Virtual Sports

So I want to actually start the review here with the positive. Experience wise Virtual Sports was outstanding. The staff was informative and patient and made the actual event a pleasure. I set up a party for my partner’s 30^th birthday party and it was such a huge success we attempted to book something a month later.
The real negative here, and it’s big enough that I will never go back is the event planning. In order to make any sort of reservation for a group you need to provide a deposit. This gets very expensive when trying to get a group of 20 guys together and collect money, time details, etc.
When planning my partner’s private party I booked a slot for 20 people. Only 11 people showed up and I was forced to pay double the amount. I called a few days beforehand to change the reservation but they have a solid 7 day policy so I was stuck.
We still had such a good time we tried to plan a large group of people (20) for something a month later. In order to secure a spot for 20 people a $ 250 deposit had to be fronted. Given the fickle nature of people these days I was hesitant to put that down until I had confirmed (and hopefully collected) the deposit from people. By the time this happened we only had 13 people. I updated the reservation to 13 people, when this happens you still need to put a deposit down but it opens the time slot to other people. In the time between my phone call and paying the deposit the entire timeslot was completely sold out. They had nothing comparable to offer my group so I had to cancel.
The real frustration here is its challenging enough to get a group of people together without the added stress about fronting a huge deposit and then trying to collect down the road. Virtual Sports could make this process so much easier for booking large groups but instead they make it frustrating and hard. I had to call them roughly 5 – 6 times during the entire booking process trying to find good time slots that worked with the group. Something as simple as an online portal that showed available slots and offer a way for individuals to contribute deposits to a group event would improve the experience significantly.
Lastly I frequently got voicemail or put on hold for over 15 minutes the attempting to get a hold of someone there. A frustrating and non pleasant experience overall.

I went to Virtual Sports as a spectator for three kids who wanted to play for a birthday. This was on Saturday April 30^th, 2016. We did not do the formal birthday party and I am glad we didn’t. Once the kids are playing the game it is fine. However, we were told to be there at 11:30am for a safety briefing but the place didn’t even open until 12:00 and the actual safety briefing didn’t happen until 12:30. So if you are told times don’t take them too seriously. Also if you are not going to be playing it is pretty cold so bring a sweater. Or this is the perfect place to be on a hot day. The pizza is not that good so I suggest to eat either before or after you go. After we left the kids were raving about the game and how cool it was. So go for the game and nothing else!

Best BIRTHDAY party ever! My son and I went for an open session a month before his 7^th birthday to check the place out. We loved it.
We booked his 7^th birthday party here. I used their online booking and also spoke with them several times before. They were great at explaining exactly how it would work. The day went just as they described. No issues.
I would not recommend this place for a birthday unless you BOOK IT FOR ALL 20 spots in the session. This is the same as a «field rental» and ensures that you have the full session and no other people are in there. I only had 15 people go in, but they were awesome and gave us vouchers equivalent to 5 open session spots. I do not think we would have had nearly as much fun if I had booked 15 spots and had 5 random people in with us (although I was tempted given that you are charged by the # of spots you reserve).
We did the pizza package that came with 3 pizzas and water. Since we were in middle of the afternoon, this was plenty of food to cover 10 kids and 8 adults since most people were just having a slice as a snack. I would recommend ordering extra pizzas if it is at a mealtime or an older crowd. The pizza was tasty!
This place is not a dedicated party place, so the accomodations are not what you would find at a Bouncy place that just churns through the kids parties. You get a table that is in middle of everything else where people are coming and going for other sessions. It is not private. Since our spot was located next to the windows to look into the session area, we were crowded out of one of the tables by onlookers. This didn’t happen to matter to us, since the kids were at one table and adults always wind up standing anyway. If we had needed it, it would have been annoying.
The only other thing I would comment on if you are thinking of booking for a kid party… this is not the Laser Tag you would find at some of the other places around Seattle. It is a realistic gun and right off the bat they start talking to the kids about how many times you have to hit someone in the head vs body to kill them. About the time they were explaining to these kids that «meat shielding» was not allowed (apparently blocking a shot to your body by holding a smaller person in front of you), I got a couple of looks from some other moms. The moms wound up loving it once we were playing, though.
I did send a link in the party invite and encouraged parents to look at it before accepting as I know this would be an issue for some parents. This was helpful as I know some people opted out as not appropriate for their children (which you want them to decide before they get there and you have paid for a slot).

