They are sister arenas, both featuring a Photon alpha
field arena design and operating with Laserforce. Playing at these sites was
definitely one of the most remarkable highlights of this trip. So let me start
at the beginning as I was driving Friday night on my way to Baton Rouge.
I got an unexpected message from Stephen Strickland
asking me if I was going to be in New Orleans the next day. I was surprised
because I don’t often make my travel plans public in advance and so I replied “Actually,
yes. How did you know?” And then the pieces started to come together. I had
called ahead to the manager in Baton Rouge to ask questions about the alpha
field and told him I was coming down to Louisiana because of my blog and my
goal to play in all 50 states. He in turn mentioned my unusual call to Davor
Franicevich, the owner of the two sites (and also a past president of the International Laser Tag Association), who happened to see Stephen the next
day and asked if he knew of anyone who was traveling the country playing laser
tag. And his answer was yes, he knew it must have been me who called. It is so
amazing to me that through laser tag I have met or corresponded with people not
only all over the country, but all over the globe and I am appreciative that
Stephen connected those dots.
So Friday night I continued my way down to Laser Tag of
Baton Rouge.
Let me tell you, the site is breathtaking. There is
something so remarkably special about being able to play on an alpha field so
many years after Photon. And as near as I can tell (someone please correct me
if I am wrong) I believe there are only four left – granted three are not
original – and I am counting Baton Rouge, Metairie, Lazer Blaze in Kentucky and
XP Lasersport in Maryland. I have been lucky enough to play at them all.
This space felt new and familiar all at once.
The site is 7500 square feet and spread over two floors
(as you would expect) and when I arrived in Baton Rouge Kevin gave me a very
thorough tour. We went up onto the observation deck and he showed me the pods
that allow people who are not in the game (such as young kids or parents) to be
able to target the players from above in order to have some of the game
experience without having to step onto the field.
Here they are operating with Laserforce gen 7 packs. I
swear I grabbed this one first without even looking…check out the name of the
pack!
I played three games in Baton Rouge before calling it a night.
In between games I learned about the older packs hidden behind panels in the
walls (more on that later) and got to tour the entire place. They truly treated
me like a VIP.
I regret not taking photos of the Baton Rouge entryway
which was a blue, space-age design and very cool. I was perhaps distracted by
my conversations with the staff who were very knowledgeable and set me up with
some great souvenirs to take back home.
So after spending the night at my hotel in Baton Rouge and
getting up the next day to play a couple more tag sites in route, I ended up at
Laser Tag and Games in Metairie. This would become my 150th laser
tag arena!
While I was taking this pic outside the building the
owner, Davor, was waiting inside to greet me. Such a nice surprise! He welcomed
me and we sat to talk about the facility and were joined by Stephen shortly.
Davor was such a wealth of information. He told me some of the history of Laser
Tag of Metairie.
The location where we were sitting was not the original
site. Originally there had been a Photon location in this town and it was
eventually purchased by someone else who operated using Veqtor tag equipment.
Some time later Davor purchased the business and they transitioned to using
Stunner. Now, remember I mentioned Kevin told me there were older packs behind
the walls in Baton Rouge? Well, it turns out that if we had been able to get to
them those are the packs we would have found. Truly remarkable! Incidentally, I
did get a peek at some cool Veqtor history (these are two of only four of these
bases in existence).
And there were Stunner phasers and bases decorating the
briefing/vesting areas. So cool to see this laser tag history up close as up
until now I’ve only been able to see these systems first hand at the Laser Tag
Museum.
Now, eventually they opened a second location in Baton Rouge
and transitioned to Laserforce. This was only a short time before Hurricane
Katrina came through and devastated the New Orleans area where Metairie is
located. Katrina destroyed the original site on the former Photon arena. In
fact the Laser Tag of Baton Rouge location was used as a site to house people
who were displaced during the catastrophe. I can’t even imagine. This sign was
resurrected from the old site and is on display now in Metairie.
But there is no keeping laser tag down. Davor rebuilt
Laser Tag and Games of Metairie in its current spot where they have constructed
an alpha field using blueprints based on the old Baltimore Photon.
Now, my interest is mostly in the laser tag, but I have
to acknowledge that attention to detail was paid not only to the arena, but
also to all the other attractions in the arcade area, from the bumper cars,
lazer frenzy, rollerball bowling and food, every part of the building has a
unique look that has been carefully considered.
And this extends even to little details like the unique
way that packs are stored in the vesting room. Rather than placing the tag
packs on plastic arms for storage they have custom designed a unique system for
less wear and tear on the vests. Using heavy duty pipe that has been covered
with carpet the vests rest in a way that causes less stress and even the phaser
cords are tethered in such a way so that they won’t drop to the ground.
The game start, lights and music can all be operated with
a single touch control panel.
And there are strategic operations in place to pump the
fog through a well thought out system that lets it pour out evenly from below
the towers. And let’s talk towers and arena atmosphere…
Stepping onto this field was like stepping right into
Photon. The only difference between the Metairie and Baton Rouge arenas appears
to be that the ceilings are higher in Baton Rouge allowing for a bit more
space. Although Metairie does have a few more bases. But both have the classic design hallmarks, most notably the lights and
the towers.
One of the details of the arena lighting is the “shark
gill lighting” that looks like this from above…
And like this from inside the arena…
After touring the whole building (including the back room
where there is a lot of cool signage from years past)…
…I was ready to get into a game. Stephen took my
Laserforce card to sign me in so I could get the traveling achievement and
commented that since I was playing as a level six going into this public game might
be rough on me. I told him it was fine because it wasn’t about that and we went
in and had a great time! And as it turned out…not so rough after all.
Playing at this site was wonderful and I am very
appreciative that I got to learn so much about this center. Thank you, Davor
for taking the time to share the history, highlights and inner workings with such
a great tour of your facility. I am thoroughly impressed with Laser Tag of
Baton Rouge and Laser Tag and Games of Metairie. I had a fantastic time and
will most certainly plan to return again when I next pass through Louisiana!
Comments or Questions?
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com
and www.photonforever.com
