Tiviachick Loves Laser Tag

Knights of the Actual Round Table (and the Bachelor Party the Night Before)

I don’t need any special excuse to play laser tag at Ultrazone Bensalem, but this weekend I had a reason that prompted me to make a road trip. Ready for it? I headed to Pennsylvania…to stand in a line at 6:30 in the morning…outside in the cold in front of the Ashley Furniture store…to meet two of the New Kids on the Block (Jordan and Jonathan Knight). I kid you not!

Any trip to Philly MUST end up at Ultrazone Bensalem, especially since they have now upgraded to the new Helios 3 vests. That gave me even more reason to get in a few games.

Lonewolf showed up to play a few games with me at his home site. I love that wherever I go I have tag friends nearby. It also doesn’t hurt to review an arena prior to playing it at ‘geddon, no matter how many times I’ve visited. So it was an UZ kind of night!

The public games were fun, but during a quiet window we twisted Dan’s arm to do something different and got to play a little Super Stabby Stabby! ;) It’s been a while and that format is a blast!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick it out for the end of the night 40 minute Ironman game, but when a bachelor party showed up, how could I not? ;)

Yep, looks like I crashed a bachelor party!

So let me tell you about the fun we had tagging with this group. First, I was immediately reminded of the pic I recently saw posted of a different bachelor party wearing shirts that read “Who needs strippers when you have laser tag?” I pulled that up on my phone and showed it to the guy who I thought was the groom and he said “we should do that for the next wedding.” Hmm…odd to hear that from a future groom. Then I had an exchange with that same guy later in the arena when I tagged him and jokingly said “This is a preview of marriage, you don’t get to win anymore.” Then I learned he wasn’t actually the groom, lol! Context is everything!

I think it was the actual groom (though I may be wrong) who asked a question of the marshal during briefing. He asked the kid “who invented laser tag?” The kid did not know, but needless to say, I had some info to impart! :)

For anyone who doesn’t know, I make it my mission to give 30 second Ted Talk about this every week as I regularly impart (during Photon emulation briefing) that George Carter III invented laser tag in Dallas, TX in 1984. However, this was both the first time anyone actually asked…and the first time I got a round of applause for my answer at the end! It was a good night. And with or without a medal, this pic is for posterity! ;)

I do wish I had thought to ask the groom’s name to give a shout out, because those guys and Lonewolf really made this a fun night of tag…and only the second most interesting thing to happen while I was in Bensalem.

I set out ridiculously early in the morning to wait in line for my chance to meet two guys who were part of the soundtrack to my youth.

Did I mention this event was happening at a furniture store? It’s not every day you say you went to meet Jordan and Jonathan Knight and ended up in bed!

Just kidding…except that’s really where we are as I’m writing this, hanging with my new friends, Jessica and Marty, who I met as we all froze in line outside this morning!

In fact, Marty actually thinks she recognized the bachelor party guys as staying at the same hotel she is at!

Meanwhile, I stayed the night at one of ‘geddon’s most infamous hotels (yes, I deliberately stayed there just to prove that everyone had overreacted last time…I’m alive and it was fine). So I guess you could say I had a few interesting adventures while in Bensalem.

But when all was said and done, what started with this line that wrapped its way around two stores…

…ended with this cool moment of nostalgia on the heels of an awesome laser tag weekend.

Part of me can’t believe I really did this! But it was a fun excuse for a tag trip and I had a wonderful time making a few memories, some new friends and doing what I love. :)

Comments or Questions?

Ready for an “Escape”

At the end of the day I just kept on driving, ready for a weekend road trip adventure that began with a visit to Cloak and Dagger Escape Rooms in Hamilton, NJ.

As I was looking for arenas in the vicinity of my planned travels I noticed a green dot on the Gel Blaster Nexus app, so I called ahead and was really pleased to be able to coordinate with the manager, Angela, to arrange a game while I was passing through New Jersey.

When I arrived, Toby greeted me and Wendy showed me over to their vesting area to get ready for the game.

Obviously, I knew the site was operating with GBN, but I was really pleased when I discovered they had recently upgraded to the Gen 2 gear!

This was a pleasant surprise and even though I have experience with the system, I am interested in comparing and contrasting the versions that I get to play “out in the wild” and of course I love to play the newest equipment from any system. This gear only

Just debuted at IAAPA in November, so it was cool to find it here.

We prepared for the laser tag version of the game, meaning no gellets, so you can’t blame me for this, lol!

Seriously, I love the vibe of this place with the fun decor, but I was even more impressed when I entered the arena.

The first thing that struck me were the stunning walls.

I feel pretty safe in saying that this looks like the work of Black Light Unity, but whoever did the perimeter walls did a fabulous job. This is a smaller single-level arena, but it makes very good use of the space.

The game was smooth and I took note of what felt like a wider spacing between the energy depletion shots (the hits that register, not the shot speed itself, which could have been my imagination, but could it possibly be a timing tweak with the new version?) and the game was thoroughly enjoyable.

There were quite a few health restoration targets throughout, so I don’t believe I depleted health more than once the entire game.

And when the game was done I had chalked up another victory to add to my profile on the app.

Some Gel Blaster Nexus at Cloak and Dagger Escape Rooms really was the perfect way to kick off this weekend!

Comments or Questions?

Get Ready: 2026 Laser Tag Day Poster Reveal

Get ready to celebrate laser tag! International Laser Tag Day is March 28th and LaserTagMuseum.com is once again offering a free, downloadable poster image that you may print out or place on your website to help promote and celebrate the occasion.

Please visit LaserTagMuseum.com to download your free high res poster image and help celebrate 42 years of laser tag on March 28th!

Comments or Questions?

https://open.spotify.com/show/0xzXT3aqGa2edIlXpcaJBS

Friday, February 6, 2026

Celebrating 30 Years of Laser Storm Pittsburgh

Three decades for a family-owned laser tag business is quite an accomplishment and this week on Laser Unfocused Tag Talk we discuss this milestone anniversary of 30 years of Laser Storm Pittsburgh with John and Matt Mator.

ON SPOTIFY:

ON APPLE PODCASTS:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/laser-unfocused-tag-talk-with-tivia/id1632442213

ON YOUTUBE:

https://youtu.be/sy0yLB_rCSc?si=BTDcWzhTQtbi9CYm

Comments or Questions?