos and details about this posted shortly once I can properly assemble them to do justice to this outstanding collection. This was the highlight of my trip!

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Tagging in Tennessee

Between the time zone change and the early start it was a long road down to Tennessee, but I'm so glad I was able to enjoy some time playing Nexus at Lanes, Trains and Automobiles in Murfreesboro, TN. It might not sound like a laser tag facility (the "lanes" refer to the bowling alley), but it was a fun little stop.

The arena is not huge, but it didn't need to be. It was fairly early in the day when I walked in and, even though the bowling alley was quite busy, I was the only one looking to play some laser tag. However, the game master was a good sport and granted me a pretty active one on one game to make sure I didn't have to wait to check Tennessee off my list of states where I want to play. It was a very good warm up game and as soon as we left the arena we were met by a group of military teenagers who were eager to get in a game. One of them enthusiastically asked me to join them, so of course I was glad to get in a group game while I was there.

This game was on the mark. They went in ready to play hard (at least Robin and Brandon did for sure...Casey was having a good time and so was the game master, Vladimir ) and I went in ready to do what I love to do.

They were an awesome group to hang out with and a cool little place to get in a game. However, I couldn't stay very long or explore any other tag in the area because I had an opportunity for something really cool waiting for me up in Kentucky. This trip has been predominantly spent on the road, but the gems in between have made it absolutely amazing!

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Illinois: Playing at the World's Largest Laser Tag Arena

Did you know that the world's largest laser tag arena is Laser Rock located in the Edge 618 in Belleville, IL?

I believe there's an arena in Arizona that runs neck and neck for that title, but it's printed on the t-shirt, so I'm inclined to believe it. :)

There were two things I really enjoyed about playing in this arena. First, being able to say I've played in the world's largest arena. Second, being able to share laser tag for the first time with my friend David.

I thought the arena was cool with its colorful mountainous theme. It was definitely big!

And the briefing room was pretty stylish too.

They run the Darklight system at this arena. Although I prefer more standard team games they opted for a specialty game called Infection. I had played this before, but would have liked to introduce David to tag with a different kind of game. However, we had a great time playing. I wish we had more time to enjoy playing here, but clearly this had been a long day of tag and we decided to wrap it up with another midwestern favorite...Steak N Shake! :)

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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Missouri - Part Three: Epic Artwork

I arrived at Epic 6 in Fenton, MO just in time to jump into the final game of the night which had just started.

They quickly showed me into the briefing room and asked me if I knew how to play. I said yes even before being handed the phaser...which was when I first realized what system they were running. I got to play a little bit of Delta Strike!

Now, I'm not particularly wild about Delta Strike as a system, but I do enjoy the novelty of being able to play it again since the opportunities to do so have been so limited. So I jumped right in and began playing with the benefit of my little bit of experience with it in Massachusetts. I did much better with it having a better understanding now of the game. :)

The thing that stood out to me immediately was the really epic artwork that decorates this arena. I was told that an airbrush artist did the entire space in only nine days. The walls are impressive!

And from the second level you can get an idea of the maze design.

It was a pretty cool aesthetic.

And the other thing that was really cool (besides the game master who was right on top of it with the customer service) was that they went out of their way to find me a special grey t-shirt. The theme of today is...tag swag!

And it was well worth the trip to enjoy this Epic 6 experience.

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com