- TRUTNEE: - Mr. Simmonds, what laser tag arenas do you operate now?
- LASER ZONE: - [At present, we have 2 laser tag arenas]: Laser Zone in Huddersfield - 8,000 square feet (multilevel), that can be split into 2 separate arenas for tournaments (hardware: P&C Micros “System T2 Infusion”, packs: 57). The site was first opened as a LaserQuest site back in 1996. We changed to P&C Micros System T1 in July 2006 and T2 Infusion in February 2007.
[The second one is] Bradford Site: Main Arena of 8,000 square feet (multi-level) + 2nd Arena: 3,500 square feet (available for private hire & tournaments only). Hardware: ZetaBlast by Advanced Avionics. Packs: initially 40 for the opening, increasing to 60 within 12 months. We got planning permission for the site in February 2009 and have been building the centre for the last year. We hope to be open around the middle of February 2010.
- TRUTNEE: - What is the average player's age at your arena? What is the approximate percentage of kids (up to 10 years old) among the players?
- LASER ZONE: - We have 2 quite distinct markets, due to the hours our centre is open. Up until about 6-7pm on an evening our average player age is 11 years old. After this we do get quite a lot of older players due to the fact the site is open until 11pm and we are fully licensed to sell alcohol. The oldest person to play at our site was 76 years old and we have even held a 60th birthday party here too.
- TRUTNEE: - What category of player is the most important from your point of view: kids, regular players, corporate parties' players?
- LASER ZONE: - Kids parties make up about 35% of our trade. 15% comes from our Kids Club “Munchkin Madness”, 25% from School and other Youth Groups (Scouts, Youth Sports Teams, etc…) and 25% from adult groups, regular players, students, walk-in’s, etc… We don’t do that much corporate business at the moment, but that is one area we are going to focus on in our next Marketing campaign, once the Bradford store is open.
- TRUTNEE: - The term Regular player: to your mind, how often should a person play to be defined as "regular"?
- LASER ZONE: - In my opinion, if a person plays more than 1 game of Lasertag a month at a specific site, then they are a regular player at that site. They will have an advantage over the majority of other players as they will know the layout of the arena and also (hopefully) have more skill with the equipment.
- TRUTNEE: - How many regular teams are playing at your arena? Are they divided into leagues?
- LASER ZONE: - None. We do however have a large number of members that come along on a regular basis (primarily to our weekly Monday Night Mayhem sessions).
The thing is, the majority of our members see themselves as a big family rather than smaller separate groups. On the Monday nights, when we do team games, it is very rare that people are in the same “teams” every week, as they like to mix things up between themselves.
- TRUTNEE: - Do you provide the regular players with some special discounts and bonuses?
- LASER ZONE: - There is no regular player discount, however if a player becomes a member, they get a £1 discount on the standard game price and other discounts on special events too.
- TRUTNEE: - How often do you organize arena Championships? Who can participate in them? Do you provide the participants with any special discounts for the period of Championship?
- LASER ZONE: - This isn’t something we currently run, although the plan is to run inter-site events once the Bradford arena is open.
We do have a “top 50” ranking on the most popular games that is updated on a weekly basis and we also run 2 special all-night events every year, where there are 3 different tournaments throughout the night (2 team tourneys and a solo tourney)
- TRUTNEE: - What is 'special all-night event'?
- LASER ZONE: - We hold 2 of these every year, one in April for Easter and another at the end of October for Halloween. The top 3 players in the solo tournament get 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies. The winners and runners-up in both team tourney’s get medals. There is also a fun tournament where the winner gets a medal too. We also have a fancy-dress competition for the Halloween event, where we give away prizes and medals too.
- TRUTNEE: - How do you promote and advertise these events? Have any sponsors ever been engaged in forming the Prize funds?
- LASER ZONE: - We advertise the events in-store, on our website and via our mailing list. Sponsorship of the event isn’t something I’ve thought about, but is something we may consider in the future.
- TRUTNEE: - Do you allow money betting during the special all-night events?
- LASER ZONE: - Betting is something I’ve never even considered. To be honest, I don’t think it would be something I would allow at one of the events either. At the end of the day, whilst there is a lot of competition on the night, we want these events to be fun and as friendly as possible.
- TRUTNEE: - What is your attitude to the idea of multi-system laser tag tournament of Armageddon type?
- LASER ZONE: - I love it. Personally, I’ve played with over 20 different types of laser tag hardware at sites all over the UK, Europe and the USA.
We have hosted the Zone and Quasar rounds of the UK Armageddon tournament at Huddersfield in both 2008 & 2009 and we put in a team from here for the 2009 event.
Also, both myself and a member of my staff travelled to Sweden as part of the UK team for their Armageddon in 2009.
