What’s Unusual Here?
As I mentioned before, I unexpectedly found myself flying to Nashville instead of Spokane, which meant a total 180 for my tag plans, but it turned out to be wonderful…and with a few other unusual twists! Starting with my first stop, just a short ways outside of Nashville at Southern Lanes in Bowling Green, KY. Do you see what’s unusual here?
The most interesting thing I noticed immediately about this arena is that they are using Zone Helios gear in a Tron arena. Whenever I see this I am probably more fascinated than I should be by the juxtaposition of these two brands, but it just strikes me as unusual to see the elements of these two systems colliding. I assume that at one point this was a Tron arena, but actually when I found it listed on WhereTo PlayLaserTag.com they had it down as a Laserforce arena, so there may be a multi-leveled history of systems here for all I know.
The next unusual aspect of the structure was a REALLY steep ramp to an upper level overlook. Actually, I started up the ramp and midway to the top I stopped because I momentarily wondered if this was leading to an observation deck and possibly not even part of the arena. Yeah, it was THAT steep and high up, but it gave a very nice bird’s eye view of the rest of the field.
Although there were some little equipment glitches during the game I really enjoyed starting the day off with some Zone.
Then I proceeded on my route which included seven laser tag arenas for the day. Now, I’ll mention a couple of others slightly out of order at this point because later on in the day I had another encounter where I found myself playing Zone in a Tron arena at Hendersonville Strike and Spare.
Once again, I put on a Helios pack and found myself playing the game with a group of enthusiastic players who probably had no idea how unusual it is to aim these phasers around the tubular tron structures.
It was a team game in a small, single level arena. I was with a group of teens and tweens and played it lightly, however the game master was watching me and commented “you’re killing it!” which was nice to hear, but I had to honestly say “nah, I’m just walking it.”
Before I left I asked the game master about the other arena in town. He didn’t know what I was talking about, but there is actually another laser tag arena three minutes away in Hendersonville, TN! However, when I drove over I discovered that they were closed for a private event until later in the day, so I had to bypass this arena and stop back around later in the evening.
So instead I moved on to Stars and Strikes in Smyrna, TN. In case you can’t tell by the names, none of these were stand lone laser tag arenas. Almost all the sites I played this day were located inside bowling alley FECs including this one. However, the juxtaposition was switched here…at this site I played Lasertron in a CW arena!
Although we played a basic shields-up game there were bases inside the arena, located where you’d expect a base…just not one like this. :)
The arena walls were very familiar, but it was a nice double level maze and actually this game felt more natural in this setting than in a classic Tron environment. I don’t believe I’ve ever before played Tron in an arena like this.
Although I had to settle for the pre-determined pack name (Black Widow) I got just as much satisfaction out of seeing that name with my score topping the list of high scores for the day.
Thank you to everyone at Stars and Strikes!
I had many varied experiences at the arenas I visited on this trip, but I had to share these three together because they were very distinctive for merging elements unexpectedly. All were a great time!
Comments or Questions?
Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com
