Tactical Tag 4 A Cause Night is a Success at Tac Ops

Tag 4 A Cause night at Tac Ops Tactical Laser Tag in Fairfield, NJ was the first tactical fundraising event I have done and it was a tremendous success! My sincere thanks to owners Armando and Mike for their generosity and donating 25% of the booking fees from our two special sessions in support of LIG Global Foundation. We had a great turnout and everyone enjoyed plenty of laser tag!

When I arrived at Tac Ops I set up the Tag 4 A Cause table with not one, but two trophies and special awards for the various games. 

Each session would include three Free for All solo games from which the player with the high score would win the golden phaser trophy. However, if there would also be three special format games and I had a special golden phaser medal for each special format MVP player. And, as always, every Tag 4 A Cause player received this quarter’s laser tag 5K medal as thanks for their support for the cause. Since we were supporting LIG Global Foundation, the medals had a “global” theme.

As players started to arrive for the first game session I presented them each with their medal.

Daniel Guerriero, Executive Director of LIG Global Foundation participated as well along with some foundation friends and supporters.

Shane, Gabby and Jeremiah prepared the Battle Company BR Pro taggers and provided a thorough briefing session. Some of the participants had played laser tag before, but we also had quite a few people experiencing the game for the first time.

Once everyone had their headsets on and BR Pros in hand the first group was ready to head into the arena.

Inside the arena the group was excited to play a truly immersive game experience.

It was an exciting session! Special format winners included Totin as Team Standard MVP, AaronTuned as King of the Hill MVP and KarolG as Domination MVP, each winning a special medal. The first golden phaser trophy went to Ryan “Totin” Torres for his solo score of 58!

Several players purchased a second session  and joined us for the next round, which again began with a solo game before I checked in on each team at their base (red in the office and blue in the barber shop) before a team game of Capture the Flag.

Everyone played very enthusiastically!

The second group gathered for the awards ceremony by the tank.

AaronTuned was MVP of both Capture the Flag and Domination, while ElunoDos was Team Standard MVP. The golden phaser trophy for this session was presented to Chris “ElunoDos” Rivera!

My thanks to everyone who participated! Special thanks to Tac Ops for their generosity and for hosting Tag 4 A Cause night. 

The event resulted in $600 being donated to LIG Global Foundation to help them continue their good work and I am so appreciative of all the support shown by Tac Ops and the laser tag players who attended. 

This was an amazing way to wrap up a very successful Tag 4 A Cause night at Tac Ops Tactical Laser Tag!

Comments or Questions? 

Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com 

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

Uniquely Jersey Experiences

I had two unexpected experiences during my New Jersey trip this weekend. 

I suppose it is technically possible to drive through NJ without stopping at Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash…but that would be like driving through and not stopping for laser tag! So of course I headed to Red Bank for some shopping in between arena visits. While I was there I had a chance to say hello to one of my favorite Comic Book Men, Mike Zapcic.

He wished me well with the Tag 4 A Cause fundraiser, as one of the other staff members had noticed my laser tag shirt. What an awesome (and uniquely Jersey) experience to have before grabbing a DELICIOUS veggie burrito at the restaurant across the street and continuing on to another unique experience at Teaneck Speedway in Teaneck, NJ.

I walked down the stairs to find an unexpected business that incorporates both racing fun and laser tag. 

Now, laser tag at a racetrack is really not that unusual, but what was unique about this visit was the size of the track.

This track caters to tiny RC cars, not go-karts as I had imagined. This was really cool and unexpected!

I had a chance to do a VERY quick game of Lazer Runner with Cathy (who could not step away for long, but tags traded does technically constitute a game).

She showed me to the arena, a smaller space sized for kids, but decorated with some AMAZING airbrushed art!

Yes, the airbrushed art on the walls is the really notable aspect of this arena. You might say they have “tagged” their tag walls. :)

So, this was a different experience, but I am so glad I got to see what they are doing to bring both tag and racing to their community on an unexpected scale.

What a unique experience as I made my way through New Jersey!

Comments or Questions? 

Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com 

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

Hitting (and Tagging) the Bullseye!

I have wanted to experience Bullseye Lasertag in Edison, NJ for quite some time, but the timing never worked out until now. Let me say, this experience was worth the wait…especially since it had previously been an outdoor field and now they have the largest indoor field on the east coast at over 10,000 square feet. I was ready to hit (and tag) the Bullseye at last!

When I spoke to manager Christian about the availability of the arena (which typically does private sessions during the day with public sessions during specific evening times) he happily coordinated a special game for me with staff members Andy and Paul.

I was excited to play using iCOMBAT gear, but before we got into the game briefing I enjoyed a tour of this particularly unique arena. I’ve seen a lot of unusual items used to create tactical arenas, but this one had some really interesting elements.

Everything you see makes much better sense once you have the context that this space previously was a  home remodeling supply store. Here you can climb the stairs to get a better vantage point on the arena…

Or warm up by the fire…

Or, for a really rare experience, you can even tag in the shower, lol!

So yes, there are a lot of really interesting elements here. And of course there are some more traditional tag obstacles too.

The map has a lot of various “rooms” and spaces to explore.

And I found domination tubes scattered throughout the arena, even hanging from above for specialty games like Hells Bells and others they offer from the iCOMBAT library.

We were going to keep things simple by playing a standard game. However, what made it most memorable for me was having my first opportunity to use the irShotgun tagger in an actual game (as up to this point I had only tried it out at iCOMBAT HQ and at IAAPA).

I got a briefing on the irShotgun from Christian who showed me how to pump the shotgun in between shots. You get eight shots before you must reload with a button underneath and I also learned that you can hold the trigger down and simply tag by pumping the tagger instead for what they call “slam fire”.

Time to tag! We scattered throughout the arena and I started over by the red base.

I was excited to try the irShotgun for real and OMG I really love the feel of this tagger!  Even though it felt a little heavy by the end of the game (as I am more accustomed to holding traditional laser tag phasers at a different angle) the tags felt very natural and I got decent accuracy with my shots. So much so that I think it surprised the staff to learn that this was my first time using this particular piece of gear. 

This game was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the entire experience. When it was over we walked to the briefing area to check out not one, but two scoreboards.

The first was the traditional iCOMBAT scoreboard that has all the standard result info you would expect to see when using this equipment.

I had won the game and could see my stats in the typical format here. However, they had a custom achievement monitor set up as well, which is very eye catching and clearly shows key highlights from the game with a very attractive display.

If you are wondering where the “Tivia” name is on the board you are not missing it. They instead assigned me a special codename and I got to play as the “Queen of Lasers.” Love it! And I hope I did justice to that name with my performance in the arena.

This was such an awesome experience and I am so glad that timing worked out this time. They have some cool ideas in the works, so I definitely plan to make a return visit as soon as possible. If you have a chance to pay a visit, this experience definitely hits the “Bullseye!”

Comments or Questions? 

Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com 

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