The Story of Lazer Tag: A Toy Gun in the 80's. What Could Go Wrong?
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- Опубліковано 20 лют 2019
- For a brief time in the 80's Lazer Tag was all the rage.
Lazer Tag: The Game had storybooks, lunchboxes, puzzles and even a short-lived animated series; Lazer Tag Academy.
But it didn't last long and it wasn't helped by the same controversy that beset another toy gun line in the 80's: Entertech.
After a fatal shooting the Lazer Tag brand lost some of it's luster but laser tag as a game is still going strong to this day.
NOTE: LAZER TAG & PHOTON ARE DIFFERENT PROPERTIES. PHOTON WILL HAVE IT'S OWN VIDEO AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE.
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I wanted these, but I needed both equipment and friends. It was a sad existence.
I BEGGED my parents for a year at least. I finally got the helmet on clearance when the company went under.
I had Photon, the lesser version. Its like getting a GoBot
I know your pain homie.
Yeah I had the basic gun and sensor and none of my friends did. Made for a pretty boring game lol
You weren’t alone.
The older boys used to get into the high school on the weekends and play Lazer Tag throughout the building. Young me thought that was wicked awesome. Old me still does.
we used to play paintball in my uni before covid
I remember fantasising, as an adorable young kiddy, about playing Lazer Tag type games in just about every single large department store or shopping mall I got dragged through.
While my mother would be deciding exactly which ugly and uncomfortable leather sandals I would be forced to wear that year, I'd be imagining how cool it would be, taking cover behind the clothes racks, pinning opponents down at the choke points by the escalators and tactically advancing from strong point to strong point.
Three and a half decades later I, just like you, *_still_* think that it would be awesome fun.
That would be awesome at the high school at night!
@@stickiedmin6508 me too! And we did. My frieds mom was the manager of wal mart in the 80s and when she would work over night we'd go with her. We'd roam all over the store.
@@thegoodybarn9060
Awesome - sounds like wicked fun you lucky rascal.
Had a Lazer Tag set back in the 80's. Sooo many batteries died to play that game. The best was bouncing a shot off the hallway mirror.
That sound awesome..!
@Regis Philbin we fixed that issue with duct tape when we played. But omg we went through so many batteries the local mom and pop store loved us.
@Regis Philbin Did you use your free battery card?
In high school, my friends (about a dozen or so) were playing in a construction zone when a neighbor called the cops. The officer who arrived was very nice but gave us a stern warning about handheld weapons. It was a big buzzkill for sure, but we just moved the game to pal's farm on the other side of town.
PEW! PEW!
I wanted this so bad when it came out but my parents forbade it for pretty much this reason.
@Stella Hohenheim oh people still play it, it's just not the phenom thst it was at the time.
LASER TAG?? Nostalgia level...OVER 9000!
So my family bought an off-brand, K-Mart knock off of Lazer Tag. It had the guns, the targets, and a chest plate for the target, like the Lazer Tag vest... but it also came with a headband so you could place the target ON YOUR HEAD. That's right, our generic Lazer Tag game encouraged kids to make head shots.
This is the one I think I had.
I Had a set with huge guns and the head band had a thing in the temple that hurt you a little and scared you. We didn't like it much
hell yes!
Team Photon! Still have my membership card from 4th grade. My mom never took me back to the photon arena because after the flashing lights and fog machine I was out back in the alley puking.
I LOVED Lazer Tag! In late high school and early college, my friends and I would play whenever we got the chance. I was always jealous of my friend who has the rifle. It was seriously awesome! Great range, very accurate, collapsing stock, and just felt good to hold.
Lazer Tag is also how I almost got shot by a cop once, got roughed up a little bit, and ended up with a trespassing warning at our local university. That was a... memorable night. We were playing in one of the buildings that was open all night. The layout was perfect, and the after hours emergency lights have it a spooky feel and created shadowed pockets here and there you could hide in.
