Social Gaming Update

January 21, 2026

The Out-of-Home Entertainment Industry is by Far One of the Most Complicated Businesses to Manage and Operate and it’s Getting More Complicated Everyday

 

 

Benefits of Krazy Darts XL & Krazy Arrowz VIP

December 23, 2025

Inflection Point for Out-of-Home Entertainment and Dining

 

 

Time to Get Serious About Social Gaming

September 24, 2025

When it comes to the success of out-of-home entertainment, it’s hard to overstate the importance of Social Gaming.

 

Social Gaming Venue- Software and Hardware

April 4, 2025

Who has the best fully integrated Social Gaming venue software and hardware system (i.e. POS, Online Reservations and Payments, CRM/Group Sales, Email/Marketing/Selling Software, Online and Kiosk Food & Beverage ordering, Kiosk Registration/Waivers, Staff Scheduling/Time Clock, and more – plus all of it fully integrated with multiple, Social Gaming experiences)?

 

Krazy Darts is Totally Unique – there is NOTHING like IT 

April 4, 2025

Krazy Darts does NOT use a typical dartboard to play games. Krazy Darts is a gaming platform that uses real, steel-tipped darts to play a wide variety of fun and easy to play games. It has a GIANT target area, which is 25 times bigger than a standard dartboard’s scoring surface.

 

Social Gaming

February 7, 2025

Why is Social Gaming so important to the success of the out-of-home entertainment industry?

 

Krazy Darts Update

January 13, 2025

For the first time since installing Krazy Darts in our Rochester, NY venue 16 months ago, Krazy Darts has had more plays than Axe Throwing during our first holiday week break (337 Krazy Darts plays to 287 for Axe Throwing plays – revenue was at 78.4% of Axe Throwing revenue).

 

Social Gaming

December 13, 2024

Multiple Units and a Variety of Social Gaming Experiences = Big Increases in Group Revenue

 

REAL vs Fake 

November 15, 2024

The ultimate goal for Entertainment Venues is to create the best out of home places where Real Humans can gather together in-person to socialize with their REAL friends, family, as well as members of their Community to share REAL experiences Face to Face.

 

Social Gaming – Actual Year-End Numbers

October 14, 2024

In our previous newsletter (New Krazy Axes VIP), we mentioned that we were going to provide the actual revenue numbers for our Social Gaming experiences for our Rochester, NY entertainment venue as well as providing more details on how we price our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences using Credits instead of Dollars.

 

New Krazy Axes VIP 

June 19, 2024

When we started developing our first Axe Throwing attraction, our main focus was on how to make it as safe as possible for our guests to play and our staff to operate it. Our second goal was to create a variety of fun and easy-to-play games using a high-quality laser projector.

 

Venues with Multiple Social Gaming Experiences vs Venues with Just One

June 19, 2024

In the past, developing a business with just one major attraction worked well for Bowling, Movie Theatres, and even Roller Skating. These one dimensional businesses worked really well and for a very long time, until they didn’t.

 

Social Gaming- Finally Some Numbers

May 23, 2024

LASERTRON laser tag is our primary revenue and traffic generator for our Buffalo venue and it has been that way for over 35 years and the same is true for our Rochester venue ever since it opened over 8 years ago. Our LASERTRON laser tag experience has been updated many times over the years and the focus has been on making it significantly more high-tech and appealing to adults. As of today, approximately 60% of our players are 18 and older.

 

Social Gaming- Good Enough vs 10x

April 18, 2024

Providing a good enough version of a new and popular Social Gaming concept can provide a good return on the dollars invested in the short-term, but it’s unlikely to produce a strong, long-term profit.

 

Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation

February 7, 2024

Can Out-of-Home Entertainment Venues be Designed to Significantly Reduce Loneliness and Isolation?

 

The LONGEST article ever written about the Out-of-Home Entertainment Industry just got Longer!!!

November 14, 2023

Below is the entire article as it was published in 2019 with updates in purple on what I sort of got right, what I got wrong, what’s still too soon to call, and what I didn’t even see coming – like Covid! How did I miss that?  🤣

 

Social Gaming Wins!

July 19, 2023

High Skill Level Variance is the Number One Reason Competitive Gaming is a Loser in an Out-of-Home Social Entertainment Venue.

 

Social Gaming, New LT-X3 Phaser, Automatic Axe Scoring

November 11, 2022

The LASERTRON LT-X3 has been a work in progress for over 4 years. It was designed to be the most fully functional phaser in the laser tag world as well as with many of the unique bells and whistles found in online games.

 

NOW PLAYING! Automatic Team Rebalancing

September 20, 2022

LASERTRON has developed and installed fully automated team rebalancing software at both of our entertainment venues located in Buffalo and Rochester, New York. 

