Feel like you're in a Call of Duty video game at this new Westland laser tag center

David Veselenak
Hometownlife.com
Tim Steckle and Nelson Eng walk through the playing field for Battlefield CQB, a new, realistic laser tag experience now open at the Westland Shopping Center.

Tim Steckle and Nelson Eng have fond memories going to the Westland Shopping Center when they were younger.

The Livonia Franklin High School alumni and close friends remember the mall bustling with people when they were younger. With traffic down and malls not being the destinations they once were, the two began thinking of ways to launch a business in the shopping center at Wayne and Warren roads.

"I used to go to this mall all the time. I saw the malls kind of going away; it started to eat at me," he said. "I remember as a kid, when you came into a mall, you would see everybody here. Everybody was out."

Falling back on their love of playing realistic laser tag, the two began developing the plans for a new attraction. Today, that attraction aims to give visitors an experience typically only found in a video game.

The business is Battlefield CQB, a laser tag experience like no other in the area. This isn't your father's laser tag: Gone are the colorful or neon paintings and walls, swapped with a realistic-looking weapon and playing surface. The guns are heavier and are reminiscent of a submachine gun, and the play area has plenty of turns and corners, similar to maps found in online first-person shooter video games.

Open in the space formerly held by Ulta on the south end of the mall, Battlefield CQB allows up to 20 players to don equipment and play a variety of games. Options include team deathmatch, elimination and one of the more popular options, safe cracker, where one set of players look to locate a safe and take the gold from it while the other team attempts to stop them.

The game area is just under 10,000 square feet and is designed to be easily navigated.

"All the rooms are set up for CQB (close quarter combat), so they're all feeding in at different angles and different variations," Speckle said. "We wanted the feel of being in a building and having to go from room to room."

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Players can reserve time as a group online, or just come to meet up with others to play. Once they arrive, they swipe their card, adding their information in the system and showing their level. Speckle said the system is connected to a network, meaning players who play at other sites that use the same system can take their information and use it at other sites as well, and vice versa.

"This is all part of a ranked system, so you can go play here, level up, you could then go to Rochester (Hills to MI-Combat, another similar location) and your scores will transfer over," Speckle said. "Much like Call of Duty, you move up in the ranks."

In addition to small groups, there's space for parties and groups looking to use the space as well. Speckle and Eng said they've even had security companies reach out asking to use the space as a type of training facility as well. The two hope to reach out to local police departments to see if they're interested in utilizing the space for training.

Battlefield CQB is open Wednesday through Sunday and requires players to be 13 years old or older. More information, including on how to book a time to play, can be found at battlefieldcqb.net.

Nelson Eng and Tim Steckle don the tactical gear needed to play their newest laser tag venture, Battlefield CQB.

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Contact reporter David Veselenak at dveselenak@hometownlife.com or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.