Weekend in Pittsburgh: Starting at Zone 28

A couple of weeks ago I found myself with an unexpected weekend off from work, so I put together a VERY last minute plan to pay a visit to Pittsburgh. So I dropped notes to Spencer and Logan to let them know that I would be in the area and we figured out a way to jam pack as much laser tag as possible into a really short window of time. I had a list of places I wanted to visit and since Logan knows the area best he suggested a course that would get me to seven laser tag sites beginning with Zone 28.

Spencer met me at Zone 28 at the start of the day...Logan would join us later. It was nice to have some time to catch up for a few minutes before they opened up the tag for the day and we went in with a small group to play some Rift.

We walked into the briefing room with an alien/space theme.

The video briefing spotlighted different aspects of the game with lighting cues. Although the video was all text it incorporated some other elements in interesting ways, such as lighting up the vest and phaser and referring to them as a "training suit" in an effort to tie together an immersive theme.Based on first impressions I anticipated this arena would be put together well. From there we entered the vesting area and got ready for a game.

I had been told that the equipment here was a little older, but the arena itself looked brand new.

A typical CW aesthetic, but I always like a space theme. It was a single level, decent size and the map played well for what it was, however I was disheartened to find there were no bases even though there was a really obvious housing structure where Spencer and I both fully expected to find one.

Without a base here this housing served no particular purpose. However, the game played smoothly (save for a younger player needing to swap out his pack) and it was a light, enjoyable way to start the day. I was pleased that we were able to get into a game with others considering we arrived right at the start of the day. But an early start was the only way to get to all the laser tag locations I had planned for this trip. Time to check out the rest of what Pittsburgh had to offer after this early stop at Zone 28.