The Reception Area: Welcoming Clients the Right Way!

The entrance area should be both attractive and functional. After all, it's where the primary flow of clients will be directed. The reception area also carries a crucial mission: to convey maximum information about the arena to guests.

It's better to design the entrance zone in the same style as the maze, although design isn't the main priority. The most important thing for clients is to get a sense of the place they've entered. Here's what you can do: hang a map of the maze on the walls, information sheets about pricing, promotions, and discounts, the rules of combat, and a "hall of fame" board for the most active players and teams. It's also a good idea to place a couple of sofas and a TV there for those who want to watch the ongoing battle.

Convenience Comes First

The administrator's workstation can be a small rolling cabinet (if you're saving square meters) or a full-fledged reception desk, 1 to 1.2 meters high, where a writing desk is complemented by a tall partition. The second option is convenient when there is no separate room for the game operator. The desk partition will allow them to do their job calmly without distractions.

However, often, to save space, the reception area houses not only the administrator's desk and sofas for the waiting team but also lockers for game equipment, a cloakroom, and more. That is, instead of allocating separate zones for different purposes, arena owners cram all staff and clients literally into a couple of square meters. This approach only creates inconvenience for guests and employees, especially when the arena is popular and hosts teams almost non-stop (and isn't that the scenario you were counting on when starting the business?).

Consequently, chaos and noise will perpetually reign in the reception area: some have just arrived to play, others have finished and are sharing impressions, others just dropped in to check things out, and so on. However, all this can be avoided with simple drywall partitions or, as a last resort, screens. If you don't have separate rooms to set up a rest area, an operator's station, and a changing room, just "build" them using available means.

Zoning not only helps visually separate areas within a single space but also allows arena employees, whose duties don't include meeting and seeing off clients, to work more effectively.

WOW-Effect or Modesty?

Of course, it's fair to say that in our Russian realities, where rental costs are often sky-high, sometimes you have to skimp on important things. The entrance area is sometimes not equipped at all. Yes, it's true, some clients, like professional laser tag club teams, don't need design, special effects, or even a nicely decorated reception area. They come for the gameplay and honing their skills. However, professionals are not the target audience of arenas. The regular guests of arenas are children and teenagers, families, groups of friends and colleagues who want to have fun and get new positive emotions. Such clients pay attention to every detail: design, comfort, and a smiling administrator are all important to them. Give them the chance to feel the arena's atmosphere right at the entrance, and you'll get satisfied clients who will return.

Some arenas operate like this: they book teams for a specific day and time (e.g., on weekends, or simply when enough people want to play), run the game, and then close until the next session. They have few random clients or curious visitors. Such arenas are located not in shopping malls, where there's a high chance of operating almost continuously, but in their own premises. For some reason, they also neglect the design of the entrance area, even though many of their clients are children. And children are visual, drawn to everything bright and unusual. It doesn't take much to impress them: simply decorating the reception with colorful balloons can do the trick.

If the arena is located in a shopping complex—a place full of advertising and bright signs—you will be forced to compete with other entertainment attractions and use all available means to do so, whether you like it or not. And in general, if the arena targets beginners or enthusiasts who play occasionally with their team or individually, be prepared to amaze them. For such clients, the WOW-effect is very important. Moreover, you need to pleasantly surprise them right from the doorstep. It must be admitted that most people do pay attention not only to the maze itself but also to the overall atmosphere of the arena. We all form our first impression of a new place within the first minute. So, be sure to consider this when pondering whether you need a reception area.