So I brought 20 ppl with me for my 30^th birthday (don’t judge me) and have made reservations a month ago so we can have the whole field.
Everything was good– it was really fun and intense–
The reason why they’re getting 3 stars is because they’re not very organized and they’re don’t accommodate large groups.
I called and made reservation for 15 ppl at first, then called back to up it to 20, and this was back in February. The day of, few hours before our play time, they called me notifying that because these 3 ppl reserved a spot a day before me, they were going to join our game. Uhh, what?
First off, why couldn’t they call ahead of time and let me know? They had over a month to let me know, but no, they waited till the day of. Not to mention, one of those 3 players were «elite» where he pretty much went there almost everyday.
And I’m bringing 20 ppl– they told me 20 ppl is the max– and for them to just allow those 3 ppl on our field is them not being flexible. They had a lot of time and they could of just called them to let the other party know that I’m brining a lot of ppl– but no. So they’re telling me, a month ago they didn’t have any other time slots available?
Also their communication and customer service isn’t great. When I upped the reservation for 20, they never sent me an updated email but the staff said yes I reserved for 20 — but when I show up nobody knew what the hell I was talking about. I even called the day of to remind them. They kept saying i reserved for 15 and I got really irritated. I kept repeating myself that I had 20 reserved to different staff members– is it really hard to let other staff know about this situation?
Also our field rep was totally checked out. He didn’t let us know our ammo was low or not. I could tell he didn’t care about his job… Meanwhile my friends on the other side said their field rep was awesome and acted like he was part of their team. Lame.
Finally they said 30 min prep, 30 min play, 30 min clean up but when they say prep– they told us just to wait 30 min… We showed up on time and pretty much wasted our time for half an hour doing nothing. Then once we got to play, we only got 24 min to play– not 30 min. For the amount of money we spent, and how many ppl I brought, this place wasn’t flexible, accommodating, lacked customer service and communication between the staff members. And what they put on their website was wrong. You get 24 min play, don’t show up on time. Show up 30 min later because they need to prepare.
Finally, when they split our groups up, they didn’t even inform us of our group. C’mon I have 20 ppl, they can at least ask if we would like to form our groups but they did it randomly. Random is fine, except they put all the girls in one group and majority of all guys on the other so of course the guys are going to win.
But I admit it was fun, but what wasn’t fun was what I had to go through to make this happen.
So yes, i recommend not to bring big groups because they won’t be accommodating. And don’t come in on weekends, it’s more pricey. And your play time will be condensed.
After this experience, I don’t think I’ll show up again.

This place is great. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes, and hydrate the day before lol. The people you go with make sure they actually get there money’s worth and run around. The only thing that sucked but wasn’t the company’s fault is 10 people registered to play but never showed up. So our team had to be devided up and just play 5 on 5. Regardless the experience is really fun and I will be going back.

