Panther Family Laser Tag & Amusement Center

Great laser tag place. Some of the guns and vests don’t work, however the employees will replace it for you. The matches are fun and intense, and if you are attending a birthday party it is especially fun. Besides, what’s more satisfying than shooting your siblings, uncles, cousins, or friends a hundred times? The arcade games are pretty good too, and they also have massage chairs in the arcade area. The arena has two floors, and a lot of fighting occurs near the stairs and the various choke points throughout the arena. This makes games unpredictable, and that makes them even more fun.

My kids and I have been here many times over the last few years. The staff is courteous and helpful. The laser tag is popular; there are at least a half dozen people playing every game, which makes for a fun time. My chief complaint is the owners need to recapitalize their equipment. Over the years I have seen an increase in the number of damaged vests and inoperative lasers — makes for a poor experience.

I just paid $ 32.33 for two games of last tag, $ 10 worth of tokens and a $ 3 bottle of water.
Pucks were stuck in the hockey table… didn’t work. Claw machine took our money, not like we were expecting to win anyway… Jurassic park game didn’t work, took our coins. Only plus, the kids at the counter hands you a fist full of replacement tokens when you approach and inform them… never even tried to fix the games.
Our laser tag color got skipped over and the time on the ticket expired… they hassled me about that… 5 minutes over– we were waiting for our color to be called, it never was… not my fault. The kid at the door sent me to find a manager…
Maybe I’m just too old to be in places like this. Leave your expectations at the door…

I just held my third football team party here, and it was just as fun as the first two. The kids loved the arcade games and always had something to do in between games. For our first game, we just played against ourselves, but for our other two games, we played against the public, which added some intensity. The team was of 3^rd/​4^th graders, and we were playing against one group of college kids, but they held their own.
Pro tips:
1) «Joker» on Blue won ALL 3 games we played. After noticing this after the first two games, I grabbed «Joker» for game 3… and according to the scoreboard, my accuracy was better than double everyone else, and I creamed everyone. Try to grab that phaser :)
2) Don’t have stuff in your pockets when you play. If it falls out, you’re SOL.
3) Watch out for dark barrels that suddenly get in your way when you are trying to flee four year olds.

I booked a party at Panther Dulles Laser Tag in the winter and we had really bad snow and ice and no one could drive. They made me pay for the party and would not reschedule, even though it was due to weather. I even had to pay for pizza that we did not consume. I will never go there again and I am out $ 300.

My daughter said she had the best birthday ever playing laser tag! The staff had everything planned and organized for me, I didn’t need to do a thing!

DON’T go for the Saturday «Kids Zone.» They advertise that Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon is «Kids Zone» and kids 12 and under can play for $ 4.99. However, the ads don’t tell you is that the birthday parties take priority. They do a great job with organized parties here, but if you aren’t part of an organized party, forget it.
I brought a group of kids at 10 a.m. for the kid zone games.
First they told us 15 minutes. So we bought some tokens and played some air hockey and video games. 15 minutes later, I got the kids lined up ready to enter the arena.
Then they ushered in three party groups in front of us and told us there wasn’t room for us and we would be up in about 15 minutes. (Déjà vu!) I bought more tokens to keep the kids occupied. 15 minutes later, I got the kids lined up again by the entrance.
Once again, they ushered in 3 party groups right past us and told us they didn’t have room for us. They told us we’d be in the NEXT game.
So I got the kids lined up when the next game let out. AGAIN, they ushered in party groups and told us AGAIN we’d be the «next» game. We finally got to play an HOUR after we got there, and 45 minutes after their initial promise of «15 minutes.»
As I previously wrote, they do an excellent job with birthday parties here. I gave them a 5 star rating for my son’s birthday party. However, I’m going to give this rating to reflect the service you get if you’re NOT part of a birthday party. There are still plenty of other 4 and 5 star reviews here to tell you how great their birthday parties are.

