A Shot in the Dark

Mist drifts up from the ground, suggesting that Hades lurks just below. It is dark and, at first, silent.

Suddenly, a 7-foot robotoid from outer space lurches from the corner. You spin and fire your Lazer Blaster, exploding the alien menace into tiny bits.

Another robot appears. The roar is deafening. You duck and shoot, but the attackers keep coming from all sides. You flee to the next chamber and they are waiting for you there.

Then the lights come on and you have to pay another $3.

This week, Sherman Oaks Galleria gets its own life-sized version of Space Invaders. It’s called Lazer Maze and it’s like stepping into a video game. Players walk through four darkened chambers armed with a rifle that shoots beams of light. Mechanical monsters appear. If you shoot them between the eyes, there is the sound of an explosion and flashing lights that look like fire. If you miss, they go away.

“It makes you move fast. And you are an active player, not just watching on the screen,” said Lenny Sigalov, the Los Angeles businessman who has brought Lazer Maze to Los Angeles.

So far, it is the only one in the United States. A Lazer Maze opened earlier this year in Edmonton, Canada, and another is due this spring in New York City.

The game is a $350,000 setup of computers, hydraulic monsters and flashing lights. First-time players must purchase a $5 membership card (players must be 6 or older). Thereafter the game costs $3 for about 2 1/2 minutes of play.

But that two and a half minutes can leave you winded, what with all the jumping around and shooting. And the game records members’ scores, so players can track their performance.

Lazer Maze is somewhat akin to laser tag, last summer’s hot trend, where players shoot at each other with light-beam guns. But Sigalov thinks there is a vital difference.

“We’re not shooting another human being,” he said. “Here you are protecting yourself from aliens from outer space. It’s a much more moral game.”