Area 53 - Lounge - Laser Tag, Mini-Bowling, Arcade — Local services in New York

I booked a session for my daughter's 13th birthday and she and her nine friends had a blast. The space is well arranged for big parties - the upstairs has four separate areas dedicated for lounging with a center table, with three comfortable couches and a long table along the back of one couch which is very handy for setting up a place to drop off gifts, set up drinks, food, etc. The downstairs is visible from the upper level and you can watch the laser tag in action. The bathrooms are spacious and clean and there are two water fountains. The logistics of a booked session are 15 minutes playing laser tag downstairs, then back upstairs for a 15 minute break for a total of an hour and half. It works well for kids because there are other games to play while they wait: foosball, ping pong, basketball hoop, darts, giant Jenga and giant connect four. The 15 minutes off also gave my party a chance to check their scores on a giant tv and refuel with a bevy and snacks. The venue allows you bring in your own food and drink at no extra charge and I had pizzas delivered to the venue. A staff member is on hand to set the kids up and escort them to the laser tag floor and back. It all worked out well with a couple of exceptions: the first being that the signage for the venue is terrible. The entrance is adjacent to a large residential lobby and I had guests wandering around looking for how to get in (we were not the only ones). The second was there was a SIGNIFICANT disconnect between what I was told on the phone by staff members and what I was told when I arrived. While planning a birthday party, I needed to know what the time frame was, how long I could stay, would it be okay to stay after the laser tag was over so the kids could eat pizza, have cake, etc. Twice on the phone I confirmed that there was a lot of space and I could stay as long as I wanted - that there was no hard rule about when we had to vacate. When I arrived on Saturday morning, I was told by the young woman working the desk that our 11am start time was over at 1230 and she would need us out to accommodate the next party. Fortunately, I had a friend who had booked directly after us for her kid's birthday and she and I were able to share the lounge space. But if that hadn't been the case, I would have had 10 girls and an hour plus to kill out in the sun waiting for the parents to pick up. But other than that, my daughter had a great party and I would recommend the place for large parties and...

I had a laser tag party for my son 5 years ago...even though the pizza was over priced at $28 a box for a plain pie, we were satisfied overall. My son turned 15 this year and thought he wanted to do laser tag again until he saw paintball on the website. I arranged for a paintball party which took place at the Scholes st address. It was VERY DISORGANIZED! Initially the children in my party had to wait quite a while before they were able to go out and play their first game of paintball. They were hot in all of the clothing and getting antsy. After the first game they were able to have the pizza. Unfortunately, there was some confusion where the staff thought we were on our 3rd game of paintball because somehow another team went in our spot. (poor organization)

At this point I spoke with the manager, Diamond because I could see that there was not much time left and they hadn't played their 3rd game, and we hadn't cut the cake or sang happy birthday. She assured me that everything would be done and that they still had enough time.

Although we had been given the ice cream cake, they were sent out for the second game, returned to the room for all of 5 minutes and then told to go back out for the 3rd game, with only 10 minutes left. (It was 10 minutes until the place closed) Our party was from 8-11. Their last game was cut short, we hadn't had a chance to cut the cake or sing Happy Birthday to my son and we had a limo waiting, which we paid for based on the time we expected the party to end. When I pay as much money as I did for this event to happen, I expect things to go as planned.  There were some errors on the part of the staff which caused our party to be rushed, and their final game was cut short. I feel that we are more than entitled to some amount of compensation because we didn't get what we paid for. Additionally, I felt that it is really unfair to only allow 200 paintballs per person to go with the package, knowing that the number of paintballs is insufficient for 3 games. Furthermore, forcing additional purchase of paintballs. We were advised to send an e-mail to an email address that they provided, with issues regarding compensation of any kind.  I sent an email on Feb. 3rd and have yet to hear anything! It seems like the e mail is a cop out just to get you out of their face. This also caused me to have to pay extra for the limo we rented because we went over our contracted time. SAVE YOUR MONEY!...

The venue is lit. The bathrooms are too as well as the, refreshments (although you pay tax for the location), chill space between matches, and staff are amazing.

What isn't the staff's fault is the air conditioning (that isn't providing a cool enough atmosphere to recover your by temp in between matches and before going home) which falls onto the owner/bosses to do list. If you want to enjoy yourself but you sweat easily (like most people) this isn't the spot for you until the air conditioning situation is resolved.

Not to target the owner but my party as well as other members of the other groups agreed it was simply too hot and if it was cooler imo the venue would book more slots as well as hold onto reoccurring patrons.

I cant emphasize/stress enough how amazing, helpful and accommodating the staff is. Please owner change, replace, update or simply fix the air conditioning !! It's like the main issue. Please.

Pros: Great venue, staff, games, bathroom, instruction, laser tag, hiding spots, drinks, arsenal, candy & speakers.

Cons: out of order vending machine, no paper towels in restroom (for sweat), no proper/modern air conditioning, a few machines are not lit up (making it hard to play/use), not enough sanitizing wipes (for customers to wipe equipment handles before using), rounds seem to be around 15 mins (but feels like it should be lengthier like...