I had my son’s 8^th birthday party here in December and everything worked out as planned as far as Panther Family providing the service they described for parties.
It can be very busy right before the start of a party because there are usually various rooms having a party at the same time so it is wise to get there 10 to 15 minutes before your party starts and gather the troops.
The host we had was great. He knew how to gather the troops to go in the laser room as well as manage the time for pizza and cake. He was really good at managing time and we had three games.
Everyone was very helpful and pleasant.
I have been to other locations and I find this one to be the best as far as space inside as well as plenty of parking on the outside.
The only cons would be the crowd at the beginning but when you have various parties going on at once it is pretty much expected and I allowed Pantehr Family to do the entire party and I wish there were more decorations and an item was removed from the goodie bags that was no longer available.
All in all, the kids had a great time and it is a great way to let kids let off some energy.

This place is run by a bunch of high school kids. When you call to make a reservation you think that you are dealing with professional group. You are not! After spending hours on with their teenage office staff I had to contact my credit card to dispute the over billing. As for the party… CHAOS! Find your fun somewhere else.

Decent facilities with fairly competent staff. However… Things don’t run in time. 1:30 laser tag game didn’t start until after 2:00 because they were running behind. When this is your core business, you should be able to keep things on time. Given the lack of competition in the area, it would seem that management has become fairly complacent.

We had my son’s 7^th birthday party at Panther… there were 12 boys that attended… the staff was wonderful. Great with communication and very attentive. They all left exhausted and had a blast. Very reasonable cost in comparison to other business in the Ashburn area. Thank you again!

This place is good, but has many flaws. The lobby is well designed and staff are friendly (most of the time). The arcade is fun but costly, and the new Lazer Frenzy interactive game is way overrated.
When you enter the briefing room for the laser tag game, they show you this really long and boring video about rules and stuff. It’s good for your first game but it gets annoying after multiple games. Then, you enter the vesting room. Some packs don’t even work but you find that out after you enter the game. The arena itself is quite large and confusing. The whole «base» concept is confusing and many players don’t even understand it. «Game masters» don’t really help so don’t bother yelling for them. At the end of the game, you can see the results on a big scoreboard in the lobby.
So, laser tag is fun the first few times but gets old quickly. I reccommend this place for kids but teens will get bored.

This place was terrible. When we arrived with all our 25 guests the room wasn’t ready. When we finally got in our room the hosts couldn’t keep up and moved way too slow. I ended up hustling around and making sure everyone was getting served.
Before our third game we were rushed out of the room being told they had to get it ready for another party. They shoved us out in 30 seconds tops. This resulted in $ 50 of minecraft toys that were cake toppers being THROWN AWAY by their staff.
So now my 25 guests are out in the arcade center with no where to go bc our last laser tag session wasn’t ready yet. This was a huge safety hazard! 25 kids under my supervision in a large arcade center while waiting for our session, chaotic and unsafe.
Oh and not all the vests worked. I could go on about the way they choose vests etc but I will spare you.

Be very careful going to this location if you have to deal with Guillermo the big cheeseball «General Manager». This person was extremely rude and argumentative. During the entire time talking with us he was incapable of listening to our questions and took it upon himself to keep telling us that the owner was cameras everywhere. It was quite bizarre, to say the least.
As long as this gentleman is employed by this company, we will not host a Birthday Party here and suggest that you find another local venue, as will we. It was the plan to host a large activity there but I cannot imagine trying to orchestrate a nice event when the person that proclaims to be the «General Manager» clearly has no aptitude with custom service or the ability to do anything but talk down to the client.
Good Luck to anyone that has to work with Guillermo!!!