As normal, when we got there we went through the floor we were on and let any faculty we saw know what we were doing. Eventually though the cleaning crew came in, and apparently called the chips and told them that there were terrorists in the building. This was pre-911, but they still took it seriously.
I was sitting on the hallway floor fixing an issue with my gun when they came in. I heard "PUT THE GUN DOWN NOW!" and looked up to see a cop who was *shaking* and pointing a real gun at me. That's the kind of moment you remember.
Needless to say, they were NOT happy about us being there, and we were terrified. They dragged us through the building and had us yell out to our friends who didn't know what was happening until everyone was accounted for.
Since then I've only played at Q-Zar.
*FRICKIN’ LASER BEAMS!!!*
*Lazer
Sharks
I was stuck at a birthday party for a kid that promised laser tag. Though I never got to play, I learned to never believe that same kid even when he promised that he had an advanced copy of Super Mario Bros. 3, whose story revolved around getting Wart to the zoo.
Seriously, what happened to Wart, anyway?
I mean, as kids, my friends and I were ecstatic to see Koopa return (with his 7 children, no less) as the boss of Super Mario Bros. 3. But, except for Super Mario Land 2, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros. 2, and (the original) Donkey Kong, Koopa has been the final boss of EVERY SINGLE GAME.
Come on, Nintendo, give someone else a chance! How about making Mouser the final enemy in a Mario game?
@@grantorino2325 I'd also be happy with the crab.
@@MrDeedsly
Ah, "Clawglip."
😂
Everybody had those lying ass friends as kids who'd lie for nothing. My friends used to always lie about stupid stuff like that he SWORE UP AND DOWN that he had Castle Grey Skull at his grandmas house and we NEVER saw it. Smh
@@supercalifragilistaphobic2146
"Pocket Power"?
Was that a magazine dedicated solely to Game Boy games?
🤔
Totally Zawesome video, Dan and Greg. Thanks for the memory revivals. "Players to stadium now. Players to stadium now," will be playing in my head for weeks at least...just like it did back in the '80s when I saw that commercial in the first place.
Dan, great video! As the Curator for the Laser Tag Museum located in Louisville, KY your video was almost 100% spot on. Brilliant job! The museum has a website with a timeline of the laser tag industry and hundreds of laser tag companies or products most people have forgotten. It is www.lasertagmuseum.com. Thank you for referencing us in your video when you displayed the legendary Black StarLyte Rifle. This is the only black rifle in the world as all the production models for the StarLyte Rifles were white. Thank you again!
Erik Guthrie I totally need to come there and see the fabled black starlyte pro
cool site mango
I live in Kentucky and had no idea there was a lazer tag museum in Louisville next time I am up there will have to check it out good info.
How long has there been a laser tag museum? I remember the Histrorical Arms Museum though.
@@MrThomaskirchner Held it back at tagfest in 2006?. It is a VERY heavy beast.
I still have my Lazer Tag set in the original box.
same!
I didn’t realize it was so short lived! Thanks for doing all that research Toy Galaxy men!
Laser challenge was a competitor to Lazer Tag. The V1, V2, and pro lines made by Toymax were very nice taggers, but quality went down hill when Jakk’s Pacific took it over. One thing in the laser challenge’s line favor, is that other than some special signals, all of the taggers were compatible with each other.
They forgot the LTX line between LTTO and LTAR though.
I remember owning this as a kid running around covering the sensor not to get hit. What a blast from the past thanks
its not Simulated...its Stimulated!!!! Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
THANK YOU!
Beat me to it! Yes!
Dammit you beat me to it too. Except I added a colorful metaphor and told a story about how I almost died playing LazerTag.
Beat me to it too.
he didn't say simulated, he said simalated.
Dan - I love your delivery and your ability to string together convoluted sentences in an articulate fashion. I can listen to your shows for hours. And have done so. Thank you.
