Bowlero, Bowlero, Bowlero

I played three Bowlero locations during my time in Minnesota. Eden Prairie, Blaine and Brooklyn Park were the sites I was able to get to and I had a particularly good time being able to bring my friend Nicole along to a couple of them.

My first of the three was on my own to the Eden Prairie Bowlero (as it was closest to my hotel that first night in town).

Most Bowleros are very similar, so I was not surprised to find a few familiar characteristics, including the Urban Mission entrance.

I felt like the teacher as staff member Jordan joined me for her very first game of laser tag. We circled the arena trading tags with Nexus and I took note of the details that were unique to this location, like Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox pictured behind me on the wall (since this is Minnesota).

You can also see the city scape to give it another touch of local flavor.

Other than these little additions, it was a basic, CW design. One level, a little vanilla, but enjoyable. No sound on my pack, but otherwise it was a nice game.

A couple of nights later I have joined up with all my friends gathered together in Minneapolis and we are all at a dance party…except I am not a “dance party” kind of girl and neither is Nicole, so I suggested we break off from the pack and go find some laser tag instead. She’s game for it, so I check and see there are two Bowleros we can probably get to before closing. The first is in Blaine.

Here’s the Urban Mission wall again!

This was a more impressive two-level arena.

I told Nicole that I had a pretty good idea of what we could expect. I assumed they would be running Nexus (and I also just had a feeling it might not be in the best shape by this point in its equipment lifespan). Well, second game in a row I had a pack with no sound…and so did she. It was all the more obvious because there was no arena music playing either, so we had a very quiet game!

On to our next stop at Bowlero Brooklyn Park.

This arena had a security checkpoint at the entrance. Interestingly enough, we somehow both managed to set off the metal detector (I presume it was my belt and her shoes, but we were soon cleared and proceeded to the arena).

We followed the sign to the Lazer Zone.

We once again picked up our Nexus packs.

And we entered another similar looking CW arena.

And for the third time in a row, it was another quiet game.

Well, at least the arena speakers were on and we had music this game. In spite of having no sound (and no bases either), it was a nice opportunity for a laser tag break before returning to Minneapolis. The next day our friends wondered where we had taken off to and when I said we had gone to play laser tag…well, the eyes started to roll, but anyone who knows me probably didn’t expect me to be anywhere else!