On June 9, 2020, Jeff Schilling, laser tag pioneer and the founder of Creative Works, was awarded the Industry Innovator Award, presented by the Laser Tag Museum. It is only the third time in the laser tag industry’s 36-year history that someone was granted the award, making this a significant accomplishment. 

Schilling was presented the award “for all of his efforts on pioneering, creating and promoting incredibly immersive themed environments for the laser tag industry.”

Schilling started Creative Works back in 1997, with a vision to create and promote immersive themed environments for the laser tag industry. Back then, laser tag was an up and coming game with few innovations. 

“Before Jeff came into the industry, laser tag arenas were often self-made out of cheap plywood or sewer tubes purchased at the local hardware store,” the Laser Tag Museum wrote. “Jeff, with a vision unlike any others, realized that the laser tag industry could have themed environments and amazing gameplay.”

The award states that Jeff “raised the bar for the entire industry and created memorable experiences for the players who went into one of those arenas.”

“After being part of this industry since its early existence, I’m proud and honored to have received this prestigious award at this time of my life. Thank you to the Laser Tag Museum and Erik Guthrie for their kind generosity in providing this award to me,” said Jeff Schilling.

Spreading the WOW Effect

Schilling wanted to not only transform the game-play and environments, but also spread his team’s amazing creations around the globe for all to enjoy. Today, we as a company have installed more than 500 immersive laser tag arenas across four continents.

In total, these laser tag arenas see about 30 million plays each year, leading to countless memories.

For Schilling, it was always about creating a WOW Effect for anyone that entered one of our arenas. Through the leadership of Schilling over the years, our company expanded the WOW Effect into other attractions, including mini golf, Esports, virtual reality, escape rooms, theming and a lot more.

Re-Imagining Life

In recent years, Schilling has openly shared his perspectives on life, purpose, and gratitude. In fact, he gave a talk at the 2019 F2FEC conference in Colorado where he took the audience along a journey of his life.

During this talk, he discussed hard lessons he learned while fighting through health challenges. These challenges gave him a new mindset and attitude, helping him lean into gratitude every day.

“When you have gratitude and appreciation, much can be done, much can be gained, and much can be shared.” – Jeff Schilling