I had my daughter’s birthday party there and as soon as I walked in with cupcakes in hand, one of the workers immediately came to me and asked which party was I there for. He took the cupcakes from me to place in the fridge and then began giving me the information on how the night would proceed. I asked him if he was our Party Host and he said he was not and would get ours. We were escorted to our party room and from there Tyler took over.
Tyler was very clear in the order of the night and was always available if we had questions or anything that needed to be attended to. He found that healthy balance of being attentive without being overbearing. He was friendly with the kids and the other parents as well. Even when I had to step out to address a phonecall, he kept the ball rolling smoothly. GREAT host and if my rating was solely based on him, it would be a five.
The missing star is due to the fact that after the 2^nd run of laser tag, all of the kids from our party were in the room looking at the scores on the screen and another worker came in and addressed one of the children from my party of a certain behavior solely based on another kid (and he said she said accusations) coming to him from a dark laser room. Now I didn’t mind the questioning but I DID mind that this questioning took place in the middle of the room while there were 10+ kids standing there in confusion. Rather than pulling the adult in charge of the room (ME) out and asking me to speak privately, this drew all of the attention away from my daughter (who’s b-​day was being celebrated) to another child that she didn’t even know and someone else in her group. It should have been handled much better than it was. Fortunately, though the kid from our party said they did nothing wrong, when I asked him to just apologize so it would be over with, he obliged. I believe management needs to better explain to their team how to resolve complaints between customers.
Over all, the scheduling and party went well. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone planning a party.

we did a party at Panther Family Fun Center today. What CHAOS!
when we arrived, our party room was not ready, so we had to wait in the main area, (which was crazy busy with video games and lots of other people. It was dark, crowded and nowhere to put our stuff. Finally at 15 mins until our party started, they showed us to our ‘party room’.
we were supposed to do a game, then eat, then more games. People showed up and then we went to play. It was filled with older kids (my son is 7 and the others there seemed to be closer to 10ish?). The older kids could not keep quiet during the «briefing» and we could not hear the instructions. The staff could not keep a handle on these kids.
some of the equipment was broken and one of the games, there was not enough vests for our party. Staff was rude and short tempered.
After one game, we went to eat and then after eating, the kids played another game. They had very cheap plates and sparse party rooms. The only choices for «drinks» were soda and high sugar lemonade. Other party places offered juice boxes or waterbottles.
After those games ended, we left the playing area to go back to our party room, only to find some other party group in our room and all of our stuff moved out to the LOBBY! They kicked us out and gave me, the HOST, no IDEA or warning that they would do so. My contact at this place told me we would be going back to our party room after our last game for a minute & then leave. What a bait & switch! To find all my coats, food, stuff and all out in the main lobby was ridicules. I felt like I was being evicted.
Then they came over to give me the bill. HA! They also had one person more than I had playing!
In the end, the kids had fun, but I am definitely NOT impressed and will not be hosting another party there.

Awful experience and would not recommend. My Equipment did not function correctly and there were several worn and or broken vests. Staff appeared overwhelmed and Party rooms were less than expected; they were also in need of updating.
On a positive note, the kids did enjoy the experience. However, for the price and environment I would not go back and certainly would not reserve for events.

Most of us, childless young professionals, won’t appreciate the Panther Family Fun Center («Panther Center») the same way kids will. That’s because we have the freedom to go wherever we want, whenever we want, and however late we want (assuming it’s not last call). For suburban families, however, the Panther Center offers a win-​win situation: parents get a low-​cost childcare service and kids go berserk without parental oversight. And, most of the time, the employees are apathetic high school students that couldn’t care less.
So what’s in it for us, the childless young professionals? The Panther Center doesn’t serve alcohol, only soft drinks and energy drinks at movie theater prices. They don’t serve food either, unless you qualify Domino’s Pizza and candy bars as being food. The lobby has decent but antiquated video arcades like Beachhead 2000, Big Buck Hunter, and Dance Dance Revolution, a virtual driving simulator, a Street Fighter-​type arcade, an air hockey table, and a crane game. If you’re just looking for food, fun, and games, then you might be better off at Dave & Buster’s.
But Dave & Buster’s doesn’t have Laser Tag you say. True, but that’s not necessarily enough to justify a 50-​minute drive (of course, this is a different story if your posse includes outstanding Unilocalers like Kevin L., Alicia G., Jeff W., PC W, Karman L., and Cindy Y.). Also, hardcore combat junkies may find the Panther Center’s Laser Tag arena somewhat disappointing. The game play itself is clumsy, confusing, and rather short (usually 8 minutes). When you get hit, you’re either stunned temporary for 3 seconds or eliminated for «eliminated» for 10 seconds. Moreover, infinite ammunition and infinite life (enter «IDDQD») turns this game into an endless version of hide and go seek. There are no true objectives except to shoot on sight. On the other hand, there’s the constant adrenaline rush of guerrilla warfare. Often, it’s every man for himself (even for team scenarios — one target is better than two targets). The best strategy is to take the high grounds and keep moving because you must constantly find new targets (no point waiting around for people to come back to life). And my best advice: stay low and watch for low ceilings.
Overall, the Panther Center can be fun even for people like us, the childless young professionals. I wouldn’t return by myself but I’m never opposed to another group outing. [Original Visit: Dec. 19, 2008]