I had so much fun with all my Lazer Tag toys! So glad you guys did this video! Plus how awesome were those commercials. Cheers, -J.O.
Too bad they didn't play the other commercial with players on ATVs vs. players on skateboards.
@Alex Socialreject I thought the same thing. Why a cartoon? The commercials were so "cool" looking. Closest we got to this in a kid show was Captain Power.
Wow that was a huge part of my childhood and early 20's. Surprising to me that's still an active brand.
I actually had both brands as well as a Captain Power set. Oddly enough all three sets could be used together and with the Captain Power toys. I have fond memories of lining all the sensors and CP toys up in a row and seeing show quickly I could take them all out. Looks wise I always preferred Lazer Tag probably because of the kick ass commercial you showed which I also remember fondly. Great video a two for one history lesson.
These historical look backs are absolutely wonderful. All my cousins got lazer tag in Christmas of 87, and I was left out. I got mine a year later and then the brand was dead. Sad! What a great toy.
That hurts!
Sega had a laser tag system called 'lock on' in the early 90's, twas awesome 6 of us had them and would play in the Forrest
A bunch of us had these as kids and they were amazing. Good memories getting together for some battles. Instill feel they performed miles better than any modern ones aside from the commercial units.
I wanted Lazer Tag, but I got Photon.
God, what a time it was. Greatest episode!
The last time I ever saw anything to do with laser (lazer?) tag was seeing a company called Q-Zar open in a shopping center around the early 2000s or so. Several years later they went out of business, (or at least the one location I knew about did), and I never heard anything about laser tag again. Thanks for posting another wonderful video full of nostalgia from my past! This channel is absolutely amazing!
I was 17, and got into a fistfight with a guy at a Q-zar because he pushed my then girlfriend against a wall to avoid being tagged by her........lol
Tim Hartley I do local lazer tag games in my area. One of my rules is no physical contact, “It’s lazer tag, not lazer fistfight”
That particular incident was the 3rd or 4th incident at that location, and after the actual fight, we stopped going there and went to another location and never had the single problem at the second location. We actually got onto a team and this location did Sunday Team Tournaments once a month and that was an absolute blast. I was so bummed out when they closed. There are still 2 places around Sacramento, and I have taken all 3 of my kids to both!
God I miss Q-Zar I grew up in Cali during the 90’s on Saturdays my dad would drop me off at Q-Zar with enough money for an all day pass. This fat lil Asian had a blast shooting laser guns and listening to techno music all day.
@@timandshannon03 yes, yes, but whatever happened to the love of your life, I mean your high school girlfriend? Surely laser/lazer tag, and all that pushing drama kept you guys together to this day???????
We loved playing Lazer Tag, but the game always ended with two dudes standing ten feet apart blasting each others chest as fast as they could
I still have my Worlds of Wonder manual for Lazertag. I poured over that all summer and had it just about memorized. I had every piece of equipment. Cap, helmet strap vests, thick silver vest, starlight, star sensors, star base and the rifle.
I can still remember the feeling of seeing those first Lazer Tag commercials on TV. I had just about all of the gear at some point, but the pinnacle was finally getting my hands on the helmet. Sadly, it didn't have the visor. I had the handbook and used to do all of the trials. I can remember me and a bunch of friends venturing out in frigid temps and playing on a football field, but it was so cold that the gear wasn't really working. Lazer Tag was a huge part of my adolescence. It was awesome.
Hated MILES gear. It hardly ever worked and sounded annoying beeps that wouldn't stop when you "died".
Haha indeed that damn MILES gear never worked!
Nope. Never worked. I was pumped too when I first laid eyes on it. I thought I was about to have some fun. Instead I just had to carry around more uncomfortable junk.
We had someone misplace theirs... hands across America just to find out the butter bar left it in his bag so he wouldn't lose it....
I was about to ask if anyone ever really had success with MILES gear. I swear the lazer tag as a kid worked better. Now simunitions, those hurt.
