Tactical Tag in the Diamond State

Diamond State Laser Tag in Dover, DE has been on my radar for quite awhile. I have heard some great things about it, and since I was already as close as Philadelphia this past weekend, I knew it would be well worth the short drive from there to play the arena and see for myself. Let me tell you, it was impressive!

My teammate, Noah, joined me for the drive down to Delaware. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by my friend Randy (aka Bhodi Li) who works occasional weekends there with his wife Kelly. It was great to see a familiar face and also to have a chance to take a cool pic. Old-school Photon warriors will get it…Bhodi Li and Tivia are ready for laser tag. The light still shines!

Randy showed us around and gave me some background about this building that used to be an indoor skateboarding park. However, the inside has been completely transformed into a fully themed, two-story arena that was really impressive! It was no surprise to learn the business owners have experience in the haunt industry, so the attention to the details in creating an immersive environment were evident. I love a well themed arena, so even before our games got underway I was enthralled by the atmosphere they created all throughout.

We checked out the map of the floor plan and then got to explore.

Upon entering the arena on the lower level you are entering some kind of medical facility, but things have clearly not gone well for the patients.

Some have already landed in the morgue…

Meanwhile, you can tag around others that are laid out in the operation room (a key location for the King of the Hill game we would play later).

This “hospital” has some unusual tools scattered throughout the various rooms.

Then again, it also has some interesting…patients?

Of course the workers are ready to remove any hazardous waste…

And there was a lot more on the second level.

However, the larger concern (literally) should be all the giant spiders!

And beyond the theatrical props, there were also some cool effects like this plane of smoky light.

It almost looks like you are waist high in some sort of infectious substance!

And moving images playing behind these asylum doors definitely make you feel like you are not alone.

With all these amazing effects to capture your attention, I wondered how the arena would play. As it turns out, it plays incredibly well!

Once you’ve gotten past the initial awe of the theatrics, you simply get immersed in the game, as we discover once the afternoon group arrived for our six game session.

We were each assigned a Battle Company Battle Rifle Pro tagger.

Randy gave a briefing to the group, with new instructions before each game format.

First up was Team Death Match Heavy Machine Gun (TDM HMG) where we could hold the trigger to use the machine gun feature. I was on the blue team and we started in our corner base.

A strong start as we won the round.

Next up was Domination. With five boxes on the lower level and two upstairs serving as domination points, the object is to shoot the globe on the box to turn it to your color and maintain control of each box for as long as possible.

We did well, although the red team took this one. However, I think this may have been one of my favorite game formats. Moving on to a game of TDM Shotgun. One interesting thing I learned is that with the shotgun it is the headset that is actually emitting the signal. Interesting!

King of the Hill plays out in the operation room, tagging around the three bodies.

There is a utility box in the room and you want to stay in front of it as long as possible while also keeping the opposing team out of room, otherwise nobody gets the points. I enjoyed this format. The blue team held the hill longest and won the game.

TDM Snipers was next. This is a one shot game to tag out an opponent. You must reload after every shot fired, which takes about two seconds.

In Team Deathmatch Rifle the only objective is player tags with semi-automatic rifle. This was a fun round and a strong finish for the blue team.

However, we got one bonus game called Gun Game. This was a free for all where you start with a weak pistol and upgrade a little bit with each deactivation or lose progress when you are tagged out. Every utility box in the arena is a respawn box. This was a great time and a nice way to end the session.

Everyone really enjoyed the game session and I overheard quite a few positive comments from other players who were impressed with their experience as well. I had a great time and would love to return to Diamond State Laser Tag next time I find myself in Delaware!