Tiviachick Loves Laser Tag

What Do You Call “Laser Tag?”

When I go to an FEC and ask “do you have laser tag?” you might think the answer would be a simple yes or no. However, lately there has been some grey area with a bit of confusion with some operators and their staff regarding what specifically I am asking to play. This has come up several times now in the context of arenas that have equipment with capabilities going unused. Specifically, I am finding this happening with Gel Blaster Nexus. To be clear, this is not a criticism of the system itself, but simply an awareness that nomenclature matters.

I went to Celebration Station in Mesquite after finding them listed on the Gel Blaster Nexus app (while wishing that other manufacturers made it that easy for me). I saw they had this system, so I assumed that if I went to play laser tag this would be what they would be using. However, when I walked in I saw a huge sign that read “Lasertron”. So if I go up to the counter and ask to play a game of laser tag, which way will this go? I suspected I already knew the answer.

My experience so far has been that if I enter a facility that only uses GBN then when I ask “do you have laser tag” they say yes and I get to play the gellet-free, non-projectile version of GBN laser tag. However, some places are adding GBN in addition to already having another laser tag system in place, so in those instances when I ask to play a game of laser tag the staff assumes I mean the traditional system and even when I try to clarify my question about which one they offer there appears to be some confusion. I think in many instances they simply don’t realize that GBN has a laser tag option. In this case, I asked for laser tag having walked in expecting to play GBN, but this center apparently only uses the gellet version of the game and does not even offer the GBN laser tag option. Instead, what this center refers to as laser tag is their upstairs Lasertron system. I have encountered similar situations more than once in the last year, so it deserves a note to address what appears to be a bit of a branding issue.

Obviously, I am the unicorn who will play whatever system is in front of me and either game was fine by me in that moment, but my point in explaining this is that there will continue to be confusion until the GBN laser tag format is better distinguished from it’s gellet-game counterpart. It’s like the childlike empress from The Neverending Story, perhaps in need of a new name!

After conversing with the manager and being told that Gel Blaster is available there, but GBN laser tag is not, I proceeded with my purchase of a game of Lasertron and that’s where we will pick up the story of this arena visit.

I headed upstairs to suit up for a game of Tron.

The vesting area is located on a balcony high above the rest of the facility.

The entrance is through this hexagonal archway…nice touch!

And the arena itself is a pretty standard single level build. We went in for a free for all game.

Considering it was FFA I am not sure why the game marshal made a point to steer up towards the recharge stations. It seemed to me that a few competitors were returning on the regular for absolutely no reason. Meanwhile I racked up some points and simply enjoyed a game, thinking to myself that it was pretty cool that somehow I had already managed to play eight different laser tag systems on this one single day and the day was not event done!

However, before long the game was. I did not really need to check the scoreboard as my pack was already dinging to let me know I was the high score player.

Regardless of the system, I always enjoy my laser tag experiences and was glad to have a chance to visit Celebration Station in Mesquite.

Comments or Questions?

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Laser Tag with Luigi

Of all the things I did not expect to happen today, playing laser tag with characters from a video game would have to be the least expected!

When I arrived at Adventure Landing in Dallas and purchased my game ticket I had been told to just wait by the Lazer Runner gate until there were other players ready to go in. So I did.

As I’m standing there I become aware of two more people joining me in line, waiting for the next game. They look…familiar! ;) Next to me stand Luigi and Pauline (I have no idea what their real names are, but they were delightful people!) and they are ready for some laser tag as well. A short time later we are joined by Bowser. Is this really happening?!

Here’s the scoop. These awesome folks were the family members of a young boy having his birthday party at this amusement center and his special request was to be joined by the characters from his favorite video game. So all the adults accommodated and attended in character cosplay. I even saw Princess Daisy milling around at one point too. How cool is that?!

Well, this is a once in a lifetime chance occurrence, so I asked if we could take a photo wearing our Lazer Runer packs. I suspect Paul Savard (president of Lazer Runner) will be a bit surprised to see that this actually happened!

One of my favorite moments of the day was capturing this impromptu pic mid-game while tagging with Luigi. This was too much fun!

The game was a wonderful time and, although the maze was small, it made for an enjoyable experience as five of us meandered through the classic green and orange LR arena.

My biggest takeaway from this stop was not about the laser tag itself, but how lucky that birthday boy is to be surrounded by such a cool family to go out of their way to dress up like this to celebrate his special day. I’m just glad I got to experience some of the fun with them. After all, I don’t know anyone else who can say they got to play laser tag with Luigi! :)

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Pinstack Them Up!

I had such a great time tagging at two of the Pinstack locations in the area, first playing the Pinstack in Allen, TX and later in the day visiting Pinstack Las Colinas in Irving, TX.

When I arrived at the Allen location at a quiet moment I was lucky to get to play a 1v1 with Edan.

We put on our CyberBlast packs and got ready for a game.

This arena has an interesting build that feels like it drives gameplay up to the second level. It’s a tight maze, attractively themed and making a good use of a smaller footprint by using a he facility’s height as an advantage.

However, it is not at all an open field and with the zig-zag build there are definitely a few places where you can paint yourself into a literal corner.

Nonetheless, it was enjoyable (and familiar looking as I had played a different Pinstack location a few years ago and I’m pretty sure it was the same build). However, I am going to skip ahead to the experience I had at the Irving location, which turned out to be the best game of laser tag I played all day!

When I arrived at Pinstack Las Colinas I met the manager, Tristan, who was kind enough to set me up with a game right away. He led me to the briefing area where I met Abel, who was a VERY confident staff member, more than happy to challenge me to a 1v1.

However, Abel gave me a warning first. He said “just so you know I have NEVER lost at a game of laser tag ever.”

I hope I held back the smile that was forming just a bit because these are the exact words that let me know it is perfectly fine to unleash my REAL game…you know I can’t resist that particular challenge! ;)

Now, the build of this two-story arena appears to be quite similar to the one I played earlier in the day, however the experience was completely different.

Abel gave me an excellent challenge, but this time the game was largely centered around a downstairs base.

We were dogfighting for the base tooth and nail and it was the most fun game experience I had played so far this day! Abel is an excellent competitor and the experience is different when you are more evenly matched. I could never have had this kind of gameplay in a public match, but against a staff member who had already thrown down the gauntlet it was on! :)

You can tell from the tag ratio that we were pretty evenly matched, which also made this more fun to play. The main difference in score comes down to the fact that I was able to accomplish three base deactivations while he only took it once.

The real challenge to this game was not in getting the base, but rather keeping my worthy opponent from doing the same thing. I truly commend him for giving me some excellent competition. This was truly the best game challenge I have had all day!

I left Pinstack feeling energized and with adrenaline pumping. Thank you for such an excellent experience!

Comments or Questions?