Memberships...GO!!!

For months I have been looking forward to Zero Gravity having their new membership system up and running and I'm pleased to say that (other than employee test memberships) I got the first active public membership last night and it was definitely worth the wait. Although I technically have similar cards from three other Zone sites, they were tournament tick cards so I haven't had an active site membership for Zone since back in my very first days of playing. Although to some people it might not mean more than having a personal code name on the screen (and right on the phaser too), for me it's really cool to see some stats on my playing, which will be more valuable to know as I play more and more with my card.

Two other members got on board right away and it was fun to track stats against Daedalus and Icarus who were great competition all night. They got their memberships after noticing mine (and even a couple of the employees, once realizing my vest was activated commented that they wanted to get theirs too. I look forward to the potential for member nights, tourneys and more now that this is set up. BTW, this is what my stats looked like after my first couple of games...

A moment to talk about something I've gone on record about...I usually say I couldn't care less about unlocking achievements. Well, at the Force center this is true and I hardly ever even look at my accounts because I care so little about random factoid accomplishments that mean nothing. BUT...I am really changing my tune now that I have started unlocking some Zone achievements. I knocked out a few of them very quickly and here are just a couple that are my favorites now that I unlocked during night one:

Laser Expert - Get a Tag/Deactivate ratio of at least 2:1

Speedy Gonzales - Tag 10 players within 5 seconds

Team Carrier - Team wins and you score 25% more than other team mates

Good Game - Schieved an average of 1000 points per minute in a single game

There were others, but I think these best reflect something you'd call an actual "achievement" and also measure factors I was unable to before the membership activation.

Well, after a couple of us had our new cards (and we could identify other members because of the way the packs flashed differently) then the game went up a notch. Daedalus and Icarus were teaming up against me, but that made it more fun and the last game was the best of the night. Props to Icarus...the final score had me ahead by a scant 400 points, which made that the closest and most intensely played game of the night. He called it a heart breaker, but to me it was just a heartening to meet new players who went in as seriously as I did and know that now that we have a member community starting that the likelihood is that it will only get better from here. Can't wait to go back!

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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com
Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Birthday Tag

Because I had a commitment to help run sound for an event in Clifton Park last night I thought that celebrating my birthday was going to have to be postponed, but instead I had a great time visiting the smaller laser tag center in the Albany area that I hardly ever get to because I'm usually at ZG when I do get out to the Capital Region. But since Spare Time was so close by my friend Stephanie and I decided to check it out. To be honest, the fact that they had food was also a determining factor...quesadillas and lava cake were the PERFECT birthday treats.

Steph had not played laser tag in a very long time, so it was kind of like a first for her. This center runs Zone using Rift so we went in and I showed her how to hold the phaser with a quick tutorial on what to do. The first game out was against a random group of twentysomethings who gave us a great game...and then left. This place was offering discounts for multiple games, but no AYCP to keep a group there, so we had to wait a little while before getting into another game...so we sat out in the bowling alley part of the center by the sports grille and had time to chill for awhile and catch up. I don't slow down enough to just hang out with friends all that often, so it was nice we had the time. Then the game master came over to let us know a group would be playing in a few minutes so we headed back to tag in time to find out this was going to be an "employees vs civilians" match...and let me tell you, it was a BLAST! Everyone played hard and one guy who worked there said he hadn't had that much fun playing tag in a really long time. It was totally worth hanging around to play with this group. Then our final game was against a group that had been...let's just say, enjoying the bar. So going in I knew who was going to be an easy target. Those guys didn't see it coming...well, except for one who was on his game. However, the guys who were big talkers going in seemed a bit perplexed by how I could be on one side of the wall and tag them and a moment later reappear in a different spot. That game was fun if for no other reason to appreciate those reactions.

I do wish there was more consistency to the game schedule when I visit this arena, but regardless we had a great time and I am glad I had the opportunity to play a little tag on my birthday and celebrate with a phaser in one hand and a piece of cake in the other. :)

　
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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com


Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Freedom Leggings with a Half Hour to Spare

To me this pair of leggings represents my freedom to choose my place in the laser tag community without pressure to play in any particular spot. Sound a little bizarre? Welcome to how my mind works. :) 

 

Let's review what has happened recently and maybe that will make more sense...

Since December I have been playing tag somewhere every week as usual, even though I have not kept up very well with my blogging. I have most often been frequenting Zone sites in both Syracuse and Albany, checking out new places (like my excursion to the little center in Ithaca) and planning my next big laser tag trips...I kid you not, had it not been Spring break I was seriously about to hop on a plane to North Carolina and play a small tournament down there this past weekend! However, I have not been back to the Force center this whole time. There are a few factors that went into my conscious decision to leave. I don't need to get specific about the reasons here, but there were enough of them that I chose to walk away when a final straw broke the camel's back. And I'm sorry to say that tempered my enthusiasm for that particular system. So, since December I've played every weekend somewhere else.