As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t enough interaction between the players at different lasertag sites who use the same hardware, never mind between those using different kit. I think it’s primarily the owners being short-sighted, thinking they may lose players to other sites. The thing is, promoting inter-site rivalry will only increase a centre’s trade over time and that all centre owners & managers should try and promote tournaments such as this, as much as we can.
- TRUTNEE: - How do you advertise and promote your arena? Do you place some advertisings in mass-media?
- LASER ZONE: - We only use our website, mailing list and in-store posters/flyers. I’ve tried mass-media marketing in the past and found that not only is it very expensive, the return is minimal. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising that has worked for us.
- TRUTNEE: - Does the Manufacturer of the equipment provides you with any help concerning marketing, promotion, advertising, etc.?
- LASER ZONE: - The easy answer is NO. They (ZoneEU) try – take their new “playzonelaser” website. Our details are on there and when a user logs on to that site, the nearest Zone site is supposed to appear on the front page as the place for them to go play. Unfortunately it’s always their Leicester site, no matter where you log into the site from in the UK.
- TRUTNEE: - How do you like the laser tag equipment you operate? Are you experiencing any problems with it? Does the Manufacturer provide you with service support in the right time and in full volume?
- LASER ZONE: - System T2 Infusion is great. There are a few things I would change if I’d have been designing the equipment - the connector on the top of the battery is a weak point, for one - although overall the hardware is great. We can create some great games and the customers like the kit.
We very rarely have to speak to ZoneEU technical, as we pretty much know the packs inside-out and have a very strict maintenance regime, although when we have needed them, they have always helped out as best they can.
- TRUTNEE: - What game modes and features are most popular among the players? Why?
- LASER ZONE: - The 2 favourite games with kids are Mayhem and Zone Infusion. Mayhem is a fast & furious format, with every player having a machine gun (4 shots per second) and a quick deactivation time (4 seconds) and with Zone Infusion, team players get power-ups when a base is destroyed (Invincibility, Team Destroyer, Hyper-Mode and Stealth-Mode).
The favourite game amongst our members is Base Flags. In principle, it’s a very simple game. The players start in their base with no power. At the start of the game, the base gives them 1 life and unlimited shots. You have to get from your base to the opposing base and shoot it. If you get shot you need to return to your base for another life. It’s team scoring only and gets very tactical, depending on how many players are on each team and even changes depending who is playing.
- TRUTNEE: - What game features are the least popular?
- LASER ZONE: - All the members hate Stealth-Mode in Zone Infusion. It turns your pack lights off to give the impression you are dead, but can still fire. The problem is that in most public games, newer players tend to shoot you if you are alive or dead thus making the mode pointless. We try and enforce a “no dead spamming” rule, but when there are lots of non-members in a game, it’s a complete waste of time. This is one of the reasons why most of my members / regular players tend to avoid normal public games and to be honest, I prefer it that way as them going in to these games and winning every time spoils those games for others.
- TRUTNEE: - What types of mazes do you have at your sites?
- LASER ZONE: - You can view the Huddersfield maze here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XVTaQZEDdk – although it is a little dark and I’m going to re-film it when I get chance. And you can also see the build in progress of our Bradford site too: http://www.youtube.com/user/LaserZoneHudds#p/u.
- TRUTNEE: - Comparing to a single level maze, what advantages does two level maze have? Does the second level cause any specific problems to the operator?
- LASER ZONE: - The good thing about multi-level mazes is that they make the player think three dimensionally. The fact people can shoot you from above/below certainly makes things more interesting, gameplay-wise.
The only problems you need to be aware of with multi-level is the idiot factor. Your game marshalls need to be aware that some of the more silly players may decide it’s a good idea to jump between levels rather than using ramps. Fortunately this hasn’t happened with us yet, but the thing about dealing with members of the public is that sometimes they are completely unpredictable.
- TRUTNEE: - Do you provide your visitors with any additional services (e.g., free parking lot, shower room, etc.)? How popular are they?
- LASER ZONE: - There is free parking available. We also have an attached cybercafé & LAN gaming centre, equipped with 22 gaming spec PCs and hooked up to a very fast internet connection for online gaming.
- TRUTNEE: - How strong is the competition between the laser tag arenas in West Yorkshire?
- LASER ZONE: - We are the only lasertag centre in Huddersfield, with the nearest competitor being over 30 miles away, which is one of the reasons we decided to open our 2nd site in Bradford (15 miles away).
The “local” sites are another LaserZone in Castleford (nothing to do with us, although they do use the same equipment), a LaserQuest in a bowling alley in Rochdale and Lase-R-Ace (Actual Reality) in Oldham.
- TRUTNEE: - Do you plan to introduce some innovations at your arena in the nearest time?
- LASER ZONE: - There are a few ideas floating around with regards to the Huddersfield arena, but they are on hold until we get the Bradford site open. As to what they are, well… that’d be telling!
- TRUTNEE: - Thank you very much for your answers!
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