From Tiaras to Tactical Tag

What, doesn’t everyone dress like this when they’re going to play outdoor tactical laser tag, lol?

I was in Corning, NY this weekend even though I had originally I had planned to be laser tagging on the other side of the country. But my plans changed for a very good reason…one of our local titleholders from the Miss Finger Lakes/Upstate New York program became Miss New York and will now be advancing to the Miss America Pageant! Congratulations Lauren!

So, the homecoming/crowning of her local successor was planned for this weekend in Corning. When I was asked to be there to help and run the sound equipment for this celebration I knew that it was more important for me to be here so I cancelled my original plans to be in a laser tag tournament in California and packed up my gear to head for the southern tier of NY. After the celebration, in spite of not having any change of clothing, I ran a search on my phone to see if there was any laser tag nearby. I was amazed to learn that there was a center that offered tactical laser tag right there in Corning! For all my years traveling down here for the pageant program I never knew about this place. So, I made a call and drove a short ways, just a couple of blocks over to the Park Ave Sports Center.

Since I had no other tag clothes with me, I walked in wearing a polka dot dress and sandals…not at all the proper attire, but certainly not the first time I’ve shown up for laser tag wearing a dress! When I arrived I was shown to the outdoor laser tag field where Kyle gave me a tour and set up a demo game for me.

This location uses Laser Tag Pro (now known as Battle Company) tactical equipment which I have only played a few times before. Kyle told me they added the laser tag attraction about three years ago. He gave me a choice of smaller or larger phaser and I picked the larger Battle Rifle Pro XL because I was pretty sure I had never used the larger model previously.

Then we toured the field which included an alcove style respawn station on each side. This one is for the red team…

And sniper towers in each corner as well…

Along with various obstacles, buildings and barricades to play in and around.

Kyle described the various game formats that they use here including Team Deathmatch, CTF, Domination and Juggernaut. My own experience with the system has been limited to more basic games so it’s nice to know that they can accommodate a wide variety of the game options that you would expect.

We did a short, timed demo game 1v1 so I could experience the field before their next party group arrived. It was fun! The shot damage was set at 20 percent, so to deplete an opponent’s health you have to successfully target the sensors on either the headband or the front of the phaser several times to send them back to the respawn station. That actually makes things more interesting than the one-shot format that keeps you running back and forth constantly instead of actively in the game.