Panther Family Laser Tag & Amusement Center

DON'T go for the Saturday "Kids Zone." They advertise that Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon is "Kids Zone" and kids 12 and under can play for $4.99. However, the ads don't tell you is that the birthday parties take priority. They do a great job with organized parties here, but if you aren't part of an organized party, forget it.

I brought a group of kids at 10 a.m. for the kid zone games.

First they told us 15 minutes. So we bought some tokens and played some air hockey and video games. 15 minutes later, I got the kids lined up ready to enter the arena.

Then they ushered in three party groups in front of us and told us there wasn't room for us and we would be up in about 15 minutes. (Deja vu!) I bought more tokens to keep the kids occupied. 15 minutes later, I got the kids lined up again by the entrance.

Once again, they ushered in 3 party groups right past us and told us they didn't have room for us. They told us we'd be in the NEXT game.

So I got the kids lined up when the next game let out. AGAIN, they ushered in party groups and told us AGAIN we'd be the "next" game. We finally got to play an HOUR after we got there, and 45 minutes after their initial promise of "15 minutes."

As I previously wrote, they do an excellent job with birthday parties here. I gave them a 5 star rating for my son's birthday party. However, I'm going to give this rating to reflect the service you get if you're NOT part of a birthday party. There are still plenty of other 4 and 5 star reviews here to tell you how great their birthday parties are.

This place totally reminds me of the laser tag place I used to go to growing up in middle school in Ohio. Same rules, similar gear, similar scoreboard, and similar score sheets.

The staff here are on the ball for the most part. The tutorial and safety schpiel they give before you head off to the "vesting room" to pick up your gear was handled efficiently and professionally. Although they all looked like they were probably in high school, they had their talk down to an art form.

I just wish that they were better able to explain the rules and strategy of scoring - it felt a lot like we were figuring out how to rack up points via trial and error. How bases work (apparently you can destroy them more than once), when playing solo, the difference between stunning and being tagged... what the blinky lights meant... no one seemed to have any answers. Come on, don't these kids play laser tag themselves? You'd figure they'd know all the ins and outs! Plus, there was a pretty long lag time in between rounds of tag - we couldn't figure out what the hold-up was... perhaps that's just how long it takes for the system to reset? If they could turn games around faster, we could have readily squeezed in a few more rounds.

Regardless, the lot of us had an absolute sweaty blast. And it was definitely sweaty. Most folks ended up with some serious boobsweat going on under their vests after a few rounds. It's unclear whether it was because the heat was on in the main room, or what... but it definitely felt like the arcade area in the front lacked a little ventilation.

Thanks to Alicia for hooking the lot of us yelpers up with some free passes. I'd definitely go back for the all you can play nights for $14. That's a total steal. I'd even brave the wrath of the vicious munchkins that were there the same night we were.

I just paid $32.33 for two games of last tag, $10 worth of tokens and a $3 bottle of water.
Pucks were stuck in the hockey table.... didn't work. Claw machine took our money, not like we were expecting to win anyway.... Jurassic park game didn't work, took our coins. Only plus, the kids at the counter hands you a fist full of replacement tokens when you approach and inform them.... never even tried to fix the games.

Our laser tag color got skipped over and the time on the ticket expired.... they hassled me about that.... 5 minutes over- we were waiting for our color to be called, it never was..... not my fault. The kid at the door sent me to find a manager....

Maybe I'm just too old to be in places like this. Leave your expectations at the door.....

I just held my third football team party here, and it was just as fun as the first two. The kids loved the arcade games and always had something to do in between games. For our first game, we just played against ourselves, but for our other two games, we played against the public, which added some intensity. The team was of 3rd/4th graders, and we were playing against one group of college kids, but they held their own.

Pro tips:

1) "Joker" on Blue won ALL 3 games we played. After noticing this after the first two games, I grabbed "Joker" for game 3...and according to the scoreboard, my accuracy was better than double everyone else, and I creamed everyone. Try to grab that phaser :)

2) Don't have stuff in your pockets when you play. If it falls out, you're SOL.

3) Watch out for dark barrels that suddenly get in your way when you are trying to flee four year olds.

"Hey, loser. How's not playing laser tag? Because playing laser tag is awesome!"

"This is a low point for the Barnacle. I should be out playing laser tag, being awesome."

Neil Patrick Harris' Barney Stinson in one of my favorite sitcom characters of all time. His love for laser tag only adds to his awesomeness. All hail the Barnacle.

Barney is right - when you play laser tag, you are awesome. Or at least that's how I felt. Self-five!

