Short Answer: Usually 15 minutes.
A laser tag game typically lasts for 15 minutes. However, laser tag arena or mobile laser tag operations games can be short as 3 or 5 minutes. Likewise, outdoor laser tag games can last 30 minutes or longer. In some tactical laser tag events, the games can last several hours. In a recent survey from laser tag/battlefield operators from Australia, USA, UK, Spain, Canada, Belgium, New Zealand, and Greece it was revealed that the most popular game duration was 15 minutes.
While most common laser tag games durations are between 5 and 20 minutes in length, depending on the type of laser tag game the duration can be much longer. Some mil-sim themed tactical scenarios can last for several hours.
A recent survey of laser tag operators from eight countries discovered that different game times were varied. The top 3 most popular game times were 15 minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes.
17% said that 20-minute games were their most popular
Other laser tag operators in the survey identified other game times as their most popular. Three game times - 5 minutes, and 7 minutes, and 30 minutes were equally popular. Only 3% of respondents identified a 25-minute game was their most popular.
"If we are doing a village festival or school fete type mobile laser tag around inflatables then we usually run 5-minute games. For our forest laser tag then we run 15 minute missions. If we are running a Battle Royale game then it can be over pretty quickly. Usually 4 to 6 minutes. Indoors or mobile games compared to outdoor laser tag need lots more, shorter games," said Nicole Lander, co-Founder, Battlefield Sports.
Graham Simons runs several live gaming operations around the UK, including Battlefield LIVE East Anglia and at Jimmy's Farm in Suffolk, UK. "We run 8-minute games, score, then "change ends". On average we will run 7 games per session and can adjust timings for the last two games to fit with any underrun or overrun to hit our expected finish time. Generally 90 minutes in the Battlezone.
Steve Calabro, from Laser Ops Entertainment, is a battlefield operator for Oregon USA. He agrees: "[For] Fair or festival events we run 5-10 minute games. Regular games on-site we run 15 min games."
Mae Mei Bidlake from Mango Hill Skirmish runs an adventure park that offers paintball, laser tag and gel blaster games. "[It] Depends on the heat mainly but also the game mode. Games like Domination where both teams are attacking can go longer but if one team is on the attack and the other defense then shorter games work better so you can switch sides and not tire players out too fast," she said.
Mark Williams runs an outdoor laser combat business in the United Kingdom called "Battlefield Games". "We tend to see 20 minutes as optimal [laser tag game time] for a 2-hour birthday event, 2 missions then a break followed by 2 more missions. It mirrors a game of football for a total game time approximately."
Kyle Day operates an indoor laser tag arena in Sioux City, Iowa, USA called Combat Live. "I think most of my customers would die going 15 minutes straight, we break it down into 5-8 minute rounds," he said.
In the Battlefield Sports SATR, the laser tag system the default time setting is "unlimited". Or in other words, un-timed. Since the live gaming engine is so flexible you can set the game timer to many, many different options. The shortest game time can be set of end automatically is 3 minutes and the longest is 240 minutes.
New to the Live-Action Gaming biz? Avoid these 7 rookie mistakes that can cripple a battlefield business in their first year.
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