Damn
can’t wait for the Photon video / used to play in NJ
Just watched it. It was epic.
yup..I had that one.. not lazertag... which I did though :(
Me too haha
off Wildwood boardwalk, I remember it well.
I and two other friends of mine had the basic set and spent several weekends playing tag at night at one friends place. It was awesome! A few years later I disassembled the gun and sensor to see how they worked, was disappointed that there was no real laser inside.
OMG!! I remember begging my dad to take me to our local Photon arena! It was expensive to play a 15 minute game though, and the battery packs were ridiculously heavy! But it was still so much fun!
That was the tightest vest with the deepest V neck in the 80s. I wish i had still it to rock it today!!!
All the way from the 80s until How I Met Your Mother episodes in the 2010s.
God I remember Photon. Some of the best memories of my early teen years. It really felt like we were in a Star Wars movie.
Here in the UK had 'laser quest' centres that had team leagues, they were in the early 90s and seemed to disappear after 95, I used to love a game of LASER QUEST
I remember spending a lot of allowance money at q-zar back in the 90s.
I miss Q-ZAR
I vaguely remember Q-Zar from advertisements. Now I _know_ I wasn't going mad.
I'm sorry I just stayed posted up in the back of Aladdin's Castle on the Rampage machine Behind The House of the Dead 2 duel cabinet in an awkward corner where there was sticky nacho cheese carpet.
I peeked at my Christmas toys that year and my mom replaced my Lazer Tag with concrete bricks.
I used to have Lazer Tag guns but my friends were never interested when I asked to play and they were like “dude you’re 27 now grow up”.
Lol im 25 and i play competitive lazer tag. Do what you want and be free of societal pressures!
Loved lazer tag as a kid. Well, I still do. The matches I played with a group of guys when I was 14 could get a little intense as some of those guys were bonkers. All guns and sensors kicked around my parents attic for about 20 years until they moved and tossed everything. I felt some sadness over the news. I think some of it might have still worked.
1:10 - Light Amplification by *STIMULATED* Emission of Radiation, not simulated!
Neither Photon nor Lazer Tag or the Star Trek Phasers or any of those other electronic guns used real LASERs. They used infrared LEDs, just like TV remotes.
I love your channel Dan!
That 80's Lazer Tag commercial was amazing~
I went to our Photon arena when I was a kid. It was a full fledged experience. Everything was futuristic and spacey. People would be split into their teams, red and green, and go to separate rooms for training. They'd dress you in battery belts that weighed about 900 lbs, vest and oversized helmet. Then you'd go to the transporter or, whatever they called it, and beam your team to Planet Photon. A voice would countdown and you'd run into the blacklit arena. It was filled with ramps and towers in weird shapes with fog, lasers and searchlights.
It was so much better than what passes for laser tag arenas today.
It's now a discount furniture store
i'm surprised he didn't mention the tv series photon and the figures
YES!!!! That's why I love this channel!!!!
Oh, the memories this video brought back! I had the Starlight Pro rifle in white as a kid and I wish I still had it. It's selling in a set for $400 on ebay right now
Loved the laser arenas. I remember growing up the units were so heavy, but naturally as time moved on they became lighter. The arena was great fun and I kinda miss it.
I remember playing with that with my bros great fun it was 1986
this stirs a memory of going to Toy 'R Us back in the 80's with my Grandma and walking out with the (to me) big box that was the Photon set. mind you, no one i knew had a Photon to interact with but damned if i didn't want one anyway. i had a LazerTag pistol and sensor set as well, still do, box n' all. my impression is the same now as it was then, i prefer(ed) the LazerTag gear for its more stylish design and lack of cord from sensor to emitter. with no one to play either game with, i had a lot of imaginary shoot-em-ups and daydreamed scenarios.
I remember juggling with the choice between Lazer Tag and Photon. I eventually went with Photon because I wanted to be different from my friends who all were into Lazer Tag.
The end result of this decision?....