It was a blast! Me and a group of friends went here last night after setting up reservations on their website and it really exceeded our expectations. The experience overall was very exciting. They bring you into a briefing room, and finally tell you all the rules and what not to do before you start the game. You put on the gear, walk to your side and then start the games (in our case, Team Deathmatch and Domination).
You definitely get super hot and sweaty cause of the heavy vest you’re wearing! I recommend wearing workout clothes cause you’re moving almost the whole time. After the games ended, you had the opportunity to look at the score board and see how well you did against everyone. It even had a score per minute counter, and let you know your kill/​death ratio which was pretty awesome.
Although it was a very fun experience there were a few things that weren’t so great. Like the fact that we set up an appointment for 10:30 and I stressed my friends on being there but they didn’t call us up for briefing until almost 11:15 or so. Most of us were waiting for 45 minutes which sucked.
Along side that was some faulty gear. I had a friends gun not work on him and it took about a minute to replace it (games are only 5 – 6 minutes so one minute is a long time. We also a friend who scored 72 kills in his first game ever but he was playing about the same as us (almost all of us averaged 15 – 25 kills) Our friends claimed to have shot him multiple times but his gear didn’t register. Pettiness? Maybe. But even for me, it got to a point where pressing the respawn button once for my gear wasn’t working either so it’s very possible.
Aside from the long wait time and slight gear malfunction though, me and my friends enjoyed our whole time in there and are definitely planning on coming back soon.

This place is crazy fun if you’re a fan of first person shooters. It’s like being in a live action Call of Duty game (with games like Team Death match, Recon, Domination, etc). You get a vest, headband and a real-​metal gun that has C02 in them so that you get a recoil effect. Don’t let anyone fool you… this isn’t some kiddie game of laser tag, you’re going to get sweaty and tired as you tactically move around the course. One of the best parts of this is that it keeps track of your record every time you play, giving you more incentive to play strategically instead of recklessly. Overall, I absolutely love this place. We’ve introduced this place to tons of family and friends and everyone’s a fan.
Tip! They generally break up pairs of more than 2 since it could be an unfair advantage if 1 team is overpowered. So if you want to stick with someone, try to stay in pairs of 2.
I’ll keep coming back to this place and highly recommend it to everyone but here are some of the cons:
— I wish some of the field judges were more engaged and supportive of their teams. Some of the field judges can be checked out and don’t provide the support needed. There are always new people on the field and if you don’t have a good field judge, those new people will remain lost since the field judge isn’t clarifying the rules/​objectives or providing helpful tips that people only know from coming here a few times
— Another issue that comes up a lot is the equipment failure. The guns sometimes don’t shoot properly or sometimes the C02 isn’t working right and you don’t get that recoil effect that lets you know if it’s actually firing or not. This changes the whole dynamic of the game for the person who has a screwed up gun and Virtual Sports basically just says sorry, and makes you deal with it… It makes it really unfair to the player, it’s ridiculously frustrating and takes all the fun away.
With that said though, I’m still a huge fan of this place and highly recommend it!

If you haven’t been to Virtual Sports, you need to get in your car and go now. I definitely recommend you book your time online before you go. We went without a session booked and had to wait about two hours on a Saturday night.
The experience of playing laser tag here is phenomenal! They have awesome guns and vests you put on to play the various game modes here. The area is very big and it felt amazing to work with my team and shoot the opponents. I recommend using single shot bursts instead of three, so you do not have to reload your weapons as much when you are playing.
They also had quite a bit of arcade games as well as Xbox One’s setup for people to be able to game and kill time before their sessions. In addition to that, they have a full bar! Can’t beat drinking before playing laser tag!
I definitely will be back to Virtual Sports, I would recommend it to anyone looking to have a good time!

