Laser Tag: (lzr tg) - A futuristic sport where a person or team uses a device that emits a highly amplified infrared beam of one or more distinct frequencies to pursue the other player or team until he or she is able to "touch" one of them as many times as needed until they are removed from the game. With that said, this game is basically a technologically advanced combination of paintball and tag.

Laser Tag or rather Lazer Tag, as it is also commonly spelled, started around the 1980's by the companies Worlds of Wonder and Shoot the Moon Productions (owners of the trademark name "Lazer Tag".) Both companies produced some of the first publicly available laser tag toys. For a detailed history of Laser Tag, check Sinistrahd's NuclearDawn Laser Tag website, and the Laser Tag documentary: LightSport™: The People, Business and Game of Laser Tag™, produced by Yo Vinny! Productions. Lasers Edge New York was featured in the documentary, however our web address was incorrectly stated in the video.(That might explain why most of the laser tag community thought we fell of the face of the internet at one point. - ed)

Most people would be amazed to discover that there is a large following of “taggers” all over the world that are serious players, dedicated to the sport. These people are the taggers who build and modify their own equipment, and hold games in the great outdoors. There are many web sites devoted to home based gear and a regular group of people posting on various forums around the internet. Please check our links page for a listing of many of these web pages. Some fans of the sport have actually secured employment with Shoot the Moon Products to design and build home based laser tag equipment. ( Hi TagFerret, the LTTO gear rocks and good work! - ed) You can catch him and many others over on the Laser Tactical Action Game site.

Arena based laser tag (Q-Zar, Lazer Park, etc) can be expensive, especially in NY where the price of a 15 minute game is almost $10. Any member of LENY can spend a full day at an arena and play at least 8 games, which would cost about the same money as a new equipment purchase. However, many members do miss arena tag from time to time, since there are many aspects of indoor tag that do not exist in outdoor game play, such as strobe lighting, techno music, a black maze, and video games for those not participating in the laser tag game. In addition, scoring was also tracked at the indoor arenas, which assisted players greatly. To locate an indoor arena in your area, please visit the site of the International Laser Tag Association. Please note that at most indoor arenas, the equipment up keeping standards tend to be poor, and it is often difficult to find equipment that works properly.

Here at Lasers Edge New York, we use 2 types of equipment to play Laser Tag. The first is the Laser Challenge V2 by Toymax (now Jakks Pacific). The V2 gear came out around 1998 and is available for purchase on eBay.com. The V2 series contained a variety of different types of guns: Pistol, Ultra-Wide, and the Firestorm. The pistol was sold in a set that also came with gear that included a front and back sensor. An ELS computer was available also, which was designed to track scoring, similar to the indoor arenas, however the system was not able to function properly. Toymax continued the line with other sets that were ultimately not as popular or widely used, such as the Gotcha Extreme or Radar Extreme. These sets lacked the range of the V2 (350ft-1000ft) and had only one sensor. These later sets were able to be modded, allowing people to alter the equipment to allow for better usage. The electronics could not be changed, however we were able to alter the range and encase the electronic equipment in different molds. These guns were used until recently by LENY.

In July 2004, LENY upgraded our equipment to the Lazer Tag Team Ops, made by Hasbro . This new gear is able to succeed where past equipment has failed, and offers the ability to track scoring by ranking players individually and by team, as done in indoor arenas. The scoring cannot be altered during gameplay, as if you are not programmed to participate in the current game being played, you cannot alter the scoring, eliminating the ability for players to cheat. Another good feature is the HUD, which can be easily modified for those players who wear glasses. We eagerly anticipate the add-ons and newer gear that are currently in the works to be released later in the year.

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