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Fete season is approaching! It's the best time of year to run laser tag outdoors. Mild weather, big crowds, and families looking for something more exciting than another jumping castle.
If you're a P&C committee member or teacher planning this year's fete, here's how to run a laser tag attraction that stands out in Sideshow Alley and adds real dollars to your fundraising total.
Fundraising: "Event organizers can no longer expect the community to support unimaginative events," says Nicole Lander, Chief Fun Officer at Laser Tag in a Box.
Laser Tag in a Box has supplied laser tag kits to hundreds of school fundraising days across Australia. Fete committees are under more pressure than ever to raise money, but volunteer numbers are shrinking.
Parents don't have the spare hours for cake stalls and craft tables the way they once did. So the attractions that sell tickets on their own, especially ones that need fewer volunteer hours.
Laser tag fits that brief: kids already know the format from video games.
Better still, it needs only a handful of volunteers to run, and it reliably draws a queue, which is exactly what turns an attraction into a fundraiser.
A set of 12 laser tag striker phasers gives you 6-a-side games. This is fine for a smaller fete.
For bigger events, a 20-phaser set doubles your capacity. Or a set of 30 laser taggers boosts your capacity even more!
This keeps queues moving faster, which means more games sold per hour.
Rule of thumb: the bigger the expected crowd, the more laser taggers you'll need to avoid a queue that discourages new ticket sales.
Surprising, I know!
It's a smaller space than most fete organisers assume.
A rectangular space plays better than a square one.
What you actually need is cover. Because they're playing high-tech hide-and-seek, players need something to hide behind.
Options include:
This makes laser tag a good fit for awkward leftover spaces on your site map that don't suit a traditional attraction.
Here are some great ideas to design your pop-up maze.
For a ticketed, high-turnover fete attraction, the Bullseye game is a great choice.
Teams compete to tag a central Game Box as many times as possible in a set time.
Usually, laser tag games last 5 minutes.
This keeps queues moving and lets volunteers run consistent, easy-to-explain rounds. The game software comes pre-configured, so volunteers only need to turn the phasers on with a key. No experience necessary!
Here's how to play the "Bullseye" Game. Divide the players into roughly equal-sized teams. When the red team tags the box, it flashes red, and when the blue team tags the box, it flashes blue.
So the kids need to tag each other and the Game Box.
When a red team player tags the box, it counts as one tag for red. When the blue team player shoots the game box the lights change colour and count this as one point for the blue team.
At the end of the time, the box will flash the winning team’s colour, so everybody knows which team won!
If laser tag is left out of the wristband while every other ride is included, it becomes a harder sell.
If you decide to go with a pay-per-play model, use a central ticket booth. This way, the volunteer running the games doesn't need to handle cash directly. This will speed up the line.
Families have already "paid" for entertainment and are less inclined to spend more. Including laser tag in the wristband (or offering it as a clearly priced upgrade) tends to perform better for overall attraction revenue.
In Brisbane there's the Ekka, in Sydney there's the Easter Show, then there's the Royal Melbourne Show. These events offer big side-show alley rides. Like the adrenaline-filled Sling Shot at this year's Easter Show. But they come at a price. And the Sling Shot at $48 a pop might be the most expensive 2 minutes of your life.
So the good news is that there is no expectation or reason to charge anything like $48 for a quick game of laser tag!
Want to turn fun into the most funds? Position your laser tag attraction where foot traffic is highest.
Best spot?
Within or right next to your Sideshow Alley. Not way off, on the other side of the campus, in a quiet corner.
Visibility drives impulse ticket sales more than almost any other factor on the day.
You want to cluster all the sideshow alley attractions together.
When considering a sideshow alley attraction, you want to book something that is friendly for all ages.
While laser tag is an "every child wins a prize" game, it is kid-friendly and kid-approved.
Preppies are delighted, and big kids are excited.
It's a game that suits five- and twelve-year-olds, and twelve-year-olds beg for more!
Word of mouth starts before the fete does. If the only people who find out about laser tag are the ones walking past it on the day, you're leaving ticket sales on the table.
Here are three easy touchpoints:
By the time families and kids arrive, everyone should already know exactly where they're heading first.
The space needed for a laser tag fete attraction is as little as 10m x 15m. This is provided there's enough cover (inflatables, boxes, or hay bales) for players to hide behind. The spot does not have to be clear, such as the school oval or a tennis court. Instead, it can have some trees throughout. Importantly, the attraction should ideally be situated as part of the rest of your sideshow alley attractions. (Not tucked away on the other side of the campus!)
For smaller fetes, a 12-phaser set (6-a-side) is enough. For larger events, 20+ phasers boost capacity and reduce queue times.
Including the laser tag in an all-rides wristband ensures better performance. Excluding it from the wristband makes it a harder additional sell to tickets. Especially if families feel they've already paid for entertainment.
No. Games like Bullseye come pre-configured, so volunteers just switch on the laser taggers, & the kids can start blasting! The main job is to manage the queue.
The amount of money raised correlates with the number of people who participate. Results may vary year to year. Results vary by crowd size and ticket strategy. Some big schools, like Macgregor State School, have included laser tag in the past, and their fundraisers have cleared $50,000+ across the whole fete.
Warrigal Road State School set up laser tag using inflatable barriers around the playground. At a recent Warrigala, they transformed the space into a high-tech hide-and-seek arena for students.
"It's getting harder to raise money, so schools need to think differently," says Lander.
"Kids today are used to Xbox and PlayStation. Laser tag brings that same energy into the real world, which is exactly why it draws a crowd."
This is a photo from Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Coorparoo. (My old primary school!)
Laser Tag works well for private schools and state schools.
Summing up: A great Sideshow Alley is one of the most popular attractions at any school fete.
It hosts fun for all ages and is a reliable money-spinner.
The key is a good mix of games and attractions so you can pump a lot of people through! The good news about laser tag is that you can have 12, 20, or even 30 people playing each round. So that's a lot of throughput!!
We've helped run laser tag at school fetes across the country. But October and November are our busiest months of the year.
Our team's calendar fills up fast. You've got one shot to make this year's fete unforgettable.
Book your laser tag date now, and we'll take care of the rest.
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