We’ve gone to VS in Tukwila quite a few times now, I think a couple of times with my wife’s co-​workers, and a couple of times with friends of ours, including an hour-​long reservation block.
It’s a blast.
We’ve never actually paid full price after the first time, because they keep having deals on GetMyPerks. The deals vary, but the current ones ever since they had the pizza partnership is the game, a drink, and a 10″ pizza included for about $ 4 more than just the game by itself. So basically a beer and a pizza for $ 4. Pretty awesome. The pizza is, IIRC, Seattle’s Woodfired Pizza, that mobile oven kind of deal, and it takes delicious. If you go later in the day, note that they may run out of some ingredients, or even certain sizes of pizza. But hey, last time I ordered a 10″ and they ran out, they gave me a 12″… not complainin’.
The game itself is very entertaining. It’s not your Buzz Lightyear looking goofy laser tag, but they use iCombat equipment (irM4 here), and have an ‘urban’ course that is pretty sweet. Being laser, you don’t necessarily have to adjust your trajectory upwards like you do with paintball, and of course you don’t ever get blasted with paint. I won’t go too much into detail about this, but take it that it’s the most realistic laser tag game I’ve played. One tip is to bring a bandana or ballcap, because there is a headband you have to wear and this is something 300 people have worn before you, so…
Attire is absolutely athletic attire. If for some odd reason you decide to have a date here (actually, I wouldn’t mind), do not friggin show up in a dress shirt and jeans, because by the end of the 30 minute round you will be forever known as Mr. Sweat Stains to your intended.
Speaking of 30 minute rounds, know that this is the duration. On their site, VS notes that there are 90 minute sessions. This includes the absolute entire time you’re briefing, not just playing. So, if you book the 6 PM session for example, they will take the first 30 minutes to collect everyone. At 6:30, they’ll take you into the briefing room, and explain the rules. Then, they’ll outfit you with vests and guns. At about 6:50 or 7, you’ll head in to play, for about 25 – 30 minutes. So know that when you’re paying for the games, that’s your gameplay time. Know also that 25 – 30 minutes of crouching, fast walking, spraying and praying, and generally causing noisy mayhem is more than most folks can handle, and people are usually spent. In the instance where we went for an hour straight (reserved a double session for a large group), people were wasted, literally and figuratively.
One thing to note, and I’ve only seen this happen once, is that sometimes for whatever reason they don’t show the scores. For example, after each round ends, you’d obviously want to see how you did… by the time you get back to the base just seconds after the bell, they’d be already clearing the screen and ‘administering’ the software or doing something to that effect. So… no idea who did how good unless you were keeping track all the way through the round. At the end of the match, there was also a time where nobody’s score was displayed. Now, for entertainment like this, seeing you pwn your wife in laser tag is half the point, so that’s a problem and takes it down a star.
But, all in all, great fun, go get the deal on getmyperks, and enjoy!

No scores???
Paid for a private party. We were there 30 min before so an hour early. We had plenty of time to register but the woman at the counter suggested all generic names. My first time here so I agreed.
We played our games which was fun, but then we couldn’t view our scores. We came out to view them and they weren’t in the screen. I talked to the same woman who checked us in and she said we can only view them online. Since we used generic names it was a total fail.
I looked up one generic name and it was just overall score per game not a team summary. They could easily produce graphs and split summaries for games that have kills and scores. For such a «high tech» place their reporting was garbage.
Will go to laser quest for a party next time

As someone who grew up loving Q-​Zar branded laser tag, Virtual Sports brings laser tag to a whole new epic level. Thank you.
The guns are weighted. There are clips you use to reload. There are no ridiculous neon vests. There is only kill or be killed.
THIS IS REAL LIFE CALL OF DUTY AND THE BEST THING EVER.
I want to live in Virtual Sports. All the staff out front and at the bar was very nice. The «in-​game» staff were in-​character. I even spied ads for a Zombie Apolaclypse type event where you shoot people dressed as Zombies. WHAAT??? Where has this been my whole life?
You will be running and ducking and your heart will be throbbing and you will be having the best time of your life. There are different game modes and THE INTENSITY IS CRANKED TO 11.
If you ever get a chance, go here. You will not regret it. Game on!

