Shadowland Laser Adventures

I came here for my birthday with 11 others, and let me tell you:
— be prepared for FUN, sweat, and sore sore sore thighs and butt
— there are two types of people here: kids, and kids’ parents
I turned 25, but my group had so much fun!
Shadowland has one room that has various walls, ramps, fogs, lights, gems, and levels. That one room hosts different «adventures» that have different themes and colored gems. Each adventure is 15 minutes, and is team Blue vs Green. If you shoot a gem, you have opportunities of earning more points.
There will be a lot of kids each round, so be prepared to do a lot of squat-​ducking and squat-​running and squat-​sweating. I say this because the kids are short enough to not be seen over the walls, but adults, man, you stick right out and could be easily tagged!
After each adventure you can pick up your score card. My group discussed who tagged who and got a good laugh of it.
I wish there were more rooms so the layout of each adventure would be a novelty each round. I also wish someone would sanitize the vests and laser guns each round.
But overall, a fun time with nice employees.

Shadowland is way past its prime. The facility is dark to the point of feeling unsafe. Most of the arcade games are out of order and the ones that do work essentially just exchange a dollar in tokens for a few tickets that can be exchanged for penny candy… kind of like Chucky Cheese. The staff is not particularly capable or helpful and I suspect have little to no training for working with kids. The place is generally dirty and poorly maintained. All that said, kids like it well enough. Just be prepared to spend a lot of money and do most of the work. The most disturbing aspect is that there is no system in place to account for children who attend, so essentially it’s a free for all.

Laser tag here is pretty fun. It’s a nice large area to run/​hide in. I would vote this place 4 stars, but a lot of the arcade games here are either outdated or just broken. There’s still some options if kids want to play, but just not much. The place has an older feel and would be really nice if it was updated.

Went back to Shadowland an had a slightly better experience but they really could do a lot to improve. The kids waited for 35 minutes to get into a game because there were «not enough people to make a party». When the kids did get in it was so crowded that they were all over each other. So you wait a long time whether it is busy or not but either way it will be packed in the laser tag room. Bummer.

I have been there this last weekend and was surprised in how much fun it is. The place looks very sketchy, not very pretty from outside. But the part of laser tag is very fun. We didn’t had any problem with out vests or guns, the staff member were very friendly. First round we had to play with some kids and we were separated by groups and colors. Second time we played there was no young kids and there was no groups either. S* got serious hahahaha. So much fun. I would love to see some decoration upgrade there and why not on the food too?
The location seems to host a lot of birthday parties but I would feed my kids the food from there though .
Good for kids and adults

I had a birthday party here for my son and it’s good that he is not old enough to understand what a mess it was behind the scenes.
The one good thing I can say about the whole event is that the kids had fun playing laser tag.
Here’s the sequence of terrible service:
1. Room wasn’t ready at our start time. I had a bunch of excited kids waiting to get started… but no room to go to.
2. We were put in a room and it was set up while we were in it as the kids were waiting.
3. We waited 30 minutes before our representative got us started. That’s a lot of time for kids to wait… not to mention we were paying good money to be treated this way.
4. We got rushed in and got a very poor briefing for the kids before they started the first round of laser tag.
5. The 10 kids in our party were not on the same team. Some were on the blue team and some were on the green team. Yet we were playing against another party. What sense does it make to split up two parties (same number of kids on each) into different teams? This frustrated the kids on both teams since they wanted to play as a team with their friends. When I asked the employees about this they told me there was nothing they could do. and it wasn’t corrected for the second round of laser tag either. Foul!
6. We had ten minutes to throw down the pizza before the next round because they (Shadowland) were so far behind schedule. Not cool.
7. Our party rep was HORRIBLE. Guy brings in the cake with no plates, utensils, knife, or even a lighter to light the candles. Okay. So we ask him to bring what we needed. Wait ten minutes, he brings plates but nothing else… so we ask him to bring the rest of the stuff. Wait five minutes… utensils and cake knife… no lighter. Ask him to bring the lighter… another ten minutes and he finally brings it. All this time the kids are waiting. Of course, they didn’t cut and serve the cake… my wife and I ended up doing it.
8. Here’s the best part. After we started 30 minutes late, were rushed through everything, waited almost another 25 minutes to get everything for the cake… THEY ASKED US TO HURRY SO WE COULD GET OUT OF THE ROOM AT OUR SCHEDULED END TIME. Are you kidding me? My son didn’t get to open his gifts in front of his friends and their parents… who bought the gifts. We had to take them home. How rude is that?
9. Noticed after we left that they did not give my son the t shirt that was part of the package but was so angry that I didn’t want to make the 30-​minute drive back there to even pick it up.
For $ 300 total for everything I expected way better service. I would have been happy with even reasonable service… but this was an absolutely terrible experience!

