Update: I have confirmed this with my own eyes and with a former staff member. Goodbye Zero Gravity.
This has been a VERY hard week. Although I’m not going to
peel back every layer of the onion regarding what’s been happening, I am going
to share the one part of it all that I think is probably relatable to a lot of laser
tag players right now who are unable to play because either their local arenas
are temporarily closed or…(sigh) permanently closed.
I didn’t write about this immediately because it’s tough to
know what is really “permanent” in the middle of all this uncertainty, but from
all indicators and according to what I see on Google it appears that my home
Zone arena, Zero Gravity, has indeed closed down for good. The removal of their
FB page further reinforces that this is likely correct. This really hits me hard
right now because, after the week I have had, what I really need most right now
is to have someplace to go and tag out all my frustrations and I simply don’t
have a place to go and do that right now. And this is now the second time that
I have had to look back on the last night I had at one of my favorite spots and
shake my head at the fact that I had no clue it was the last time.
If only my birthday had fallen on a Thursday I would have
gotten one more opportunity to play there. You see, my birthday was in early
March and all I wanted to do was play tag and go out for sushi. Every time I
played at ZG I would also go out to Sushi X in Latham for dinner because they
have THE BEST all you can eat sushi menu in the capital district. But this year
my birthday fell early in the week when both places were closed, so I settled
for eating at a lesser sushi restaurant and playing laser tag at a bowling
alley instead. Then two weeks later COVID shut down the country and I never got
the chance to play at Zero Gravity again.
Even though at the time I didn’t know it was my last night
there, a couple of weeks prior to that birthday evening I do remember going out
to ZG on the weekend and having a killer night of laser tag and driving home
feeling very happy. I’m grateful that at least I have that as my last memory of
this arena where I have played regularly for over five years. In fact, I am
lucky to have many wonderful memories of Zero Gravity, so let me take a moment
to reminisce with you and say a proper goodbye to one of my favorite laser tag
arenas as I reflect on some wonderful memories from the many nights I spent
there. I’ll always remember the smell of the briefing room and the vortex gate
opening into the vesting room.
My very favorite memory was starting a huge weekend-long
party with friends who were visiting from all over the country and going out to
play for what would be the very last time on the Infusion system about one week
before they upgraded to Helios Pro. Big thanks to Mike for making sure we had a
party room available to hang out in for our official pre-event gathering!
This is where I taught my mother how to play laser tag (her
first and only time doing so).
Spending International Laser Tag Day playing laser tag with
French foreign exchange students was a truly international tag experience.
I had a blast tagging with the Royal Rangers.
Big thanks to Donnie for hooking me up with the very first
ZG membership card slightly before they were officially available to the public.
And I'll always remember ruling the ramp!
ZG was my first stop just after I got my new phone in
February and I tested it out by taking some arena photos, so I can share with
you what this 5000 square foot arena really looked like.
And if memory serves me correctly this may have been the
very first laser tag shirt I ever acquired, starting out what would become a
pretty massive tag t-shirt collection!
I want to thank Donnie, Mike, Samantha, Josh, Justin,
Brendan and all the others who were part of making this place so special for
all of us who got to play there over the years. Reminiscing about it is
bittersweet. Perhaps it’s just as well that I didn’t know that my last time
there was really my last time because my memories can still stay in a “perfect
bubble”. Goodbye Zero Gravity.
Yesterday I took a different approach by deliberately going
back to say goodbye to my childhood home. The house I grew up in will likely be
sold by the end of today and, so long as I’m already walking down memory lane,
let me throw in a couple of pics of my childhood bedroom (where I social
distanced myself LONG before it was a thing) and the view out my window to the
lake, which I have just visited KNOWING it was for the very last time…which is
a whole other kind of bittersweet.
So, to both of these places that I considered my “home” in
different ways, I fondly reminisce about all the good times now that I am here
in a new world having to say goodbye.
Comments or Questions?
Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and
www.photonforever.com
