With our March weather taking us back to winter’s deep freeze my family needed a good distraction to stretch our legs and have some fun together. A midweek trip to Castle Laser Tag in Gaithersburg was just the diversion that we were looking for.
This new facility is loaded with family fun and was empty on a Wednesday night. In fact, we had the whole place to ourselves. The main attraction here is the “black light” laser tag course. Each participant gears up with a lighted vest and laser shooter and watches a short video about the rules prior to being let loose in the castle themed arena.
I have never played laser tag before so cannot compare to other places, but this was fun! Each game lasts 12 minutes. In the arena there are two castle structures with ramps up and down, lots of hiding places and plenty of space for running around. In addition to being a great family night out, it was a good workout! We played two games and were all happy and tired when our time was up. Pricing for laser tag is $7.95 for one game, $14.95 for two games and $20.95 for three games. Currently there are deals for weeknight visits on both Certifikid and Groupon – $19 for two games for two people and $35 for two games for four people.
In addition to laser tag, the facility contains an arcade and a high ropes course. The arcade games range from 50 cents to $2.00 per game. A $5.00 game card bought us 4 games of Skee Ball and 2 games of Down the Clown. The games can only be accessed with a swipe card and all tickets earned are recorded electronically on the card. Our 6 games netted us a plastic ball and a hacky sack for prizes.
We did not try out the ropes course during our visit. Tickets for the rope course are $9.95 for a single session, $18.95 for a double session and $26.95 for a triple session. Castle Laser Tag offers a snack bar with hot dogs, pizza, nachos and drinks. There are also many family friendly restaurants nearby in the Kentlands area such as Baja Fresh and Five Guys. Birthday party packages are available for both weekdays and weekends.
Castle Laser Tag is open only Wednesday through Sunday. During the week the operating hours are 4 to 10 p.m. and weekend hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can reserve spots for laser tag at particular time slots online. This may be a good idea for a weekend visit but we had no problems showing up without reservations during the week. There is no age limit listed on their website but the activity is probably best for kids ages 6 and up. The course is quite dark and the vests are a little heavy so smaller kids or those afraid of the dark may not enjoy their time here. We had a blast and are looking forward to a return visit soon!
Photos courtesy of Kim Engstrom.
