Hide ‘n’ Quest

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 1999 | 11:38 a.m.

It's dark, musty, even Gothic. Nerve-jarring rock music pours from unseen speakers. Danger awaits behind every fog-shrouded corner.

It is not the ideal setting for anyone who easily succumbs to the jitters -- be it a suited insurance salesman or a kid wearing a bright blue John Elway jersey.

Suddenly, a flash of light pierces the darkness. You're hit. Your protective vest jerks. A sniper crouched behind a four-foot wall giggles, flashing his braces, then lurches away.

Welcome to Laser Quest.

Taking interactive gaming to the extreme, Laser Quest opened the first of two Las Vegas centers, at 6330 S. Pecos Road, in December. The second center is scheduled to open Jan. 15 in the Lake Mead Pavilion, at 7361 West Lake Mead Blvd., giving local residents a chance to crouch, aim and fire.

All in the name of fun.

Most easily described as a high-tech fusion of tag and hide-and-seek, Laser Quest is geared to players of nearly every shape, size and age.

"It's definitely for all ages," Laser Quest general manager Ken Smallwood said during a recent evening of laser-guided revelry at the Pecos Road center. "The first thing the company wanted to do was to get every member of the family involved. I've seen a father come out here with his son and daughter, look the place over and decide he wants to play, too."

A cousin of the roving shoot-em-up game Laser Tag, Laser Quest is unique mostly for its spacious enclosed arenas. While Laser Tag was designed to be played in any setting, inside or out, Laser Quest is geared specifically for its customized indoor centers.

"Three months ago, none of this was here," Smallwood said of the 7,500-square-foot facility. "The building went up fast, and they had a crew come in who specializes in doing the painting and artwork just for Laser Quest and that was done in six days.

"When you come in here and see where you actually play, it's very tempting. It's spooky, in an entertaining kind of way."

The entertainment value has made Laser Quest a proven money maker since the first center opened in Manchester, England, in 1989. It rapidly expanded to Canada and the United States, with more than 130 centers worldwide and 60 in North America, including the two additions in Las Vegas.

Laser Quest's parent company, Versent Corp., is based in Toronto and was listed as Canada's fourth-fastest growing company in 1998 by Canada's Profit magazine.

"It's a totally immersive experience," Greg Thompson, Versent's 50-year-old president and chief executive officer, said. "When you're playing, you're not thinking about work or the mortgage. We've had birthdays for people ranging from 5 to 50 years old; we've had church and corporate groups, and it's a totally gender- and age-neutral game.

"It's a game where an 8-year-old can beat an adult, legitimately, and have a good time doing it."

No two Laser Quest centers are identical, Thompson said, and range in size from 6,500 to 8,000 square-feet. The Pecos Road center is bathed in black light to illuminate the bright florescent paint and a thin layer of machine-generated fog.

Typical of all Laser Quest centers, the multi-leveled battleground is a confounding labyrinth of short passages, ramps, fences and tight corners.

"It's a great place, once you kind of get used to it, to lurk around and hide and blast someone," Laser Quest assistant manager Chris Robel said. "But if you don't know your way around and try to move around and find someone, you could be in a lot of trouble."

There are also mirrors -- hundreds of them -- offering players the maddening opportunity to actually blast away at themselves.

"I'm confused," said 12-year-old Greg Walton during a recent Laser Quest game to celebrate a friend's birthday party. "I just shot one of the guys who works here. It's kind of hard to get used to, but it's still a good time."

Confusion is part of the equation.

"There are 450 mirrors in here," Robel said. "You can bounce it off mirrors and hit someone. The way this is designed, if you shoot at the right angle, you can hit 15 different mirrors and still hit someone to score points."

Players can also fire through open grates built into raised floors or from behind chain-link fences.

"The more imagination you have, the better," Smallwood said. "All we do is supply the equipment and a big, fun space for people to play and let their minds go."

Upon arrival, players -- or, as the company terms them, "questors" -- are prepped for action in a type of holding cell called the Airlock Room. They're then fitted with hefty 14-pound vests -- called packs -- affixed with lighted targets fastened to the chest, back and shoulders.

A side holster houses the Laser Quest firearm, which fires a quick laser burst. When a target is hit, the shooter is automatically given credit for the strike and the victim's pack is momentarily rendered powerless.

Scores are posted on a large-screen monitor after each game. Questors are encouraged to use code names, such as "Viper" or "Cobra," and scoring totals are updated under the alias throughout a questor's career.

"It's like a video game in a way, where you can track your improvement compared to other players," Smallwood said. "Your proficiency and aim with the gun can improve pretty rapidly."

The Laser Quest gun -- roughly the size of an Uzi -- is the one piece of equipment violence-sensitive parents might frown upon.

"A lot of people, especially parents, do not like guns as toys," said Smallwood, who helped run a Laser Quest center in Phoenix before moving to Las Vegas. "But if you look at other things kids could be doing as opposed to playing in here, it's really harmless. We make sure it's an action-oriented game, not something that promotes violence."

All questors are required to recite and adhere to the company's six commandments, which include promising not to run, climb or jump during competition. Players are also forbidden from making physical contact with another player, covering targets and using offensive language.

"We want everyone to be well-behaved," Smallwood said. "We want this to be all-inclusive, so we can't have fights or profanity or anything like that. We haven't had to throw anyone out of a game so far."

Laser Quest's success can be traced the the addictive nature of the game (thanks mostly to the sustained adrenaline rush a questor experiences during play) and relatively low cost. A 15-minute game costs $6.50 per player. One-year memberships cost $20 per person, with a $10 annual renewal fee, and members can play for just $5 per game. Special rates are also offered for large groups or parties.

Up to 27 players can play at a time, and the Phoenix center has welcomed groups as diverse as church organizations to guys kicking off a bachelor party.

"The more popular places, and we think this will be one of them, have a regular group of players and it's highly competitive," Smallwood said. "You have a top-gun-type of guy everyone is shooting for."

The competition expands to include not only individual players, but cities. Because of its vast number of centers, Laser Quest's home office in Toronto has organized a national championship tournament.

Ten players per city begin competition in the spring and culminate the tournament with a two-team final showdown in September.

"Some of the members are extremely accurate," Smallwood said. "The team in Phoenix (called the Pyros) used to shut down the center for practice. We'd like to have a team from (Las Vegas) get to that point, and we'd like to host the championship in the near future."

Thompson said that could happen as soon as this fall.

"It's funny. When we first started (the tournaments), there were only seven teams involved," he said. "Now there could be as many as 45 trying to qualify, and we might consider Las Vegas a tournament site and make it a really big deal."

Laser Quest has already made a commitment to Las Vegas -- never has it opened two centers in a single city in such rapid succession. Survival depends on questors' willingness to return and become proficient laser marksmen.

Thompson realizes that competition in Las Vegas is spirited for families' entertainment dollars.

"That's one thing that could be seen as a negative factor," Thompson said. "There are a lot of entertainment options, just like in Orlando (Fla.), where it's offering a lot for families. But that's what fuels the growth of the city, which is why we're (in Las Vegas) in the first place."

Smallwood is also aware of the obstacles facing Laser Quest.

"I don't like to use the word 'competition' when it comes to marketing, but we're going up against Circus-Circus and New York-New York, the casino properties that cater to family entertainment," Smallwood said. "We want to be year-round, and we expect heavy business in the summer."

As Smallwood spoke, laughter could be heard from inside the arena as a Laser Quest battle raged. In the darkened fog, everyone was having a blast.

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