The staff here is young but helpful and keeps the operation efficient. There's a waiting area/arcade/counter - you get a card and wait to be brought into the briefing room where they go over safety and rules. Then you advance to the vesting area to...wait for it... "suit up!". The vests have two should targets, two chest targets and one back target. The gun looks like a large clear blow dryer and you have to have two hands on to shoot (it makes the most annoying beeping sound if you don't have both hands on the weapon). It seems much more high tech than the place I went the one other time I've ever played laser tag.

The laser tag field features two floors where you get to unleash the fury. And that we did. The highlight of the night for me was one of our last games where we played solo and Alicia G., Kevin L., Jack F., Jeff W., Justin S. (?), and I were engaged in a Mexican standoff and then started shooting at each other nonstop.

When the game is over, you're let back out to the waiting area where there is a plasma screen scoreboard. They also give a print out of your stats which I thought was pretty neat.

I played 6 games total and had a blast. At $8.50 for a single game, the Friday and Saturday night specials for unlimited play from 8p-1a for $13.95 is a really good deal. Thursday night is Ladies' Night and you can host an overnight party here. It just keeps getting better!

I was given a chance to check out Panther for free courtesy of my new boss. When he told me the place had just opened and it was in Sterling, my first thoughts were, "Where the heck is Sterling?" Thankfully, the friends/yelpers I went with knew where it was and it was game on!

We arrived a bit later than our fellow yelpers and so we had to wait in the arcade area since they decided to play around without us. In the waiting area, there are plenty of arcade games to entertain; Kevin and Jeff took this opportunity to play some DDR. (Where are those photos, Kevin?)

Also in the waiting area is the scoreboard in which you will find the two teams (red and blue) and their code names. Before you "vest up", there is a briefing room where the rules are laid out and questions are answered. The staff are pretty young (think high school or freshmen in college) but were pretty efficient. The safety schpiel got quicker and quicker since it was basically the same group playing round after round.

The "vesting room" is a room with the gear and you can pick whichever team you want to be on - red or blue. The equipment is brand new which is awesome. There are targets on the front of the vest as well as the shoulders and back. The guns look like hairdryers as PC noted and you must keep both hands on the gun or it won't shoot. There is some kind of heat sensor so it will know if you are doing it or not and if you aren't, it will make this obnoxious sound and tell you to use 2 hands. I did like that when you were shooting, you were able to see this long, green laser beam. I thought it would just be like a red dot that you'd see on the spot where you were shooting but the beam made it much easier.

The actual "tagging" area is cool though kind of confusing. There are bases that you are supposed to hit to "kill" the other team. I had an interesting time figuring out where it was and then if it was actually the right one for me to "attack". This became even more unclear when we started playing solo.

After each round, you go back to the lobby area, check out your rankings on the tv scoreboard and then pick up a copy of your printed scorecard. I came in 2nd during the first solo round but then tanked in the very last round. Sadness.

All in all - it was a great time. But here is my last and most important lesson of the laser tag experience:

**Be on the same team as the small children. They will get you every time and no, you cannot kick or curse at them even though you may really, REALLY want to.**

Most of us, childless young professionals, won't appreciate the Panther Family Fun Center ("Panther Center") the same way kids will. That's because we have the freedom to go wherever we want, whenever we want, and however late we want (assuming it's not last call). For suburban families, however, the Panther Center offers a win-win situation: parents get a low-cost childcare service and kids go berserk without parental oversight. And, most of the time, the employees are apathetic high school students that couldn't care less.

So what's in it for us, the childless young professionals? The Panther Center doesn't serve alcohol, only soft drinks and energy drinks at movie theater prices. They don't serve food either, unless you qualify Domino's Pizza and candy bars as being food. The lobby has decent but antiquated video arcades like Beachhead 2000, Big Buck Hunter, and Dance Dance Revolution, a virtual driving simulator, a Street Fighter-type arcade, an air hockey table, and a crane game. If you're just looking for food, fun, and games, then you might be better off at Dave & Buster's.

But Dave & Buster's doesn't have Laser Tag you say. True, but that's not necessarily enough to justify a 50-minute drive (of course, this is a different story if your posse includes outstanding Yelpers like Kevin L., Alicia G., Jeff W., PC W, Karman L., and Cindy Y.). Also, hardcore combat junkies may find the Panther Center's Laser Tag arena somewhat disappointing. The game play itself is clumsy, confusing, and rather short (usually 8 minutes). When you get hit, you're either stunned temporary for 3 seconds or eliminated for "eliminated" for 10 seconds. Moreover, infinite ammunition and infinite life (enter "IDDQD") turns this game into an endless version of hide and go seek. There are no true objectives except to shoot on sight. On the other hand, there's the constant adrenaline rush of guerrilla warfare. Often, it's every man for himself (even for team scenarios - one target is better than two targets). The best strategy is to take the high grounds and keep moving because you must constantly find new targets (no point waiting around for people to come back to life). And my best advice: stay low and watch for low ceilings.