Three weeks ago the "somewhere else" was once again FJ. I love playing there...it feels like home. I'll admit part of what I like is the affirmation of my skills as I regularly get props for being one of the best players there, but it's also because the atmosphere is so different and upbeat. It's the difference between operating like a business where they want the customer to have a good experience versus walking into a teenage clubhouse. Atmosphere aside, I also really enjoy the people I get to play with there. If memory serves I think Nate might have been game master that night and Dakota was off duty just playing. They always jump in and give a good game. Plus Joe, Tyler and Tommy showed up and were even joined by Ass who came over from the other center to try our place for the first time. It was kind of like a blast from the past playing with both these guys there like we used to every week when I first met them. And I've got to say, they are the players that made it a really fun, competitive, "work for it and earn it" and good game to all at the end kind of a night. I left that evening feeling like that's the kind of tag I want to be part of.

Fast forward to the next weekend. I guess I must have played on Friday because I wasn't actually at tag on Saturday...I was hanging out backstage with Vanilla Ice and the other acts at our 90s concert. Some nights I really love my job! :)

 

 

So since I worked late the night before I woke up Sunday calling it my day off and my choice had been made back in December that I did NOT want to play in the ECT at the Force center on my day off...or the subsequent couple of days. A couple of points about this...this event was announced literally days after I had been told they were "done trying to put tournaments together" there. This on the heels of four (yes, I can name four) smaller local tournaments and a league being announced there, but not actually happening with the blame largely falling on member egos and apathy. So my choice to not participate was shrouded in irritation over what does and does not actually come together with involvement from the very same member base (plus the visitors from Detroit and a couple of players from Pennsylvania). Another side note...if anyone really feels that this represents the entire East Coast please look at the Laserforce site map. I'll make it easy for you. Here it is...

http://www.laserforcetag.com/sitemap/

Ok, moving on. I decided not to play this event mostly out of some internal sense of righteous indignation. Which was easy enough to muster and since I was no longer playing at this center I obviously would not be practicing. And who in their right mind enters a tournament without practicing? (rolling my eyes again in the Syracuse direction)...but I was curious and wanted to wish a few of the players luck. So the perfect reason to stop in that day (first time I had walked in since mid-December) was to shop some LLR with one of the visiting players. That's when I found these leggings. Now, since I was asked within thirty minutes of start time whether or not I'd be playing I have no doubt I could have jumped into the mix right there on the spot. But I was feeling a bit cheeky and instead replied "there's still half an hour to go, I don't actually believe a tournament is going to happen today"...homage to the last four, thank you. My sarcasm was tempered with humor as my intention is not to be rude to the people I actually like at this center, but I think my point was received. So back to the leggings. Instead of letting myself feel like I must play every opportunity just to be a part of it I deliberately spent exactly the cost of the tournament fee on new clothes (two pairs of leggings) and then went out for sushi with a friend. And THAT is why these leggings represent choice and freedom to me. I was there and made the decision to walk away...then looked into that NC tournament thinking what a kicker if I could actually make that work. However, space available flying is a virtual impossibility during spring break week so, sigh...

Before I leave this little rant behind, could I ask a favor? Could we PLEASE put a moratorium on twenty-somethings making dramatic proclamations about "retiring from tag"? I am so sick of the retirement drama llama! 

That gets me to this past weekend. Yep, I was back playing tag at one of the other centers...with twenty-somethings who are NOT constantly announcing their retirement. Had a great time. Then at the start of the week an announcement from out of the Force center...in an effort to find new players they are starting a regularly scheduled SM5 night that plays at a reasonable hour and also another local tournament. Part of me wants to say "how gullible do I look?", but the other part of me wants to be optimistic, set aside my reasons for having left and go back to enjoying this form of tag. But I'll wait until half an hour before start time before I believe it. ;) 

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com


Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com 

Interviewing Lord Beathan

I'd like to thank Beathan Miller (aka Lord Beathan) for taking the time to do an interview with me to discuss the early days of Photon and his time as manager of the flagship Photon center in Dallas, TX.

This interview is one of several new features on the website including scripts and vintage collectibles with some other exciting new additions still to come, all intended to help preserve the nostalgia and love of Photon. Check it out at photonforever.com.

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

Tagging with the Recruits

It may seem like February is too late to make a New Year's resolution, but since our Ascendance team has collectively agreed that Armageddon is not in the cards for us to play as a team this year I have decided to instead focus on another goal...playing laser tag in even more states on my way towards getting to all 50 (I'm at 20 so far) and visiting my 100th laser tag arena before the end of summer. I think this is very likely to happen sooner rather than later. I spent yesterday visiting my 76th laser tag center as I traveled to Ithaca to check out Barski's Xtreme Lazer Tag.

This is a small facility operating with Lazer Runner inside of a mall in a college town. I chatted with the owner, Dave, who told me that while weekend days are usually booked with parties, the clientele in the evenings is predominantly college students. And as it turned out this happened to be the Cornell University recruitment weekend so I was there in perfect time to join in with a group of college students and potential recruits who showed up to play.