I had a lot of fun playing laser tag here. They have a lot of arcade games for you to play as you wait for a laser tag game. They have food that you can order there and prices for laser tag games are decent.
The staff was professional and you could tell that they thought our safety was very important. They explained everything to us before the game and they took the rules seriously (not like some laser tag places I have been to).
The only thing that I had a problem with was that they didn’t have enough laser tag games so we ended up waiting for a longer time than playing. They give you a paper that lets you know when your game is, so you can just come back for your schedules tome. This part is nice.
All in all. I would recommend this place for laser tag!

I try to book my child birthday the front desk was rude and when I try to call always I have to leave a voice message in conclusion we decided and we book the party in a different location too bad we leave 5 minutes from the laser tag and my child had been three few times and she love it. Unfortunate the staff needs education and better management

If I had rated this last week, I would have given it 4 – 5 stars. This week was so bad I’ve gone to one.
There were a ton of problems with our night– all of the problems were 100 percent preventable. The staff just didn’t care. We did a total of six games, because we had the Friday night one price for unlimited games deal.
The first problem happened during our first, and possibly second game of the night (though I am not sure if the second game was affected). We didn’t know anything was wrong during the game. When the game was over, my friend discovered that his pack was actually «merged» with another person’s pack. This meant that him and the other guy had the same pack number, and their scores were combined as one player. This really threw off the rest of the game. I went to talk to the manager about this after the second game, and he blew me off. He said that the reason why this happened was because the players did not properly check the numbers on their packs. Basically, what he was saying (and it was a bit confusing) was that every player is supposed to look at their laser gun when it powers on, and each player is supposed to check the number on the screen of their gun. Each person’s number should be unique, and if two people have the same number, then the score merger happens. I didn’t argue, but I felt as if it was the job of the employee that was leading the group to ask everyone to check. The manager insisted that the employee told everyone this– the employee never said this. He completely rushed through all explanations every time. And, I was annoyed that this was their excuse– the eight year olds we were playing with would not have been able to do this. He could have easily asked each person their number or explained this better, but chose not to check at all. The manager seemed annoyed at me, and just tried to make excuses as if it wasn’t their fault, and kept saying that it was the players fault for not checking. I will say, that after I spoke with them, they did say that would take steps to prevent this from happening for the rest of the games. I was ok with that.
Problem number two– Everything should have been better, but no. There was another big problem with our remaining games. As I said earlier, each pack is numbered. If you choose an even pack, you are on the same team as all other even numbers. There are about 52 total packs available to choose from. In order to prevent the teams from being uneven the last week I played, the employee told everyone to pick packs from a smaller range of numbers; usually no more than 5 over the total number of players. So, if we had 15 players, he would tell us to pick a number between 1 and 20. Again, this makes the teams even. Tonight, there was very little of that. The only game that the employee tried to prevent this from happening was the first game. Two of the games we played were ridiculously uneven. The last game of the night we played was horrible– the employee did not limit which packs we chose at all, and we had 23 players. The result was that one team had seven people, the other had sixteen. This game was a complete waste, not fun at all. We were on the larger team, and had no one to shoot.
Problem number three– This is small, but the tables were not cleaned at all. There was a pizza box that was on a table when we got there, and it was never cleared at all for four hours.
It’s unfortunate that this place really was so bad tonight. The employees didn’t care– especially the one who was leading the groups into each game. He rushed through the instructions every time and barely explained everything. The guy who we had the week before was great, it made a huge difference. This night though left a very bad impression. I was going to bring a big group of friends because I had so much fun the previous week. Now I will never go back.

I really like this place! The arcade part has a good amount of games, nice variety. Bring $ for food and arcade and of course lazertag. The token machine takes ($ 5, $ 10, $ 20) the higher the amount, the more tokens you get. The lazertag arena is fun and the wait to play a game isn’t that long. They also serve food and drink there, which is nice. Good for groups also. Overall, it’s a fun time.

