It’s the start of 2017, which means it’s a great time to look back and reflect on the previous year for our company. And boy, was 2016 a big one! In this 2016 Year in Review, we highlight a few of our favorite big moments and memories.

Top Gear TV Show Featured Our Props

We partnered with Laserforce to build interactive military props that were featured on the Top Gear BBC America TV show. This project was certainly unique, and our team had a lot of fun working on it. We built 50 caliber guns and small rockets that we mounted on a Dodge Viper ACR and a Chevy Corvette Z06. Laserforce provided the electronic equipment that allowed the cars to target and “tag” one another. You can watch the segment on Top Gear season 23, episode 1 on BBC America.

Epic Arenas Re-Brand

Last year we announced the re-brand of our themed laser tag arenas to the new name Epic Arenas. We started building custom laser tag arenas in 1997. A lot changes in 19 years, and laser tag was no exception. This brand update was an evolution to meet new market demands and reinforce our belief that memorable experience make people happier.

49 Laser Tag Attractions

In 2016, our team installed/renovated 49 laser tag attractions. If we don’t count holidays, that’s an average of one arena per week! We traveled as close as our home state of Indiana and as far as Australia. The themes of our arenas ranged from Halo-inspired space stations, to Egyptian adventures, to urban battlegrounds and a whole lot more. While the themes were different, they all had one thing in common: they were Epic!

New Website

In June, we launched our brand new company website – the one you’re looking at right now! We wanted to make it easier for operators to learn about who are are, what we do, and why we do it. Not to toot our own horn, but we work on projects for a lot of amazing clients and we’re proud of what we accomplish. We wanted a beautiful website to really showcase this work.

Collaboration on Peyton Manning Statue

Our company is located in Indiana and we’re all big Colts fans. So our team was unbelievably proud to be chosen by the Indianapolis Colts to help build a bronze statue of Peyton Manning. The statue is in production now, and we’re working alongside Ryan Feeney from Indy Art Forge to complete it. The statue will be revealed at Lucas Oil Stadium prior to the start of the 2017 NFL season.

Revamped LaserTAG360 Program

We spent a big part of 2016 revamping our Amusement 360 program, which is the premier laser tag education program in the entertainment industry. The work from last year will be fully realized when we host the events in 2017. We put an emphasis on quality: more speakers, higher quality food, improved technology, and more. The revamp includes updated branding and a new website, which is live now at www.amusement360.com.

Creative Prop Shop

Speaking of new websites, we re-branded our online store from FEC Store to Creative Prop Shop. This new online store makes it easy for operators to buy props, murals, lights, and effects, all from one place. This store is live at www.creativepropshop.com.

New Escape Room Attraction

We debuted Infinite Escapes, our new escape room attraction, at the 2016 IAAPA Attractions Expo. It was a huge hit! FEC owners have shown a lot of interest in escape rooms, but most haven’t pulled the trigger because of one big problem: a lack of repeat play. We used our attraction development experience to find a solution: modular puzzles. These puzzles can be easily switched out over time to keep the experience fresh and keeping people coming back.

Best Exhibit at IAAPA

Last, but certainly not least, we won the Brass Ring Award for Best Exhibit in our size category at the 2016 IAAPA Attractions Expo! We spent months developing the theme for our booth, and all that work paid off. The booth theme was steampunk; think Victorian era meets futuristic industrial revolution. This was the first Brass Ring Award for our company, and our team plans to build on this momentum for next year’s show!