Members Night…In a Dress

Time to start telling a few of the stories from my Ohio tag travels!

Who drives over six hours just to attend a members night? As best I can tell it might just be Baden and me (different reasons and different members nights), but that is exactly what I did to start out my first big tag trip since the pandemic started. Yes, I have been lucky enough to play in adjacent states for a day trip here or there, but I am very excited to be able to do proper traveling again and find some new arenas to visit. So, as I set out towards Toledo I found a proper stopping point would’ve been around Erie Pennsylvania…until I learned that tonight was members night in Middleburg Heights at Arena 51, which is a VERY unique arena to play. So I pushed on and kept driving for another hour and a half beyond what I planned just to get in a couple of games before the end of the night.

I left straight from work. I arrived still wearing my work clothes (I drove straight through with no extra time to change or I’d miss the final games) so it is entirely possible that the skeptical looks from other players were because I showed up wearing a dress to laser tag, no doubt assuming that I wouldn’t have any tag skills.

Formidable looking, huh?

At least I had a pair of sneakers in the back seat of my car.

For the first game I made my way up to the blue base. I encountered some red and green players staking out my base who “helpfully” suggested I was in the wrong spot. Lol, time to just do my thing!

Well, I pulled the top score on my team right out of the gate and made a pretty decent showing for someone who, well…was running around the arena in a dress! Ok, seriously not my very best showing, but I pulled very respectable scores considering it is difficult to move properly in a short skirt!

I have played a couple of times in a long skirt and ballet flats, but to be honest I probably should have taken the two seconds to change into more appropriate clothes if I wanted to give this night a serious run. Especially since they now sell t-shirts and I bought two! However, on the heels of my six hours of driving I decided to not go full out and rather to just enjoy the game and admire the scenery around me. There is a lot to take in at this truly unusual arena!

You may remember that this site placed second in the Top Ten Arena contest I hosted last summer in the category of “Most Distinctively Unique Arena”. Here’s a more thorough look at some of what makes this arena stand out.

I was reminded of something that must have made an impression on me last time I was here. This site now uses CyberBlast, however it had previously been a Zone site, so scattered throughout the arena are Nexus phasers on the wall painted in different colors to direct you through the maze. I had forgotten about this!

However, seeing it again helped me recognize the inspiration for the decor I have hanging on my office wall.

I always have a great time playing at Arena 51, so I am glad I was able to catch the final games of the night.

Then I headed to my hotel to rest up for the next day, which turned out to be a VERY busy start to a full weekend of tag and travel. After more than a year of staying close to home it was so nice to (safely) set out on an adventure again!