Now SIUC students who are at their wits end with their roommates can head down to the mall and settle their differences with laser guns.

Cosmic Adventures, scheduled to open Feb. 2 in the University Mall, 1237 E. Main, will offer Lazer Runner, a competitive laser tag game. The game is played in a 2,400-square-foot maze.

Michael Jessup, Cosmic Adventures manager, said the game is fast action and fun for all ages.

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Jessup said when participants come into the store, each is fitted with a vest that has four sensors on it and a hand held laser gun. He said the participants head into the maze. In the maze, there is a light fog, background music, black-light lighting and mines. He said participants shoot at each other and try to hit their opponents’ vests with the laser beam to disable their competitors’ systems.

This is not the old style of Lazer Tag (with a large rifle instead of a hand gun and an akward light instead of a precision laser) where you could be anywhere near the person and hit their vest, he said. This requires you to hit the sensor with the laser exactly.

The fog in the maze helps participants to see where their laser is pointed, but there is no time to sit and aim, Jessup said.

Jessup said if a participant is hit, their system shuts down for five seconds. During this time, the player cannot shoot but is still in the game, he said.

Participants play for six minutes, and there can be up to 14 people in the maze at any given time, he said.

The other places the game has been set up there is an excellent response, he said. It is very popular.

Jessup said if parents want to know more about the game they can come in and watch people play.

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The maze will have an area where people can sit and watch the action without being seen by the players, he said.

The store will be next to Challenges video arcade. Tom Biggs, manager of Challenges, said he is excited to see Cosmic Adventures come in.

I hope we can do some cross promotions, Biggs said.

Jessup said in nine months, Cosmic Adventures plans to expand to a large family-style entertainment store with a restaurant, soft play (padded playground equipment) and an arcade. When that is built, they will move the Lazer Runner to that store, he said.

There is nothing in this area that focuses on family entertainment. This is something the whole family can enjoy, Jessup said. If you were to compare it, it would be like a Chucky Cheese.

For now, Jessup said he is concentrating on the store in the mall.

We may add a virtual reality station to the store and hold birthday parties for kids, Jessup said.