This story begins with me sitting in a meeting at work last
Monday. Typically I am expected to represent at the annual St. Patrick’s Day
parade in our city, but this year it was phrased as a question “do you want to
do the parade?” to which I said I could if we needed staff, but if we were
covered I had something else I’d like to be doing instead. As soon as I heard
“that’s fine, we’ve got it covered” then I started putting a spontaneous plan
in place for my suddenly free weekend. Albuquerque, here I come!
There are several states that have significantly fewer opportunities
for playing laser tag than others and as near as I can tell it appears to me
that New Mexico may only have two sites in the entire state, both of which are
within 20 minutes of each other in Albuquerque. So I started making flight
arrangements to get me out to the south west for a really quick weekend
trip…fly down on Saturday, return on Sunday. I know that sounds crazy (and
that’s only where we begin the story), but to make my goal of hitting all 50
states on my timeline there are only a finite number of free weekends in my
schedule so I had to make the most of this opportunity.
I left Syracuse early in the morning, caught a connecting
flight in Chicago and arrived in Albuquerque early in the afternoon. I picked
up my rental car and headed for the Hinkle Family Fun Center. I know I didn’t
even see the full place because I started to park by one building and then
noticed a sign indicating laser tag was in another building altogether.
When I got to the counter I purchased my game pass and
then was pleasantly surprised. The staff member turned around, picked up a tray
of bags of popcorn and offered me one. Wow! What a nice touch. I’ve not
experienced a greeting like that at any other center I have visited.
I then moved on to the waiting area for my mission pass
to be called.
And once in the vesting room I noticed a group of guys
who were strategizing and ready to win. I smiled and suited up.
It was Zone Helios and I was ready to burn off some
energy from all the time sitting on the airplane. We went in and I found myself
in a sharp looking arena. The walls were definitely Creative Works, but they
looked newer. Everything in the place looked new, bright and vivid.
The arena went lengthwise, but I’d say the majority of
the game was only played out in half of it.
And those guys figured me out fast. They did not look at
me as competition at first, but that game got intense fast. I was on the red
team, but the more experienced players had congregated on blue. We gave each
other a good game. And we put on a pretty decent show for the spectators in the
observation room.
My card didn’t register my name
on the screen, however I took first with this group and took a bit of enjoyment
hearing the surprised reaction of the second place player who had been the king
of the game until I showed up. Then I went to the snack bar to get some food
and a souvenir to take back.
And before long I was on the
road again headed for my second stop in Albuquerque, the Main Event for some
Delta Strike.
I have been to other Main Event
locations and they are all very similar to one another and very corporate.
However, this one will forever be my favorite because of an awesome employee named
Fiona who made it possible for me to experience this site.
OK, remember I said the
craziness of this story was just beginning? Well, after doing some research on
the flights I realized there was a very viable option for me to fly to Phoenix
later this same day (yep, you read that right) if I could just time out my
visits to these two tag sites early enough. On paper this plan looked entirely
possible, but it hedged on being able to get to the tag sites, play right away
and then drive back to the airport within a relatively short window of time.
However, if I could do it I just might be able to visit Stratum this trip,
which has been on my bucket list for a long time and yet every other time I’ve
flown through Phoenix the timing did not work out. I was determined to get
there on this visit and it all depended on being able to play as early as
possible upon arriving at Main Event. This is where I tell you why Fiona was so
awesome and they should reward her for excellent customer service.
When I got inside Main Event I
told the greeters I wanted to play some laser tag. They told me it would be
over an hour before I could get into a game because they were fully sold out
and actually had a waiting list. I heaved a sigh and explained that I am a
blogger from New York who had flown all this way to play at their site and hoped
that there might be something they could do. They spoke to a manager who had me
visit the registration desk. I plead my case and was told they could help me
and get me into a game at 3:45. I said thank you so much, bought my ticket and
got in line. However, I had been in three time zones (and about to cross over
to my fourth) by that point in the trip so my head was not processing the
facts…namely that it was actually 2:45 in New Mexico at that moment. So as the
line started moving I handed my 3:45 pass to Fiona who informed me this was the
sold out 2:45 game and I explained to her why it was so important that I play
tag now or I wouldn’t be able to make my flight and she said “hang on a moment,
we’ll make it work.” After getting the briefing video started for the others
she pulled an orange VIP pack off the wall and handed it to me.
I’m not sure if these are for
game master use or just what they hand to birthday kids, but it didn’t matter.
She miraculously came up with an extra pack in this full game to allow me to
play and for that I am incredibly appreciative.
We entered the arena which was two levels and even though
it had a few Tron hallmarks left it also had some artistic structures
throughout and had a bright look and an open feel. Almost everyone rushed to
the top level.
I played as Megatron and walked out of there with the
high score.
Actually, it’s more accurate to say I RAN out of there,
hoping that I had allowed ample time to return my rental car and get back
through security im time to catch my next flight. I had a great time and am so
glad that I got to play at these sites in New Mexico. I’m equally glad that all
the pieces fell right into place and I made it to the airport in time to board
a flight to Phoenix and include a bonus adventure as part of this spontaneous
weekend getaway. Arizona, here I come!
Comments or Questions?
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
