Bringing Home Some Unexpected Souvenirs

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a posting I saw from a guy selling some laser tag packs. Well, a rather fortuitous opportunity presented itself while I was sitting in the Salt Lake City airport. The seller had posted again about the packs being available and I replied with a reminder that I would be interested in buying. He messaged me back with a price and description while I was waiting for my flight and I told him I was interested, but traveling and would be in contact with him once I returned.

A few minutes later I was thinking about it and thought I remembered that this guy lived somewhere in Ohio. That’s where I was headed next! Of course, Ohio is a large state so I asked what city he was in and it turns out he lives about a half an hour from where I was already headed to play LQ. What an astounding coincidence! So that made me think this transaction was meant to be, so we agreed to meet at a laser tag center in Parma to complete the sale. And what’s even more amazing is that I had already decided to drive home from Ohio rather than fly just to make sure I’d be on time for the laser tag league on Sunday night, so this meant I could hand carry the packs back with me rather than ship them. Yep, this was a sign that these Q-Zar packs were definitely meant to come home with me.

After completing our business with the packs out in the parking lot, I returned inside to play some tag at the Make Believe Family Fun Center in Parma, OH. I’m actually really glad he suggested this place because I would probably have dismissed it simply because of the name (as it sounds more geared for kids), however it turned out to be a pretty cool facility with a very interesting laser tag arena featuring my favorite system, Zone.

There’s a very nice lounge area in the front with comfortable chairs. This is where I waited when I first arrived. They also have quite a few all ages activities including Spin Zone bumper cars, Ballocity, virtual reality and a café.

There’s also a ropes course and part of it runs right over the top of the laser tag arena. This caught my eye while I was playing with a good sized group in their double level arena with more familiar CW theming.

I can’t recall ever seeing something like this before and it was interesting to watch as ropes course participants hovering overhead during our game. It’s a clever design that makes good use of the open overhead space and intertwines the activities in a unique way.

Something else that I found interesting was the completely open metal-grated floor on the upper level of the arena that allows for targeting from all angles from above or below. Now, it’s not the grate in and of itself that was unique (as this is used in plenty of arenas), but rather the fact that it was the entire floor made this way. That is also something I can’t recall seeing before.

So, these two features made this a particularly unique arena to visit. I enjoyed the game thoroughly and had a great time (as I always do playing Helios).