The New Lazer Runner Gen 4 Phaser!

Ever since IAAPA in November I’ve been eager to find a Lazer Runner site using the new Gen 4 phaser design. However, it has been difficult to identify these locations. Shout out to Chook who sent me a link to a place in Wisconsin that appears to have them, but I didn’t plan on getting there for a while, so you can imagine how elated I was to just stumble upon the new phasers while visiting Classic Fun Center in Sandy, Utah just outside of Salt Lake City.

When I plotted my agenda for this trip I included this site, but for some reason I thought it was a Lasertron site. I actually almost skipped it and am so glad I didn’t! The laser tag arena here is a small and rather kid-oriented. Skating, bounce inflatables, jungle attractions and arcade are all activities offered at this FEC, so the size of the tag arena was not a big surprise, although to be fair it is two levels which is a little unexpected.

However, size doesn’t always matter and in this case I was just delighted to be able to get to try out the new Runner vest and equipment.

The vests still utilize the fiber optic strips that are typical to Lazer Runner.

I’m not absolutely certain, but I feel like this battery pack on the back is larger than the previous version.

The Gen 4 phasers are one handed and shoot nice red beams…this just feels like a game changer for Lazer Runner. Often times when I’ve played using the previous “price scanner” style phasers they have felt feel creaky and inaccurate. However, this phaser targets well and feels like a much better quality unit all around. Each phaser lit up brightly with a different color of LED lights and more immersive sound effects.

This phaser looks to me like a cross between the new Laserforce Gen 8 phasers with the rubberized coating and the Tiger/Nerf taggers with its shape. There’s an ergonomic feel with a bit of narrow sleekness. I really like this and think Lazer Runner has really stepped up with their new version. I hope that this phaser will be incorporated into more sites that already use Lazer Runner. I understand that it is compatible with previous versions and this site actually did have both the older and newer vests both available in their vesting area.

When I inquired about how recently they had gotten these new vests I was told that the owners purchased them at IAAPA this year, so maybe we crossed paths that week! I think they made a good decision with the upgrade and I’m so glad I was able to play using Lazer Runner Gen 4 for the first time here at Classic Fun Center.