I loved this place so much, it was fun, it was only two of us, but we teamed up with other people that signed up for the same hour, it was great, the guns feel is very realisitic, the set up its fun and great too. It was a work out too, I got out of there pretty agitated. Hehe
There is a bar area, we had some beer, perfect to cool off after the run around.
I definetely recommend this place.

re: Hearthstone Tournament
Wow! I came here for a video tournament and I think the facility needs a few tweeking, but wow. This facility is the future and I can almost guarantee there will be more clones popping up in the future. Let me explain.
As soon as you walk in the doors, I felt as if I was walking into a club/​night lounge. As soon as you walk through the double doors, there are some computers on the left and an area that is roped off to form lines on the right. The lines form so that you can participate in the Laser Tag or pay for different services. As you walk in, they have a few arcade machine classics, table, chairs, a food bar, a beverage bar, and a couple large meeting areas that are reserved for parties. Eventually, you’ll make your way to the bathrooms, the command center, and the entrance to the Laser Tag facility. It was very impressive, with all the different big screens setup showing peoples video game matches or playing sports. It was the kind of place I probably could sit there all day.
Some rooms for improvement would be to have some benches, more chairs, and more electrical outlets. I had problems connecting to somewhere as well as a place to sit, but this place rocks. I will come here whenever I can to relive my youth and enjoy a lot of fond memories I had growing up with everything they had here (except on a lower scale.) They do have a Ms. Pac-​Man machine which was definitely one of my favorites.

We bought our tickets for a certain time. When we got there we were told «the time thing is out the window, but if you pay aprox $ 50 extra you can get a fast pass, but if not you have to wait in line.» The line is 2hrs long and we were refused a refund. Would not recommend unless you have at least 2hrs to wait in line for 25min of zombie hunting.

Holy moly… this place awoke my inner monster! Who would have thought running ’round hunting your friends in a pretend city would be the most sweaty fun ever? LOVED it!
The place is clean, easy to find your way around and the games are explained well and are a freaking blast! We went with a birthday party and had a great time!
The reason why I didn’t give them a five star review was the vests and headbands are still wet with sweat when you get them back *gag* by the time you’re done running around, you don’t know who sweat more in the stuff you or the last person.
Go in sneakers and don’t try to dress cute, this is exercise!

Virtual Sports is a large laser tag environment.
The location consists of a converted warehouse that has been turned into a maze and a small bar. There is also a reception area that has a check in location, some portable Xbox Ones (by portable I mean the unit and the screen are in a suitcase — so they are tough to use) and a few other entertainment pieces (air hockey, etc).
Check-​in during the day consists of walking in, and taking one of their plastic cards and signing up with it. This gets you an iCombat account (once you provide all your personal information). From there, you can join a team or join a session as an individual player.
The plastic card will then store all your information for future visits. You will have a ranking (some sort of score based on how you do in your visit).
You go in for a briefing sometime after the time you sign up for. This is intentional so that they have time to clean up the gaming area and get all the guns and vests set up for you.
There are several different game types that the location has in order to account for teams of different sizes and people of different skill levels. The guns and vests (and headbands) are top notch, realistic, and well done.
So why only three stars?
First, price. The initial price is $ 30 a person for a game for 30 minutes. During the evening the price remains the same for a zombie style shoot-​up that is not as long as not really as fun. For the zombie game you simply run through the maze shooting zombies (people) that pop out of the wall. It is much quicker (maybe 15 minutes max) and limited to 4 people, whereas a normal game can have up to 15 people on a side.
Second, the waiting time or entertainment outside the course is average. You can’t do much besides drink some (no food) and maybe play a game on an awkward Xbox one. This means the majority of the time you will be standing around waiting to enter your game. (We waited about 40 minutes.)
Aside from those items it is a good location to visit for some entertainment.

Yeah the headbands kind of smell, but not too noticeable.
The staff is great and the laser tag experience is extremely fun.

Some of the staff is good, most not so much. Kind of run by children but the laser tag is pretty fun. Sometimes you get a crap gun though and you’ll get screwed out of a lot of kills. Also, they seriously need to clean the gear, it stinks of body odor to the extreme.

