It may seem like February is too late to make a New
Year's resolution, but since our Ascendance team has collectively agreed that
Armageddon is not in the cards for us to play as a team this year I have
decided to instead focus on another goal...playing laser tag in even more states
on my way towards getting to all 50 (I'm at 20 so far) and visiting my 100th
laser tag arena before the end of summer. I think this is very likely to happen
sooner rather than later. I spent yesterday visiting my 76th laser tag center
as I traveled to Ithaca to check out Barski's Xtreme Lazer Tag.
This is a small facility operating with Lazer Runner inside
of a mall in a college town. I chatted with the owner, Dave, who told me that
while weekend days are usually booked with parties, the clientele in the
evenings is predominantly college students. And as it turned out this happened
to be the Cornell University recruitment weekend so I was there in perfect time
to join in with a group of college students and potential recruits who showed up
to play.
I played several games with this group, both team games
and free for all. It was fairly typical for Runner. Vesting was done in the
outer lobby and upon activation you could enter the game space by passing
through a standard arch with the center's logo at the top. Once inside I found myself
meandering past the painted basic black walls that make up the maze area as I worked
my way to the far wall where there was one gem target. I took a quick walk around
the perimeter to get familiar with it and then just adopted a sweet spot in one
alcove where I had some good sight lines to the other players and also to the
base. There was a raised ledge against the side wall and a pillar in a least
one corner that suggested that some of the structure had already been here and
the arena might have been built around it. As my foot hit the ledge I realized
that this space was very reminiscent of the experience I had in Ohio playing
LaserTrek in an arena that had been built inside a former DEB clothing store.
When I mentioned that to Dave he told me that this location was formerly an
Abercrombie! So this may give some perspective to the size and design.
This is the kind of center that I think is probably best suited
to casual mall patrons looking for a few minutes of interesting diversion to
break up the day or to the kids and students it seems to cater to. It's been
open for about three years now. I am glad I stumbled upon it as it did not
appear on any of the partial site lists I follow, but everyone I saw there seemed
to really enjoy themselves and their experience. And I really appreciate whenever
I visit a center where the owner is right there taking care of the customers.
Thank you for an enjoyable visit and as for those potential Cornell University
recruits...I think you should admit every one of them as they were great to tag
with. Best of luck to them all!
Comments or questions?
Contact:
tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Blog:
tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com
