We use laser tag props for a very simple reason: the laser tag guns themselves are the least interesting thing we can use on the field. As we’ve said in other places, the guns are the least interesting thing on the field; they work the same way each and every time. We use various props to really change up the flow of play. Any laser tag location or rental company can show you how to play team deathmatch (your basic team-on-team game) and let you run yourself silly. We rarely run deathmatches, though, because we find it’s usually an inferior game to a zone control or domination game. Domination lets each player on the field have a substantial impact on the outcome of the game, where deathmatch games mostly only reward the players with the most skill. All of a sudden, each and every game is not only different, but easy to change even more with something as simple as moving one or two of the domination arms.
It’s rare to see a game where we aren’t using at least one or two laser tag props. Here we’re using an orange vest and a prop bomb.
Games like Intel are fantastic because as players get better they provide multiple tasks to coordinate while playing as a team so they can find the hidden laptop and get their codebreaker there and back. Props provide a focus for the game other than simply having people shoot at each other. I mean, don’t get me wrong: we all love how laser tag is like a grown-up version of playing army or cowboys and indians, but when you reduce the entire play value on the field to shooting everyone else and getting an individual score, well, you’re losing sight of what’s really possible.
In fact, it might be best to say that it’s not that we use laser tag props on our field but that we use laser tag gear on our props field. After all, the focus of what we’re doing is providing a personalized, custom entertainment experience to every player on the field, not shooting at each other. We use the props because the laser tag guns by themselves are boring. We use the laser tag guns because they enable the players beyond strictly their personal physical capacity. The laser tag props are the point; the guns just make it easier for the players to be heroes.