Girls go laser ‘tastic for Darkstar

01/05/2011

St Helen’s mighty Darkstar laser tag arena has reported a surge in female players visiting the attraction.

Since the turn of the year the state-of-the-art laser arena has seen a 31% increase in teenagers and young women coming through its doors.

The £1.5M facility – which was hailed the UK’s tallest and largest laser tag arena when it opened in Central Street, St  Helens, in September 2009 – has seen its popularity soar in recent months.

Owner Mustafa Ben-Yousef said that while overall visitor numbers were up, they were getting significantly more female players, with hen party bookings and girly group outings on the up.

He revealed: “It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason but we have seen a really noticeable increase in girls and young women visiting the arena, which is fantastic. On average the ratio of players has been 75% male to 25% female, but recently it has been more like 60% male to 40% female.

“We are delighted to see more young women taking up laser tag because it’s such a fun activity for everyone whether they are young and old, male or female. Once people try it, they really take to it and we get players travelling to our arena from all corners of the country.”

The Darkstar arena boasts an impressive 13,500 sq ft indoor network of corridors, bridges, tunnels and ramps spread over three and a half floors, complete with impressive special effects the world’s most advanced laser tag equipment, ‘the Darklight v5 system’.

Players wearing specialist lightweight laser packs make their way around the interactive multi-level ‘Hex’ arena competing to ‘tag’ each other, with points being scored for every hit.

Nicola Penketh, head coach at Sutton Tornados, a local community cheerleading and street dance club, was visiting the arena with a party of 23 youngsters from the club. Nicola revealed: “We are entering our first UK Cheerleading Association competition in May and laser tag is really good because fitness is key in cheerleading and coming to Darkstar is a fun way of enjoying an activity and keeping fit at the same time.”

Claire Cross, 30, from the Parr area of St Helens, takes daughter Courtney Makin, 11, to Darkstar approximately three times per month.

Claire said: “Courtney is having her birthday party here at the end of the month. She comes here with her friends at the weekends. It’s good for every age group. We enjoy the live music. Courtney plays in the arena while I watch the music. It’s a good night out and there’s nowhere else you can bring the family at night like this. It’s friendly and the staff are brilliant.”

Joanna Donnachie, an accountant from Preston, tried her hand at laser tag in January and is now a regular at the arena. The 27 year old revealed: “I first played laser tag at my nephew’s birthday party and we had a really good time and now I actually come with some of my friends. It’s a really good workout; you’re exhausted after a 15 minute game.”

Laser tag fan Louisa Grant, from Edinburgh, makes regular 420 mile round trips with her team mates to St Helen’s Darkstar arena and is in the process of forming an all girls team in St Helens.

Louisa is a member of Edinburgh’s ‘Team Crypt’ laser tag team and is an experienced player of multiple systems and arenas throughout the UK.

The 18 year-old, whose player name is ‘KIT’, revealed: “I’m lucky to be part of a great team, and when we visit Darkstar there’s always ladies looking for a laugh and the opportunity to shoot their boyfriends, husbands or kids! I think that female players tend to have better reactions than our male players and we tend to get the ‘drop on them’ a lot. We can and do beat our male players and have a laugh whilst doing it as well.”

Claudia Walsh, 14 from Crosby, is a regular at Darkstar and said: “It’s like being in a real life video game. It’s an adventure every time you play. It’s really good fun and you don’t release you’re exercising. I come here with my friends, it’s a good way of socialising.”

Mustafa and his wife Lynn – who runs the adjacent Rumble Rumble children’s indoor soft play centre, made it their mission to build an attraction which appealed to a wide audience and they are delighted that their hard work is paying off.

Mustafa said: “We wanted to create a laser tag arena with a difference, and we have put great focus on the arena’s social calendar. Our Friday band and DJ nights for example, in the arena bar, have proved a huge success drawing in more families and couples than ever before. The arena is still only 18 months old, and we are still busy trying to get our name out there, but we are very excited about the year ahead. Laser tagging is huge across the world and we want St Helens to be recognised as the number one destination for laser tag fans.”

In recognition of the increased female visitor numbers, Darkstar is launching its half price ‘Ultraviolet’ promotion to encourage even more ladies to try the sport.

Darkstar is located just 15 minutes from Liverpool and 25 minutes from Manchester, in walking distance of bus and rail transport. For more information visit www.darkstarlaser.com

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