I was given a chance to check out Panther for free courtesy of my new boss. When he told me the place had just opened and it was in Sterling, my first thoughts were, «Where the heck is Sterling?» Thankfully, the friends/​yelpers I went with knew where it was and it was game on!
We arrived a bit later than our fellow Unilocalers and so we had to wait in the arcade area since they decided to play around without us. In the waiting area, there are plenty of arcade games to entertain; Kevin and Jeff took this opportunity to play some DDR. (Where are those photos, Kevin?)
Also in the waiting area is the scoreboard in which you will find the two teams (red and blue) and their code names. Before you «vest up», there is a briefing room where the rules are laid out and questions are answered. The staff are pretty young (think high school or freshmen in college) but were pretty efficient. The safety schpiel got quicker and quicker since it was basically the same group playing round after round.
The «vesting room» is a room with the gear and you can pick whichever team you want to be on — red or blue. The equipment is brand new which is awesome. There are targets on the front of the vest as well as the shoulders and back. The guns look like hairdryers as PC noted and you must keep both hands on the gun or it won’t shoot. There is some kind of heat sensor so it will know if you are doing it or not and if you aren’t, it will make this obnoxious sound and tell you to use 2 hands. I did like that when you were shooting, you were able to see this long, green laser beam. I thought it would just be like a red dot that you’d see on the spot where you were shooting but the beam made it much easier.
The actual «tagging» area is cool though kind of confusing. There are bases that you are supposed to hit to «kill» the other team. I had an interesting time figuring out where it was and then if it was actually the right one for me to «attack». This became even more unclear when we started playing solo.
After each round, you go back to the lobby area, check out your rankings on the tv scoreboard and then pick up a copy of your printed scorecard. I came in 2^nd during the first solo round but then tanked in the very last round. Sadness.
All in all — it was a great time. But here is my last and most important lesson of the laser tag experience:
**Be on the same team as the small children. They will get you every time and no, you cannot kick or curse at them even though you may really, REALLY want to.**

This place totally reminds me of the laser tag place I used to go to growing up in middle school in Ohio. Same rules, similar gear, similar scoreboard, and similar score sheets.
The staff here are on the ball for the most part. The tutorial and safety schpiel they give before you head off to the «vesting room» to pick up your gear was handled efficiently and professionally. Although they all looked like they were probably in high school, they had their talk down to an art form.
I just wish that they were better able to explain the rules and strategy of scoring — it felt a lot like we were figuring out how to rack up points via trial and error. How bases work (apparently you can destroy them more than once), when playing solo, the difference between stunning and being tagged… what the blinky lights meant… no one seemed to have any answers. Come on, don’t these kids play laser tag themselves? You’d figure they’d know all the ins and outs! Plus, there was a pretty long lag time in between rounds of tag — we couldn’t figure out what the hold-​up was… perhaps that’s just how long it takes for the system to reset? If they could turn games around faster, we could have readily squeezed in a few more rounds.
Regardless, the lot of us had an absolute sweaty blast. And it was definitely sweaty. Most folks ended up with some serious boobsweat going on under their vests after a few rounds. It’s unclear whether it was because the heat was on in the main room, or what… but it definitely felt like the arcade area in the front lacked a little ventilation.
Thanks to Alicia for hooking the lot of us Unilocalers up with some free passes. I’d definitely go back for the all you can play nights for $ 14. That’s a total steal. I’d even brave the wrath of the vicious munchkins that were there the same night we were.