This review is not because of the place itself. I have been to shadow land a few times with both friends and family and have had a good experience. The reason for the one star is for the level of customer service I have encountered since I have been trying to book a party for my son’s birthday. I called on a Friday to schedule a party during the 11am to 6pm timeframe suggested by the voice answering service. I spoke to an attendant who said the planner was unavailable, but would take my information and I would receive a call back… Well Monday came around and I hadn’t received a phone call, so I called again. This time i was only able to leave a voicemail, which I did. The next day, I still didn’t receive a phone call, so I called again. I actually reached a person this time, who said she was working with a client, but she would contact me back when she was finished. I gave my information for a third time and wouldn’t you know it, STILL NO PHONE CALL BACK!!!
I called on Wednesday, spoke to the same young lady who proceeded to tell me she couldn’t help me at the moment but would call me back… NO, fool me once shame on me, fool me 3 times, I’m just an idiot. I told her I had been calling and get no returned phone call as promised, so I needed to book my sons party right there. So I told her the time I wanted, none available of course, so i had to choose an alternate time than originally planned. Not the biggest deal but still a little upset because the day I wanted may have been available when i first called. She took my email and promised to follow up that way because it worked best for her and is actually the best way to reach me as well.
So here I sit today, Friday June 6^th still awaiting the second email confirming my son’s birthday party…
I had to find a different place to hold my sons party because of the lack of responses from shadow land. I was able to book at another place in less than 5 minutes, and guess what someone actually called me today to confirm my reservations. Hopefully Shadow land will work on its party booking process.

This place is called Shadowland Laser Adventures.
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to
obstruction by an object.
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification
based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation
An adventure is an exciting or unusual experience.
Ok, by definition, this place will receive a star for each one of those. It is dimly lit, there are kids packing lasers, and yes… it was an unusual experience to say the least.
The other two stars are for Arcade and left without bleeding.
So I am taking my número uno pequeño niño que le gusta jugar juegos to Shadowland for the first time. In my mind I have memories of playing Street Fighter, Samurai Showdown, Rastan, Skate or Die, and Xenophobe playing though my head. You know, all the classics of an arcade that I can share with him. A flashback in time for me, a new experience for him.
I open the door and walk in and it takes about 10 seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I almost panicked as my son ran off to see all the flashing lights. I felt like I lost him in a cave.
I did find him at the skee-​ball area. He was so excited. I put in a few coins and played a few rounds. I guess we picked a game where some sticky finger kids just finished up. It took every ounce of parental control not to call the game skeet-​ball out loud. Some of the games didn’t work and we had problems with the ticket system.
After a few hours of testing what the highest payoff games were we wracked up enough tickets for my son to purchase a rubber scorpion. He was excited.
It amazes me what excites kids. I spent about $ 50 to get a .50 cent toy.
As we were leaving I went to open the door and cut my hand on perhaps a loose screw on the handle. I went back over to tell the desk clerk about it and said,
«Hey, just to let you know, there is something sharp on the door. Since this is an Arcade I might need a Tetris shot. Get it… because Tetris is a game and this… nevermind»
I left disappointed because my joke fell flat on the tween. But my son had a great time, and that is what it is really about.
We didn’t go to the laser maze which I heard was cool. Maybe next time.

The laser tag itself is very fun and my son had a blast the last time we went is already begging us to go back! My only issue with this place is the lack of air conditioning and ventilation in this place, particularly in the party rooms. Everyone is running around when they’re playing laser tag and then they come back to the party room drenched in sweat so the smells really take away from the fun. Plus, it’s uncomfortable for anybody when you’re that hot and sweaty. Also, the bathrooms need more attention.

My boys and their friends had a great time at this facility. The laser tag arena kept them entertained throughout our allotted party time. There was a little disorganization with the staff and getting our room ready but the staff was so nice and helpful in all other areas it made up for the hiccups. The experience was so good that a couple of the parents thanked us for introducing this place to them.

1^st, please keep in mind what type of place this is. There were or it seems like 100 children running around from the food stand to the party rooms to the game center. It smelled like a bunch of wet puppies in there and I quickly found out why this was. After our weird breifing we went into the gear room to load up and after running around in that maze I was sweating like a HOG! There were some who just sat in one area and waited for people to come by and shoot them but, that just wasn’t fun. The fun part was running around, excuse me walking around and capping folk. This wasn’t a hostile area and everyone there wanted to have fun and this we did. Sorry, we didn’t eat there so, I can’t tell you about the food. We went to Shiro in Kingstown Plaza for my daughters B-​Day party. Forget Ruby Tuesday they are rude!!!

I’m only basing this review as a mom who walked in on a Friday night with a handful of preteen girls, celebrating my daughter’s 12^th birthday. The only reason I didn’t play is because I didn’t want to lose our table and chairs. The place seemed like it was run by only 2 people and a helper, but they were organized and very friendly. One staff member in particular stood out for remaining calm among chaos, quickly addressing any problems that came up and keeping the place clean.
I definitely plan on coming back (and playing) because the kids really enjoyed themselves and had a blast. It’s worth coming on a Friday night because it’s unlimited play for a little more than the usual price of just one game on any other night.