 

Entertainment Venue – Software & Hardware

April 4, 2022

One of the most complicated parts of operating an entertainment venue is the software and hardware required to operate it at a high level.

 

What is STOPPING US from Creating New and Dramatically Better Social Gaming Experiences?

February 8, 2022

At the end of this article, I’m going to outline eight ideas that can help us create better social gaming experiences. However, talking about these ideas won’t help much if we don’t talk about the elephant in the room, which is our brain’s default setting to say NO to anything new and especially new and unfamiliar.

 

What is STOPPING US from Creating New and Dramatically Better Social Gaming Experiences?

February 8, 2022

At the end of this article, I’m going to outline eight ideas that can help us create better social gaming experiences. However, talking about these ideas won’t help much if we don’t talk about the elephant in the room, which is our brain’s default setting to say NO to anything new and especially new and unfamiliar.

 

Fun Social Gaming Experiences

October 21, 2021

Creating new habit-forming social gaming experiences is really hard. Why? Because, we have to figure out the best ways to maximize the integration of the gaming, the social gathering space that faces or surrounds the gaming, the services that help to enhance the quality of the social gaming experience (food & beverage, ease of reservations & payments, as well as the staff members who facilitate the overall experience), plus the triggers, which are hugely important to encouraging more repeat visits to occur. 

 

Social Gaming

October 04, 2021

Gaming is the 800 pound gorilla in the entertainment industry, but Social Gaming is likely to be The Next Big Thing for in-home, mobile, and out-of-home entertainment.

 

Introducing – LASERTRON Supply Drops!

August 20, 2021

After 12 months of development and real-world testing in our LASERTRON LED Illuminated Arena in our Buffalo entertainment center, LASERTRON’s Supply Drops are now fully operational in our Buffalo and Rochester, New York venues.

 

Laser Tag Arena Viewing Windows are a GIANT billboard that screams ‘PLAY ME!!!’

June 22, 2021

As a high-end laser tag equipment manufacturer and LED illuminated laser tag arena supplier, we realized we had the unique ability to provide prospective laser tag players and interested guests with the ability to SEE our brightly illuminated LED laser tag arenas in action. Incorporating large glassed-in viewing areas creates a GIANT billboard that screams ‘PLAY ME!!!’However, it had to be done in a way that maximized both the laser tag game play and viewing experience.

 

LaserTron: Human-Centered Game Design

March 05, 2021

LASERTRON focuses 100% of its efforts on Human-Centered Game Design for out-of-home entertainment venues who want the very best Laser Tag attraction. More specifically, we focus exclusively on creating the best 10x Branded LASERTRON laser tag experiences utilizing our proprietary laser tag game equipment and programmable LED illuminated laser tag arenas to fully immerse players (i.e. humans) into the game. We do this at a dramatically higher level than any other laser tag manufacturer or laser tag arena supplier. 

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Seeing is Believing – LASERTRON Conference Reboot

March 03, 2021

LASERTRON – Ultimate Turn-key Laser Tag Experiences

LASERTRON is the ONLY laser tag equipment manufacturer and laser tag arena supplier who provides entertainment center operators with a complete turn-key laser tag experience by providing its LASERTRON LT-12.9 laser tag equipment, which is fully integrated into LASERTRON’s programmable 100% LED illuminated laser tag arenas.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

2021 The Great Awakening

January 22, 2021

A New Hope for Out-of-Home Entertainment

The worst of times are often the beginning of the best of times, but only when the challenges and opportunities are accurately identified and fully understood. 

Original LinkedIn Article

 

What is Customer Centricity?

December 22, 2020

(Another piece of the puzzle)

Plus thoughts on creating experiences our guests don’t even know they want, at least not yet, The Human Part, CRM Software & Hardware, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). 

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Jim’s response to Robbie Kellman Baxter…

November 26, 2020

Below is an email response I sent to Robbie Kellman Baxter. Robbie is a bestselling author of The Membership Economy and, her newest book, The Forever Transaction. I have read and studied both her books extensively. If your goal is to learn more about the opportunities of membership and how to create a membership business, then her two books are the very first ones you should start with. 

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Discovering more about LASERTRON Battle Royale Squads

November 7, 2020

Below is my response to an email Bob Cooney sent me a few weeks ago. Bob is a Speaker, Author, Mentor, and also the founder of a new type of convention and trade show experience called Show Up.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

LASERTRON Battle Royale Squads

September 17, 2020

After 5 Years of development, LASERTRON Battle Royale Squads went LIVE in our Buffalo and Rochester, New York venues July 16, 2020!