We came here as part of my brother in law’s birthday celebration. We had a party of 20.
I was not sure what to expect and I had a great time. I did not realize how intense the game was and it was actually a really good workout. I enjoyed that there were actual «missions» throughout the game which made it way more interesting than just shooting people.
The venue was really big and open with game tables, full bar, vending machines, and more. I was happy to know that they even had lockers for only 50 cents. Even though it was small I was able to jam my huge purse inside. The venue was also pretty clean.
I was surprised how heavy the actual guns were.
We had so much fun and can’t wait to go back!
Tips:
Wear shorts and light weight clothing. It gets super hot. And there isn’t air conditioning. Just fans.
Wear dark colors.
Close toed shoes only.
HYDRATE HYDRATE HYDRATE! There aren’t any water fountains in the course.

(Probably) Never Again will I come back to this place.
Why never again? Because this place has no direction. Poor management. Horrible communication. The price to experience is horrible. The wait… goodness… the wait.
My friends and I purchased some groupons online to try this place out because we heard how fun it is from other friends. I called in that afternoon and asked if we needed to make reservations and the girl that answered said «No need! Just come on in with your groupon and we’ll get you set up. 9PM is when the last sessions starts so be sure to be there 15 minutes prior to, to get you signed up.»
Got it. We get there 40 minutes prior just to be safe.
8:20 pm — we are warmly greeted at the door. He asked us if we had reservations or walk-​ins? we told them that we were told we didn’t need reservations and was told to just walk-​in. he said no problem, go to computers, get checked in and pay at the counter.
8:30 pm — we get signed up and the girl at the counter upsells up to join «Black-​Ops» mission for an additional $ 5. Sure.
After getting setup they tell us to just wait.
9PM — we’re still sitting around kind of clueless as to what to do. So we partake in some coin-​op games (4 way air hockey), basketball shoot out, punching machine.
9:45pm — we go and ask, what is the process here? how much longer do we have to wait? their reply «we’re just really busy right now, you guys will get in soon.
10:30 — «hey man, we’ve been waiting about two hours now. what’s going on?»
reply «oh there’s about 5 more groups ahead of you, sorry we are really booked right now. We will get you in soon.»
11pm — «okay, we want our money back. We’ve waited long enough.»
reply «oh we are so sorry. we are completely booked tonight with reservations. we can’t offer refunds but we can give you back credit to come back another time.»
really? turning cash into credit? they tell us we don’t need reservations but then tell us because we just walked in we are last priority??? They could have told us that on the phone, at the door, when we signed up… anything before they took our money!
11:15pm — «humor me man, am I even on this list to be called?»
reply «i dont see your name on here but let me check with the front desk because this list may not be updated.» **checks** «okay there is 3 groups ahead of you, do you still want to wait?»
we decided as a group we’ve already waiting THREE HOURS to this place, what’s another 30 minutes.
12pm — still not in. so we decide to leave. As we are walking out the door, the guy comes running up and says «YOU GUYS ARE NEXT! DON’T LEAVE! I’LL GET YOU CHECKED IN RIGHT NOW!»
pissed off we decide to try this to see what it’s all about anyway. s
12:15 — we FINALLY start the zombie black ops mission.
we are told inside not to run. take your time and get the most out of it. It’s a bunch of connected hallways and you navigate through them, there are zombies that pop out of walls and doors and windows and corners scaring you. You attempt to shoot them in the head to kill them. There are proximity sensors on your vest so if the zombies get to close you get «bitten» and lose life. However if you’re running along the wall, and there’s a zombie on the other side, it’ll still set it off.
12:35am — we finished. We waited 4 hours to play for 20 minutes. And paid $ 20/​each to play.
I think it may have been more enjoyable if we didn’t have to wait 4 hours to play. No one seemed to know what was going on. The place was unorganized. After you check in, there is no direction or idea of what to do next. Nobody know when you are going in next. Nobody knows how long anything will take.
The bar ran of out some beers and the preztels were rock hard.
Probably come back… if one day some day they get there organization and management together. Maybe I’ll try it again.