Tag Archives: LaserMaxx Spokane

Memorial Day Weekend 2026

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The 2026 Memorial Day Weekend blessed us with perfect weather and an empty calendar. When those two conditions exist, it usually opens up the opportunity for some spontaneous fun. And that is exactly what transpired for my family over the past few days. If you don’t mind, I would like to share with you how we spent the long weekend…

The Memorial Day weekend packed lots of fun for our family.

Friday – We kicked off the holiday weekend at the ballpark. We went to Avista Stadium for the Spokane Indians vs. Vancouver Canadians baseball game. Although we watched some seriously baaaad baseball (the Indians lost 15-0), we all know that nobody goes to a minor league ballgame for the on-field talent. Instead, we enjoyed ourselves by eating stadium food, taking photos with the Disney princesses, and running the bases after the game. It was our first Indians game of the summer but it definitely won’t be our last.

We had lots of fun attending our first Spokane Indians game of the season.

Saturday – Our marquee event of the day was going to LaserMaxx for a round of laser tag. The competition inside the maze wasn’t as stiff as usual because I actually finished in second place while Sloan finished fifth and Beau posted a 10th place finish (out of 21 players). Afterwards I took them to Dairy Queen for lunch where they are burgers and fries and used their “free cone” coupon they earned at the Indians game the night prior for running the bases.

Sloan and Beau ready to play some laser tag at LaserMaxx.

Later that night I went out to Northern Quest with my dad and brother for the Ron White comedy show. We started the evening at the casino by eating Asian food at East. We then found our seats in the outdoor venue and laughed our @$$es off as Ron White told jokes for about an hour. We then went back inside the casino and I managed to double my money playing Paigow.

My dad and I inside Northern Quest shortly before hitting up the outdoor venue for the Ron White show.

Sunday – We were at St. Mary bright and early for Pentecost Sunday mass. The kids brought the gifts down as we concluded the Easter season. Later that day we went over to my parents’ house for their annual Memorial Weekend cookout. A steak dinner was sandwiched between many outdoor activities as we played hard. Wiffle ball, hacky sack, and soccer were the main activities that allowed us all to exert plenty of energy as the bubble machine worked in overdrive to produce a very summery scene in my parents’ front yard.

Sloan, Beau, and their cousins (Mik and John) play wiffle ball in my parents’ front yard as part of our annual family Memorial Day weekend celebration.

Monday – On actual Memorial Day we had a picnic at Edgecliff Park with my parents, my siblings, and their families. The weather was once again beautiful as we all brought something to share for lunch. The different sports balls were flying through the air and zipping across the grass for the second straight day as we benefited from plenty of exercise. And because we had so much fun at the park together, we couldn’t just let things end there…

Hanging with everyone at Edgecliff Park for our Memorial Day picnic.

The kids and I wanted to have an encore round of laser tag but this time we brought everyone with us. Sidney, my sister, her kids, my brother, and my sister-in-law all joined us at LaserMaxx as the game we played had more competitors with “Reser” blood than not. It was a blast! After that, the four of us ran some errands before coming back to the house. Beau and I hit up the basketball court and played some pickle ball before joining the girls inside the house for the rest of the night.

Our gang at the end of our LaserMaxx round. We had a lot of fun!

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If the so-called “kickoff to summer” was any indication of what the next few months have in store, we better all buckle up. Hope everyone else had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Let the countdown to the end of the school year begin so the real fun can start. Don’t Blink.

The Laser Tag Standard

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This past weekend, our family watched “Titanic.” However, that wasn’t the only thing that brought me back to 1997.

Growing up in Spokane, there was a certain place that 11-year-old boys loved to be at. It was the best place for birthday parties and the coolest way that you could spend the afternoon with a friend.

I am talking about Laser Quest. With an exterior resembling a castle and a multi-level game play maze that opened so many possibilities, those two attributes just scratch the surface of Laser Quest’s mystique. From high quality equipment to pre-game briefings to instant results, the Laser Quest experience was top notch.

In fact, I became a laser tag snob. When I would play at other venues it just wouldn’t compare to what we had in downtown Spokane. Employees weren’t invested, equipment was finicky, and play areas were one-dimensional. It became apparent that Laser Quest truly was something special.

With Beau just a couple weeks shy of turning 6, I determined the time had arrived to take him and his sister to my childhood happy place. This past Saturday, we journeyed to downtown Spokane to play a round.

I prepped myself that things would probably be different when I walked inside the doors even if the exterior still had the castle-esque façade. After all, the name of the place was different. Instead of Laser Quest, it was now LaserMaxx, a major power player in the laser tag industry. My thought was that everything would probably be “corporatized” when we strolled in.

This is the LaserMaxx Spokane lobby. It was just how I remembered it.

Talk about a wrong assumption! Instead of a cookie cutter operation, it was like walking into a time capsule. Everything in the lobby from the drink cooler to the front desk to the arcade games seemed like an exact replica from 30 years ago.

Sloan messes around with the coin dispenser inside LaserMaxx Spokane prior to our laser tag game.

But it wasn’t just the layout that was a blast from the past. Believe it or not, the laser tag was just as exhilarating as decades ago. Equipment was updated and efficiencies had been made but the basics and experience still held true from my pre-teen days.

A grainy photo taken of Beau as he navigates the LaserMaxx Spokane maze. That boy had so much fun!

Just like the late 1990s/early 2000s, we chose our own “trooper” names, ascended the stairs to the briefing room, listened to a pep talk, ran wild for 15 minutes of laser tag fun, and then received our performance scorecard at the end.

This was my scorecard. My trooper name was “Boss” and I finished in 12th place out of more than 30 players.

Dang, we had fun. Beau roamed by my side for most of the game as I showed him the ropes. The maze was the exact same from when I was a boy so I pointed out some of the advantageous spots to stake out. Sloan was pretty independent but we did cross paths a couple times throughout the course of our round. When our time ran out, the kids still had adrenaline pumping when we stepped out into the lobby to receive our scorecards.

Out of 30+ “troopers” who played the game, Beau and Sloan finished in 15th and 16th place, respectively. I did just a tad better with a 12th place finish. Hey, I didn’t say that just because I played a lot as a kid that I was any good.

Sloan and Beau hold their scorecards in the LaserMaxx Spokane lobby. They are still asking me when we are going to return to play another round.

On our way home, Sloan and Beau were already asking when we could go back and play again. The return questions continued throughout the weekend.

If you live in Spokane and are looking for something to do with your kids, I would recommend LaserMaxx. After all these years it still delivers a special and competitive experience mixed with modern day improvements. Even though the kids had a blast, the dad who is pushing 40 may have enjoyed himself even more. But a lot of that is probably the nostalgia talking. Don’t Blink.