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Multiple Reasons Why Memberships Don’t Work

July 21, 2020

There is some wishful thinking going on about Memberships and how they might help our venues make more money. The reality is that simply using the word ‘Membership’ is a great way to prevent our guests from buying one. How many guests want to give up their credit card number, sign a terms of service agreement, and be locked into another membership or subscription service? The answer is very few.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Why aren’t we practicing Digital Entertainment Distancing?

June 22, 2020

Attraction Experiences: Out-of-Home Only, Unique to our Venue, Maximize Socialization

Number One: Are we investing in attractions that can only be experienced out-of-home (OOH)?

Anything that is digital or mostly digital is a huge liability to the existence of our OOH entertainment industry – just ask any movie theater operator.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Creating an Antifragile* Out-of-Home Entertainment Venue

May 23, 2020

Creating an antifragile venue is all about identifying and understanding the core reasons why our guests visit our venues and, most importantly, how successfully we satisfy those reasons during each visit.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Open Air Laser Tag Arenas (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)

February 12, 2020

The Good
The idea that we need to stop hiding our laser tag attractions is a huge leap forward. Especially since laser tag is one of our industry’s best and most successful out-of-home attraction experiences. It’s really amazing that laser tag has done as well as it has even though the arena is often hidden from view in almost every entertainment center.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Obituary: Themed UV Painted Arenas

December 17, 2019

After many years of being on life support and with no signs of improvement, Themed UV Painted Arenas silently passed away… joining pet rocks and bell bottom pants in the history of what was.

As many know, LASERTRON started experimenting with LED lighting in our Buffalo laser tag arena over 10 years ago. After six years of testing, we made the decision to focus 100% of our resources on creating the most immersive and interactive gaming experiences using LED lighting as one of the key components.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Why Did the Out-of-Home (OOH) Entertainment Industry Apocalypse Happen?

November 13, 2019

Looking back from 20 years into the future

(The current guesstimate is that less than 1 out of 10 who are in the OOH entertainment industry will start to read this article and less than 1 out of 100 will finish it. Why? Because I’ve been told that it’s simply too long – about 18 pages. Unfortunately, this also means the odds of the OOH Entertainment Apocalypse happening is close to 100%.)

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Best Out-of-Home Opportunities
Part 6

September 7, 2019

What are the best opportunities in the out-of-home entertainment industry?

One example might be these new smaller centers (15,000 to 25,000 square feet) that have been opening in multiple cities across the United States. These smaller centers are obsessively focused on one or two entertainment experience that target ADULTS. However, their entertainment experiences are fairly easy to copy.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Customer Satisfaction will never be a 10x or even 2x Advantage
Part 5 (a side step)

August 24, 2019

As I said in my last post, I’m going to take a little side step and talk about why customer service can’t be a 10x or even a 2x advantage.
But first, I have to fix the mistake I made in the above sentence. I used the words ‘customer service’ when I should have typed ‘customer satisfaction’.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Why am I writing these articles?
Part 4

August 16, 2019

I’m going to do my best to answer the questions I mentioned at the end of Part 3. Question Number One: Why am I writing these articles?

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Creating a 10x Experience
Part 3

August 8, 2019

At the end of my previous post, I mentioned I would share some thoughts on how to create an attraction or service that is 10x better – below is another example of 10x as well as some thoughts on what it takes to create a 10x experience.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Out-of-Home Entertainment vs Digital In-Home and Mobile Entertainment
Part 2

July 31, 2019

I want to start by identifying two major challenges to the long-term viability of the Out-of-Home Entertainment industry.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Out-of-Home Entertainment – Bloody Red Ocean
Part 1

July 12, 2019

If you aren’t in a bloody red ocean of competition, wait for it… wait for it… because it IS coming!!! And don’t forget we are also in a full blown Battle Royale with in-home and digital entertainment, which is far more addictive and habit forming than what our out-of-home entertainment centers are currently providing.

Original LinkedIn Article

 

Do big box centers have feet of clay?

Author(s): Jim Kessler

 

Why are many FEC attractions so mediocre?

Author(s): Jim Kessler

 

Core Stuff: How and where to focus time and money.

Author(s): Jim Kessler

 

 

 

 

 

Your Sales Advisement Team

 

 

 

Ann Kessler

akessler@lasertron.us

 

305-257-3930
Sales Advisor

 

Greg Watches

gwatches@lasertron.us

 

716-748-6430
Sales Advisor

 

Your Management and Operations Support Team

 

 

 

James Kessler

jkessler@lasertron.us

 

800-897-8766 ext 106
Founder / CEO

 

Steve Kessler

skessler@lasertron.us

 

800-897-8766 ext 107
Vice President / Co-Founder

 

 

John Rizun

jrizun@lasertron.us

 

800-897-8766 ext 110
Project Manager

 

Larry LaClair

llaclair@lasertron.us

 

800-897-8766 ext 105
Staff Training Specialist