Wal-Mart, Home Depot and a double-decker Breeze-In have sprouted where once there was only the lingering whiff of a thousand moldy couches.

But not all is well in this new, multizone garden of discounts.

We no longer have a venue to shoot laser beams at each other.

Yes, Party Zone - the family entertainment center in the old, green Williams Express building - has vanished.

That means there's no place in town to - legally - hunt an 8-year-old sniper-style with infrared light-emitting diodes. If you're also a big fan of batting cages, skee ball, party supplies or singing a My Chemical Romance song during Saturday night karaoke, look forward to a long, rainy winter.

Ultimately, should we be surprised that a town of 30,000 with a dwindling 14-to-35-year-old population proved to be too small of a market to sustain a laser-tag place? Isn't it more stunning that Party Zone opened at all?

There are approximately 670 laser-tag venues in North America, according to www.wheretoplaylasertag.com. How do demographics drive the sport?

"It's really hard to say at this point, because not every place opens up with the ideal demographic in mind," said Eric Gaizat, of the 11-year-old, Indianapolis-based International Laser Tag Association (www.lasertag.org).

"Some places open up in places where there are 30,000 people," he said. "Others, where there are a couple million people. There are some manufacturers that average about 14 months. But we have some that have been around for 10-plus years."

This is a town where arcades have come and gone. Even the two-player Dance Dance Revolution Extreme machine in the auxiliary game room of Udder Culture sits lonely and beckoning most of the day.

That's why rare treats - such as the go-kart track that used to show up seasonally at the Nugget Mall or the Lazy River first proposed for the Mendenhall Valley pool - seem like manna from heaven with a side of hot wings.

So thank you, Party Zone.

Thanks for the time I successfully cartwheeled to evade a laser flank attack by two 12-year-olds, and thanks for setting up the proper walls to enable an all-out blitzkrieg, counteroffensive.

Thanks for the time I used the batting cages as the sun was setting in my eyes, and accidentally took a blindside fastball in the junk.

Thank you for that impossible game in which you had to maneuver the silver ball all the way to the top of the maze using only a small knob and the laws of gravity.

Thanks for being there.

• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.