The Skagway Recreation Center recently purchased a laser tag set. The center hopes to implement it into its after school program and offer laser tag for events and parties.
When you picture a rec center the first things that come to mind are probably some kids shooting hoops, people running on treadmills and lifting weights. Maybe a group of yogis stretching on some mats. But what about a game of laser tag? That is a new activity that the Skagway Recreation Center is trying to implement in 2019.
“I like to think that our rec center is a lot different than other community centers,” says Skagway Recreation Center director Katherine Nelson. “We’re not just a rec center. We are a multifaceted facility that offers a lot of different programs that you would never see in a recreational setting. We go outside the box here.”
Nelson says the idea to implement a laser tag program came up when the recreation board was brainstorming new activities that the center could provide during the winter months.
“Everybody got excited and so we had great visions for that and I started looking at commercial equipment.”
Nelson bought several sets of laser tag guns to start implementing it into the center’s after-school program. They arrived at the end of November.
The guns have different game and team settings programmed into them. They keep track of the score over the course of the game.
“The guns that we have actually have the responder on the gun,” Nelson says. “So you don’t actually have to wear a vest with these.”
Although the rec center has the equipment, they are still working out the details before the games begin.
“Right now, we’re in the process of looking at equipment that can form a course that would be easily set up and broken down and a place to store it.”
But in the not so distant future, she hopes to offer laser tag at the rec center for parties and events.