I played several games with this group, both team games and free for all. It was fairly typical for Runner. Vesting was done in the outer lobby and upon activation you could enter the game space by passing through a standard arch with the center's logo at the top. Once inside I found myself meandering past the painted basic black walls that make up the maze area as I worked my way to the far wall where there was one gem target. I took a quick walk around the perimeter to get familiar with it and then just adopted a sweet spot in one alcove where I had some good sight lines to the other players and also to the base. There was a raised ledge against the side wall and a pillar in a least one corner that suggested that some of the structure had already been here and the arena might have been built around it. As my foot hit the ledge I realized that this space was very reminiscent of the experience I had in Ohio playing LaserTrek in an arena that had been built inside a former DEB clothing store. When I mentioned that to Dave he told me that this location was formerly an Abercrombie! So this may give some perspective to the size and design.

This is the kind of center that I think is probably best suited to casual mall patrons looking for a few minutes of interesting diversion to break up the day or to the kids and students it seems to cater to. It's been open for about three years now. I am glad I stumbled upon it as it did not appear on any of the partial site lists I follow, but everyone I saw there seemed to really enjoy themselves and their experience. And I really appreciate whenever I visit a center where the owner is right there taking care of the customers. Thank you for an enjoyable visit and as for those potential Cornell University recruits...I think you should admit every one of them as they were great to tag with. Best of luck to them all!

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

The Godfather and the Godchildren

This past weekend I got a new nickname. :) Not quite sure what to do with it other than appreciate that I got it from some young guys who meant it as a show of respect for my tag skills and that made me feel pretty good.

To be honest, I'm having difficulty being enthused about the local Force center right now, so I only peeked my head in just long enough to drop off a check for one of the other members (supporting scholarships is always worthwhile and this was a donation deliberately in lieu of playing at a special practice night) and I looked around thinking "...sigh." I probably don't need to elaborate any further on that. Then I headed off to play in the Zone arena across town and had the BEST time with the group who came out for the AYCP.

It began with a solid group of players and me playing with some fired up intensity right out of the gate. One of them shouted at me from across the arena "how high is your accuracy?" and I had to smile when Nate (the game master) replied for me shouting back "pretty high". But I look at that first game as a warm up when compared with the rest of the night. Things took a more serious turn when "Danny" (I don't know his real name, but his hair reminded me of NKOTB so we'll call him that for now) showed up with his posse of players (so let's call them the NKOTB) who say they play at the Force center, but I didn't recognize any of them. Anyhow, Danny was apparently the only one of the group who had played any other kind of laser tag at all so he came in ready to "teach" them and "school" the rest of us...I love that. He was my challenge. And I give the guy props, he was good. But I felt the "Bhodi Li" in me and gave it back just as good as I got and by the end of the first game he seemed to recognize that I had some skills of my own. Not sure if he intended this as a backhanded compliment, but before the next game he said to me "wow, you ACTUALLY made me take my jacket off" ...like he didn't expect to have to work for it at all, let alone break a sweat playing against me. I nodded and asked where else they played and that's when he mentioned the other center (I nodded without adding anything to that) and some mobile tactical. But he was still giving off the rooster vibe, which I decided to just accept as my challenge mark for the night. Meanwhile, the other players who had been there earlier seemed to be taking note. Another game in they had noticed that I was the top scoring player of every game so far. That was when they gave me my new nickname. For the rest of the night they called me...The Godfather.

Now, I didn't go looking for this (and clearly none of these teenagers had actually seen the movie), but I have to say it was a little bit flattering. They went way overboard for the rest of the night saying things like "Godfather, we will follow your commands" and "nobody beats the Godfather". For the remainder of the games they were following my lead, always ending up on my team and one of them actually knelt down and bowed at my feet (does he think Godfather = priest?). I know they were just being silly and making it way over the top...but seriously, how often does a group of teenage minions decide that you are "all that" and follow you around all night? I called them "my Godchildren" ...which probably lets you know that I've not bothered to watch the movie either! :) 

So all night my Godchildren and I pretty much played team to team against the NKOTB (now that's a weird sentence for anyone who grew up in the 90s) and each game I now felt I had a duty to play hard enough to keep the top score each time (don't want to let the Godchildren down). And yes, I played a perfect night. Sometimes playing tag can really be quite a high and I had a great time focusing my energy and attention on just enjoying the game and enjoying the competition. Occasionally it's good to have a night that's a reminder that I choose to play for fun and not for drama. And that's why right now I am making the decision to play where I do.

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com

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Speaking of Tournaments...

On the heels of having ANOTHER tournament canceled (yes, I'm rolling my eyes at you Syracuse) I made a resolution to find more competitive opportunities at other centers in 2017. Twenty minutes later I saw a post online and literally had this thought...

"Oh, a New Year's Day laser tag tournament in Ocean City, Maryland? I could drive 6 1/2 hours in the snow on my last day off and make it back on time for work the next day...(sees the pic), but it's Tron. Never mind."

Lol. But in all seriousness I want to wish a very merry Christmas to all of my tag family, both in New York and in other states. Let's practice hard and get ready to make a good showing at events in the new year. Here are some of my favorite laser tag and tournament memories of 2016.

Comments or questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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

Blog: tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com