Really Not Worth The Time Out of My Day

After deciding to drive to Rochester to play one last time at the Laser Quest that is closing it's doors in two weeks I figured I'd make the trip even more worthwhile and visit two more arenas in Western NY to experience what they had to offer and check them off as my 74th and 75th arenas played. So, before heading to Quest I called ahead to Horizon FX a few miles to the north and asked what times tag was available for walk-ins. I was told that it was open for tag all day and thought I'd go there first. I try not to be negative about the places I visit for the first time, but in this case here is a little bit about why I will NOT be returning to this place anytime soon (and it has nothing to do with Lazer Runner). I went to the counter and paid for a single game and asked when it would run. I was told as soon as they fill it, probably 20-25 minutes. So I headed over to the snack bar and a short time later (maybe 15 minutes) I heard them call for a laser tag game. When I walked over the attendant said this was a party group going in and my game would not be going in for an hour to an hour and a half. What?! That's not what they told me when I paid. And I do not have the time to spend waiting this out. I remembered the last time I tried to play here and was told they were sold out of games for a couple of hours and I would have to come back. If this place is so popular (and no doubt their skating rink is the main reason), then good for them. They obviously don't need me to play tag there. When I went back to the counter to question what I was told the same girl who sold me the pass changed her tune and said, "yeah, probably at least an hour" and unenthusiastically offered me my money back. The problem is that an hour isn't enough time for me to go anywhere else and if I wanted to play here (even once just to speak intelligently about it and not walk out for a second time) I had to acquiesce. To their credit, after I made a small fuss over the time discrepancy they did get me into a game faster. I appreciate that. We watched what looked to be a homemade briefing video explaining Lazer Runner. The referee then created (and corrected) two really unbalanced teams out of the 21 players in the game. While the entry and the briefing room looked more impressive than I would have expected, I wondered what the arena would bring. They have a combined briefing/vesting area and I had a feeling there would be chaos when the current game ended and ours was to vest up.

Arena? Cool aesthetic, but small. Game? Even for Runner, this was no challenge. Rather than try to shoot players like a big baddie I just shot the largely undefended base repeatedly. And I know that alone was enough to win on points...not that you would know who won because there was NO SCOREBOARD and no printouts. So if you want to play laser tag like it's tee ball with four year olds and the score is just fun vs fun then this does the trick. However, as laser tag goes I am not surprised that this spot has never been spoken of in my tag circle.

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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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

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