Laser-tag charity event for cosplay crowd precursor to Phoenix Comicon

Science fiction and superhero enthusiasts battled alongside cosplayers at the 2nd annual Charity Laser Tag Tournament at the UltraStar Multi-tainment Center at Ak-Chin Circle Saturday.

Registration began at 9:30 a.m. and the event went from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets were $10 and $5 of each ticket went to a charity.

Jennifer Birk, senior sales and marketing manager at UltraStar, said the event was a mixture of Phoenix Comicon fan clubs, charities and KDKB radio.

“They’re all here to raise money for Kids Need to Read, which is a literacy program,” Birk said.

The participants got into teams of five and played against each other in the two-story arena. They then gathered to take group pictures in full costume and receive prizes, Birk said.

“Basically it’s a way for people that like cosplay (costume play) to get together and hang out and it’s for charity,” Birk said.

Gareth von Kallenbach, owner of Skewed and Reviewed and event organizer, said there was a lot more media coverage this year, despite some difficulties with location and scheduling. People think having the event in Maricopa is too far of a drive, he said. Also, many of the clubs that help sponsor have meetings concerning Comicon since it’s in a couple months.

The laser-tag teams were split into clubs like the Arizona Avengers, United Zombies of America, Phoenix Comicon, Star Wars and the Umbrella Corporation, Kallenbach said.

Gus Montos, Arizona Avengers commanding officer, was dressed as Captain America and said his group participated in this event last year.

They are a nonprofit charity group that work with different organizations to provide children with the enjoyment of meeting their favorite superheroes, Montos said.

“Everybody donates their time, no one is an actor,” Montos said. They participate in 40 to 50 events a year.

Eric “Shmonty” Ashmont, KDKB morning talk show host, said he came to spread the word about the event and show his support for the charity because he volunteers with them.

“I work with Kids Need to Read, we go to elementary schools and read stories to get the kids excited and get them reading,” Ashmont said.

It was his first time doing laser tag at the event and it was quite the workout, but extremely fun teaming up with the cosplayers, Ashmont said.

“We try to go out and do as many community events as we can, and when they said laser-tag event they didn’t need to finish the rest of the sentence,” Ashmont said. “One of the Stormtroopers was using me as a shield.”

Stefan Anderson works with Phoenix Comicon and said this was second year doing laser tag with everyone.

“We do a lot of charities with the convention. Geek Prom is one of our big events that we do every year and all the proceeds from the Geek Prom actually go to the Kids Need to Read charity,” Anderson said.

Phoenix Comicon is June 5 through June 8 at the Phoenix Convention Center. The theme at Geek Prom this year is retro gaming, Anderson said.

In the end, the first place winner with 21,400 points went to Stefan Anderson, second place, Justin Anderson and third place Adam Reeves.

The men received donated prizes from local and national companies, Kallenbach said. The prizes included game controllers, headsets, and UltraStar gift certificates.

Next year’s event is April 11, which can now be advertised at Comicon, Kallenbach said.

The hope for the future is to get a bigger group of people to join the fun. If people came for both Comicon preview panels and laser tag, it could reach a larger audience, Kallenbach said.

“I have no problem doing a teaser version of my panel. There will be people who won’t come just for laser tag but they could come out for the panels as well,” Kallenbach said.