How to Zap COVID-19 in Your Laser Tag Facility

We must start acting, for the restart of our industry, unfortunately there is no button that we can just push, and everything goes back to normal. There is little time for planning, the time to ready for re-opening is now! Start Your Plan Now

Erik Guthrie, Ricky Dillard, and Victor Miller of Zone Laser Tag Systems share some best practices for opening and operating safely for your guests and staff in our post Covid-19 world.

Many of the processes that we shut down very quickly need to be restarted. 

As business owner you may be asking:

• How do I go about preparing for the moment when state and federal government give the all-clear and we are asked to get my business back online? 

• What steps should I take to ensure I, my team and my facility are ready, so things go smoothly as we transition back into operation amidst COVID-19?

Much of the precautions we put into place such as enhanced cleaning practices and guest interaction protocols as this pandemic was ramping up should be kept in place. Until a cure or vaccine is found, guests will demand verifiable and visible efforts by your establishment to keep your team members and guests healthy and safe. Here a few items you may find useful.

How do I clean my Laser Tag Equipment?

The only thing that will not impact the integrity of your equipment is soap & water – but this will have limited effect on sanitizing your equipment. We generally recommend 80 - 90% isopropanol solutions, as these will be most effective against germs. However, over the lifetime of Poly-carbonate components, you may experience discoloration, and structural integrity being compromised, making the Poly-carbonate brittle.

We do not recommend chlorine, UV or H2O2 based sanitizers, as these will result in excessive or rapid corrosion of components. 

Any conductive sanitation methods should be undertaken with the equipment switched off and fully de- powered to reduce risk of equipment damage. 

How do I clean my arena? 

• If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection. 

• For disinfection, diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective. 

• Diluted household bleach solutions can be used if appropriate for the surface. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and proper ventilation. Check to ensure the product is not past its expiration date. 

• Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. Unexpired household bleach will be effective against corona viruses when properly diluted.

Best Practices for the Arena.

• Place hand sanitizer in obvious and frequented areas, such as by the front door with prominent signage requesting all guests to use before entering and again upon exiting.

• Stock disposable materials for hand-drying. 

• Ensure surfaces are sprayed and wiped regularly. 

• Staff should wear disposable gloves and aprons when needed for all tasks in the cleaning process, including handling trash. 

• Staff should clean hands often, including immediately after removing gloves and after contact with any person, by washing hands with soap and water per CDC handwashing guidelines  and CDC Prevention  

• If soap and water are not available and hands are not visibly dirty, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60%-95% alcohol may be used. However, if hands are visibly dirty, always wash hands with soap and water. 

• Gloves and aprons should be compatible with the disinfectant products being used.

• Gloves and aprons should be removed carefully to avoid contamination of the wearer and the surrounding area. Be sure to clean your hands after removing gloves.

Operations

• During the first phase of re-opening the operator may choose to limit the number of players. Once restrictions are relaxed you can open to more players.

• If your briefing area is not big enough to accommodate social distancing standards, consider using other more open areas to brief guests, for example place a monitor in an open area outside of the arena. After the briefing allow a safe number of players into the vesting to suit up and proceed into the area where they will wait until all players are in the arena and the game is started remotely by a staff member.

• In the event of a line, place queue markers on the floor to keep guests 6 feet apart per social distancing guidelines. 

• If it is not already a practice, consider offering exclusive use of the arena for birthday parties as an incentive for parties to return.

• During any down time, operators should be scrubbing down every surface, every chair, every table, and all surfaces. That is what I have had my management team do during this down time.

• Another operations tip would be to rotate packs during each game. For example, packs 1-10 go in the first game, packs 11-20 go in to the second game, and packs 21-30 can go into the third game. While 10 packs are in the game, the last 10 packs that were worn can be cleaned and disinfected.

• Operators should consider sneeze guards for the counters like what is being placed at drive thus and gas stations.

• Consider utilizing a no-contact infrared thermometer and taking the temperature of guests at the door.

• Ultimately you need to utilize “Hygiene Theater” to give your customers the assurance that the laser tag operations are safe and clean.

• Be sure to display signage reminding guests of respiratory hygiene practices