Tiviachick Loves Laser Tag

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Just Wondering…

Just wondering…am I the only one who took a three hour detour on route to the tournament when I heard there was a laser tag arena in Pennsylvania that I had missed?

I picked up an extra stop on my way to Ohio by visiting Fun Central in Clearfield, PA for a game of Lazer Runner.

I had called ahead and inquired about the system. Based on the description of the gear I could tell it was going to be Runner, but when I asked if the phaser looked like a grocery store price scanner she said, “no they are laser guns.” Now that so many more businesses with Runner are on the newer phaser model I’m going to have to use different descriptors. In any case, I did in fact find a nice, single level arena with base stations in opposite corners and traditional Runner maze walls inside, as you can see behind me.

I arrived just in time to join a light game with a father and his young daughter. We went in and they teamed up. We all had a lot of fun chasing each other around!

One element I took note of and really liked was that there was a scoreboard INSIDE the arena, so I was able to see the scoring updates in real time. This was helpful so that I could temper my own playing in order to “keep it close”, but still make sure the daughter won the game. She was beaming when it was all over! :)

After the game I proceeded over to the snack counter and ordered some mini quesadillas for the road. Delicious and perfectly sized to eat in my car!

And this pic has a hidden easter egg just for Grumpy, lol. ;)

By this point in my trip I was appreciative of being able to take a break and Fun Central was the perfect place to stretch my legs, run around and recharge before completing the next couple of hours of my road trip to Ohio.

Comments or Questions?

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Anniversary of the Photon Television Show

The Photon television show reportedly premiered on this day (September 20th) back in 1986. It is with tremendous gratitude to my sweet friend, the late David Stay, that Mandarr’s Private Collection of backstage photos from the show can continue to be viewed at https://tiviachick.wixsite.com/photonforever.

Years ago when I was originally building the Photon Forever website, he sent me the original pics to scan and return to him for the purpose of archiving these rare images from the filming of the show in Japan.

Here are a few of the photos that David generously shared with me.

Thank you, David. The light still shines!

Comments or Questions?

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

Friday, September 19, 2025

What Goes Into a Tournament

In preparation for this weekend’s Laser Storm draft tournament, on this week’s episode of Laser Unfocused Tag Talk we hear from tournament coordinator Thomas Provitt about what goes into a tournament from the perspective of a player stepping up to the challenge.

ON SPOTIFY:

ON APPLE PODCASTS:

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

ON YOUTUBE:

https://youtu.be/o0TRSvwx81E?si=tGPTdRRK1sS4ym5c

Comments or Questions?

Monday, September 15, 2025

The Q-2000 Prototype

For this week’s Museum Collection Monday, here’s a look at a one of a kind Q-2000 prototype pack (circa 2005). This particular design never made it into production.

I am continuing to add updated photos. See more of this collection at LaserTagMuseum.com.

Comments or Questions?

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Reminder: Tag 4 A Cause to Benefit the Epilepsy Foundation

Earlier this week I was just sitting here in my office, drinking my coffee and reading about our last Tag 4 A Cause in this month’s issue of RePlay Magazine. :) Which seems like a good excuse to remind you that our next Tag 4 A Cause in support of the Epilepsy Foundation will be taking place during the draft tournament at Skyway Laser Storm on Sunday, September 22st.

This is the Tag 4 A Cause trophy for the fundraiser. When you make a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation during the event you will get the medal as thanks and qualify for the special games (between round robin and finals) for the high score trophy contest!

Can’t make the event? You can still support and donate online. Get the full details at https://www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com/tag-4-epilepsy-foundation.

Comments or Questions?

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Laser Tag Artwork

While in North Carolina I met an amazingly talented artist named Leanne Hannah who did some awesome laser tag art for me to add to my website! :)

For the record, I am NOT attempting a third time around tagging all 50 states. However, since completing my second time around at the end of 2023, I have laser tagged in 21 states yet again! So…not trying for 3x…but…hmmm…

Comments or Questions?

Experiencing District 57

I really appreciate that the staff at District 57 worked with me so that I could experience their tactical arena during a very short window of time that I had while I was in Charlotte.

There are multiple attractions featured at this distinctive entertainment center, but the Bordertown tactical laser tag arena featuring iCOMBAT equipment is what drew me to pay a visit.

Generally they require a minimum of four players, but the next available game I could join with a group would not be happening until much later in the evening, and my time was extremely limited on this trip, so instead they kindly accommodated a short sample game simply to give me a taste of the experience…but only after I first had a taste of some snacks (aka the “small rations”) in the Allsorts Commissary. :)

I sat down at a rustic wooden table to soak up the atmosphere under the cool Edison lighting that enhanced the unique vibe in the front room.

Once staff member Eli arrived we headed in for a tour of the 4500 square foot, multi-level tactical field.

There’s a lot of space in this arena to explore!

Although I’m not a huge fan of stairs in arenas, once you get to the upper level the grates ramps connecting the buildings to the tower and the lower side platform make for an exciting way to enhance the playability of the space.

Or if you prefer to stay low and stealth, these nooks are also playable spaces.

Typically a game could be as many as 8v8, so this was a bit different than how it would normally go, but I definitely got a good sense of what I might expect out of a full session.

My thanks to Eli for playing against me and giving me a sample of the District 57 experience.

Here’s how our game went.

If you noticed the cool lighting effects, let me shout out the fact that their lighting system is programmed in-house and they did a fantastic job with it! Lighting really makes a big difference in creating an immersive experience. I’m told that the rave lighting is particularly awesome.

I was impressed with my experience at District 57 and I would love to play a full session next time I am in town. However, I am so pleased that I was able to get a game in before heading back to the airport. My thanks to the entire staff for making this a great visit during my time in Charlotte!

Comments or Questions?