Overall, the Panther Center can be fun even for people like us, the childless young professionals. I wouldn't return by myself but I'm never opposed to another group outing. [Original Visit: Dec. 19, 2008]

This place is good, but has many flaws. The lobby is well designed and staff are friendly (most of the time). The arcade is fun but costly, and the new Lazer Frenzy interactive game is way overrated.

When you enter the briefing room for the laser tag game, they show you this really long and boring video about rules and stuff. It's good for your first game but it gets annoying after multiple games. Then, you enter the vesting room. Some packs don't even work but you find that out after you enter the game. The arena itself is quite large and confusing. The whole "base" concept is confusing and many players don't even understand it. "Game masters" don't really help so don't bother yelling for them. At the end of the game, you can see the results on a big scoreboard in the lobby.

So, laser tag is fun the first few times but gets old quickly. I reccommend this place for kids but teens will get bored.

I had the unique opportunity to play laser tag at two different places within the same week so I have both experiences fresh in my brain. Panther was by far the better of the two, especially with how new it was. It's located in a very rural strip mall, and there were hardly any cars outside when we arrived. I was initially skeptical, but when I got inside there were black lights aplenty and lots of new video games which immediately got me excited. I thought we were the only people there, and then looked up at the very sleek scoreboard monitor to see that there were already 17 people in the middle of game.

We were announced to go into the briefing room where they very quickly and efficiently made sure everyone knew the rules of the game, and answered any questions. This was a nice change from the 15 minute briefing I received at Shadowland in Chantilly from the nerds on a power trip. At Panther, we were in there for 3 minutes at most before we got suited up and then every game afterwards was maybe 30 seconds just so they could make sure we all had played before and knew the rules.

The equipment here is very new, and also very light. At older laser tag arenas, they load you down with some pretty cumbersome equipment. Here it was a light vest with blaster attached and various flashing sensors. When the game starts all the vests flash and make noise to let you know the game has begun. The first thing to notice is how awesome the gun is. You can actually see the laser beam when you shoot! At Shadowland, the gun was basically a glorified laser pointer that produced a red dot on whatever you shot. The arena is also well done, with lots of blacklights, walls to hide behind, and even a base to seek out and destroy.

My complaint is that the layout was a bit too confusing and congested. I would've preferred it to be a bit more open, and not quite so much like a labyrinth. I also would've liked a more interactive environment, like you have to return to your base to recharge after getting shot, or having modules on the wall that you can obtain powerups from, like other laser tag places have. Also, there didn't appear to be many game modes besides red and blue team, or free-for-all. The equipment was great, but I feel like the overall experience needs some refinement and tweaking, as playing the same mode over and over gets old.

I really love how quickly they get the game started. In the time that I played 3 games at Shadowland, we breezed through 6 at Panther. The games were the same amount of time, but the staff was much more efficient.

Pricing varies on time and day, but the best deal is easily the Friday and Saturday night specials where you pay $14 for unlimited games all night. They also offer over night parties, and apparently also have a ladies night, which is kinda strange to me for something marketed to teenagers. I dunno that I really need to mack the 14 year olds at Laser Tag.

we did a party at Panther Family Fun Center today. What CHAOS!

when we arrived, our party room was not ready, so we had to wait in the main area, (which was crazy busy with video games and lots of other people. It was dark, crowded and nowhere to put our stuff. Finally at 15 mins until our party started, they showed us to our 'party room'.

we were supposed to do a game, then eat, then more games. People showed up and then we went to play. It was filled with older kids (my son is 7 and the others there seemed to be closer to 10ish?). The older kids could not keep quiet during the "briefing" and we could not hear the instructions. The staff could not keep a handle on these kids.

some of the equipment was broken and one of the games, there was not enough vests for our party. Staff was rude and short tempered.

After one game, we went to eat and then after eating, the kids played another game. They had very cheap plates and sparse party rooms. The only choices for "drinks" were soda and high sugar lemonade. Other party places offered juice boxes or waterbottles.

After those games ended, we left the playing area to go back to our party room, only to find some other party group in our room and all of our stuff moved out to the LOBBY! They kicked us out and gave me, the HOST, no IDEA or warning that they would do so. My contact at this place told me we would be going back to our party room after our last game for a minute & then leave. What a bait & switch! To find all my coats, food, stuff and all out in the main lobby was ridicules. I felt like I was being evicted.

Then they came over to give me the bill. HA! They also had one person more than I had playing!

In the end, the kids had fun, but I am definitely NOT impressed and will not be hosting another party there.