Lasertag
| Nicknames | Lazer tag, Lasertag, lasergames, Laser Skirmish |
|---|---|
| First played | 1984 |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No physical contact between players (contact can result in penalties) |
| Team members | Varies depending on game format and level of play (recreational or professional) |
| Type | Indoor or Outdoor |
| Equipment | Laser guns and targets worn by players |
Laser tag is a tag game played with lasers. Infrared-sensitive targets are commonly worn by each player and are sometimes integrated within the arena in which the game is played. Since its birth in 1979, with the release of the Star Trek Electronic Phasers toy manufactured by the South Bend Electronics brand of Milton Bradley, laser tag has evolved into both indoor and outdoor styles of play, and may include simulations of combat, role play-style games, or competitive sporting events including tactical configurations and precise game goals.
Laser tag is popular with a wide range of ages. When compared to paintball, laser tag is painless because it uses no physical projectiles, and indoor versions may be considered less physically demanding because most indoor venues prohibit running or roughhousing.
In late 1970s and early '80s, the United States Army deployed a system using infrared beams for combat training. The MILES system functions like laser tag in that beams are "fired" into receivers that score hits. Similar systems are now manufactured by several companies and used by various armed forces around the world.
The first known toy to use infrared light and a corresponding sensor was manufactured and marketed in 1979 as the Star Trek Electronic Phaser Guns set.
In 1982, George Carter III began the process of designing an arena-based system for playing a scored version of the game, a possibility which had initially occurred to him in 1977 while watching the film Star Wars Episode IV. The Grand Opening for the first Photon center in Dallas, Texas on March 28, 1984. Carter was honored by the International Laser Tag Association on November 17, 2005 for his contribution to the laser tag industry. The award is engraved "Presented to George A. Carter III in recognition for being the Inventor and Founder of the laser tag industry".
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