Planet Lazer had no intention of leaving its little spot on Braid Street. But it had to go. The landlords had bigger plans for the building. Turns out, so did Planet Lazer’s owners and the new facility has customers jumping for joy.
The extreme laser tag business moved across the street into a warehouse so huge a gigantic trampoline facility was added. It’s called Extreme Air Park and it has 160 trampolines strung together over 42,000 square feet.
It opened Aug. 29 joining three others in Greater Vancouver. Customers can play zero gravity basketball, vertical volleyball and 3D dodgeball on the trampolines. It also has an air zone, a foam zone and a half-pipe area. A massive viewing area overlooks it all, and, oh yeah, laser tag came across the street too.
“It is a pretty massive warehouse. It’s probably bigger than all the other locations,” said facility supervisor Justin Marti, who noted the New West facility is different than the others in another aspect. “It’s one trampoline floor that’s connected to each other. There’s no walkway that isn’t trampoline. It’s just one massive floor of trampolines.
“This one we used all the space we could to fit as many trampolines in there as we could.”
According to a 2016 Los Angeles Times article, the trampoline park concept originated in Las Vegas in 2004 growing to about 700 facilities around the world by last year. The International Association of Trampoline Parks was formed in 2012.
Marti pointed out all the activity means the business has to keep a lot of staff around at all times to make sure everyone’s playing safe. The former football, lacrosse and rugby player who grew up in the White Rock area, doesn’t just run the place, he also frequently participates playing dodgeball with his friends.
“It’s definitely up my alley,” said Marti, who noted even his non-athletic friends have a blast. “You don’t even know you’re exercising when you’re jumping.
“It’s really a good way to take the kids these days off the computers and off the video games to do some activities and meet some new people.”
And to keep tech geeks stoked there’s a fun feature.
“Every 30 minutes at this location we turn on the black lights in which our green pads glow, and anything light coloured that you’re wearing glows,” said Marti.
• Extreme Air Park and Planet Lazer are located at 109 Braid St., Building E. Website: newwest.extremeairpark.com. Phone: 604-515-0716.
