MOUNTAIN TOP, Pa. — With a few finishing touches, the Boat Tag attraction at Malacari's Ice Cream in Mountain Top is ready to open on Saturday.
For owner Frank Malacari, it brings home a piece of his childhood.
"This is a game that we used to play at the beach, and when we saw it for sale, we had to jump on it," said Malacari.
Those memories came in handy, as getting the Jersey Shore staple up and running was no easy feat. Malacari said they had to build it completely by memory and reference.
"It came on seven tractor-trailers and had absolutely no instructions. We literally went off photos we found on Google and pictures my wife had the workers at Morey's Pier take when we were on the ride last year at the beach," he explained.
As it's been slowly going up piece by piece, customers like Corine Sworen have been waiting to see how exactly it works.
"We didn't know what was going to happen. We saw the helicopters and the guns and cannons," Sworen said.
The game is played in multiple ways, depending on what experience you want. Those on the outside can fire away, trying to hit their target.
"All you have to do is drop the ball in, aim and fire," Malacari showed us.
While the other team is inside the boat. There are two seats with two missile guns to shoot back at the targets. Larry Miscavage has been helping get the boats up and running for months.
"I've been test-driving them for about three weeks now, and I haven't gotten bored, so I don't think the kids will either," said Miscavage.
Miscavage also helped come up with the idea to give the boats a facelift, painting them like ice cream sundaes.
"We turned the boats from military theme into ice cream, I like to think they're shooting sprinkles," he laughs.
While our Newswatch 16's Melissa Steininger gave the attraction a test run, Malacari gave her a few tips and tricks on how to properly aim- and fire.
It's been a labor of love to get the attraction up and running, but Malacari says it's worth it- for this one-of-a-kind game.
"It took a lot of manpower, and it was not easy to put together, but we're really excited to bring this to the community," said Malacari.
The Boat Tag will open at the Malacari's Ice Cream location in Mountain Top at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube channel.