Good facility an friendly staff. Much larger and nicer than other laser tag places in northern VA. Went with church group of 27 teenagers on a Sunday evening for youth group and it did not phase them at all. Staffed led by an experienced adult which eliminated some of the confusion that exists at their competitors.
Plenty of party hosting rooms, large arcade, a variety of scenarios for laser tag play which are rotated each session. The only issues was a fairly significant percentage of laser packs having battery issues during the rounds which cut down on the entertainment value for those impacted.
Definitely became my #1 option for laser tag in NoVa.

We went to shadowlands as a group of around 20, (we’re all in our early/​mid twenties). For $ 25 each, we got our own party room, unlimited drinks, and 3 rounds of laser tag. We also had the arena all to ourselves (which meant we didn’t have to deal with aggressive pre-​teens with Starship Trooper fantasies)…
The laser tag arena was lots of fun — two levels, lots of hiding places, and plenty of space. The powerups were also an interesting twist to the gameplay.
Nicknames and performance reviews (individualized sheets tracking stats) after each game were much more detailed than i was expecting, and we had a lot of fun mocking each other and our atrocious accuracy ratings.
Staff was extremely friendly and accommodating, We’re not the easiest group to deal with, and they were patient and flexible when it came to our requests.
Best part of the evening? When our hostess came in and presented the awards for best and worst player in our group…
Note: Didn’t feel the need to mention the arcade. We came here specifically for laser tag — nothing else, and this review reflects that alone.

OMG — we went to Shadowland and had a blast playing laser tag. We were there on a Friday night and it was sad to see that no one was there. However, we had a party of 15 so had a blast playing tag.
Their laser tag arena has two levels plus it has obstacles that can zap points away from you or if you get it in time can give you special powers.
In addition they give each play are play sheet that reviews their performance.
The arcade area was dated, but was still fun.

We went to Shadowland for a friend’s birthday party today, and it was AWESOME. It was even MORE AWESOME than the Panther Family Laser Tag place in Dulles where we had my son’s birthday party back in June.
Like the Panther place, Shadowland has private party rooms and they assign a hostess to take care of you. Our hostess took excellent care of us, ushering us back and forth to the laser tag arena, serving our drinks, pizza, and cake. Like Panther, they also provide unlimited drink refills.
Here’s what I liked about Shadowland that was better than Panther:
— You get to choose your nickname for the score-​sheets. They assign you a jacket number, and you use the same jacket number each time you play. They match your assigned jacket number up to your chosen nickname. So if you know the names of the rest of your party, you can see on your gun when you have hit or been hit by someone else. (Panther just gives you random jackets and names, and you have to memorize the generic nickname that was on the laser pistol for each game you played.)
— They had these things called «gems» high up on the wall that you could hit for power-​ups like machine-​gun fire, mega-​power, invincibility, invisibility (turns off the lights on your jacket and makes it nearly impossible for people to see you).
— During the game, you can see on your laser pistol’s display how many shots you’ve fired, how many hits you have, how many credits you’ve earned (for using on the power ups), and what your ranking is.
When we finished with the laser tag, pizza, and cake, I was composing my Unilocal review in my mind and was totally going to give it 5-​stars.
Then my kids went to the arcade area. At first, I was pretty impressed. It’s much bigger than the Panther place. My initial positive reaction quickly wore off though. To say the arcade at Shadowland is LAME is an incredible understatement. The arcade is SO LAME (cue sound bite, «How lame is it?») — it’s SO LAME that it actually added NEGATIVE value to our experience, left us with a disappointed slump in our shoulders as we headed out to the car to go home. Oh, and it cost them that 5^th star.
Most of the «games» in the arcade are those cheesy rip-​offs that try to get you to aim a token at a narrow opening for the chance to «win big» and unleash some avalanche of tokens. They’re essentially little hopeless-​gambler-​in-​training devices. The few games that aren’t that type of «win big» scam were mainly shooting games. My boys tried playing a Star Trek game and it lasted all of about 60 seconds for two tokens (50 cents). Can you say RIP-​OFF???
The ONLY games in there that were worth the tokens were the TWO skill-​ball games. Unfortunately, they give tickets for rewards that you can supposedly trade in for goodies at the counter. It was your typical racket where 50 tickets gets you a 10 cent eraser or cheap plastic toy that would have cost 25 cents in a bubble gum type vending machine. Both my boys left dejected that their nine tickets didn’t get them anything at the counter.
So, in summary, AWESOME time in the laser tag and party rooms — HIGHLY recommend it. Caveat: Don’t let your kids anywhere near the mega-​lame arcade.