I had no one to play Photon with... but damn if that little Photon motorized drone wasn't neat.
but photon came with two guns, so you can get right to it with a friend. In the end, photon was really the better set, but lazer tag looked a lot cooler.
Your folks must have been rich! Did you have Castle Grayskull too?
I got a Laser Tag set for Christmas in 1987. One of the best presents ever.
The real issue with the original lazer tag was how friggin expensive it was. I recall hundreds of dollars for just a two player setup.
Lazer Tag, always. There used to be a Photon arena close to home which we hit a few times but dont know if it's still around.
Photon was a better game than Lazer Tag in my opinion. Mainly because you could register hits on the helmet. When I played Lazer Tag there were folks who who cover up the chest sensor with their arms. And of course if the weopons were real, all that would get you is damaged arms.
Just scored one in the box off ebay for $40. I'm getting back this piece of my childhood before this video brings the price up.
This was one of those toys I was always suspect over. Never played it but it even as a kid I doubted it was as much fun they made it out to be.
Oh man, I spent a lot of time as a kid playing laser tag in Starbase Omega at the Mall of America. I'm frequently glad you guys obsess over stuff from when I was growing up. :)
Hey, that's the Amstrad version of the Lazer Tag game there, far too colourful for the Commodore 64 version :)
The only C64 footage I could find was of the end credits but there was lots of Amstrad footage.
@@SecretGalaxyTV That sounds about right, you're best off saying "home computers" if there's nothing but Amstrad or Spectrum footage around, what I do!
Never was able to get either one as a kid. I always thought Photon was a knock off brand of Lazer Tag so I always wanted Lazer Tag over Photon.
Ditto
I always thought Photon was the knockoff, and it was ugly compared to the slick and smooth style of Lazer Tag.
I frequented the local Photon when it opened up-definitely became my favorite activity. My friends and I would also go to other similar places such as Lazer Zone or Q-Zar to check those out too, but Photon was my favorite. Some years later after it closed down, I became a member at Laser Quest for a couple years before I sort of gave it all up to the younger generation.
Jim's reviving interest in Photon for a lot of people lately.
Woooooo hooooooo LAZER TAG!!!!!!!
This isn't Photon! I came here for Photon, how can I enjoy Tom Hanks in BIG if your talking about "lazer tag". I will be writing a curtly worded letter to your manager. Good day sir.
Because “photon” is what lazer tag turned into. Didn’t you watch the video? Lol
Lazer Tag was the bomb, man. We played the hell out of that as kids. Had the star caps, the walkie-talkies, the helmet... always wanted the Pro rifle, but never got it. Pretty sure I've still got my Starlyte hanging around somewhere...
I played Photon at the facility in Dallas quite a bit as a kid. My dad would take me on the weekends because he likes to play. Perpetual passes and nearby fast food made for some really great memories. In fact, I still remember the smell of the fog and the sound effects from the arena.
Oh god, the text on the screen during the explanation of the laser acronym cracked me up
Photon? AWWW YEAH! LET THE DARKNESS GROW!
I was obsessed with this product when I was a kid, then my dad got my brother and I Photon for Chrismas and my heart sank. We did get next door neighbors who had better Photon accessories than us and we played with them a lot. However, someone left a Starlite blaster in my cul-de-sac and I finally had one despite it not working. Nevertheless, I loved that weapon when we role-played it as a Visitor blaster years later when WGN America replayed V. And any time Romulans entered the story. I got a laser tag set from my local Walgreens a while back labelled as a Sharper Image item. The concept lives on.
We played Lazer Tag in the town park at night. Fun times. My friend had the longer-range "rifle" as well, which came in white. We had to cover up all the LEDs on the guns and targets to keep from giving away our position. The helmets were easy targets so nobody used them. Wish I still had my gear. It was one of the coolest toys ever.
I'm the marketing director for the largest laser tag equipment suppleir, LaserTag.com by Zone, Laser Tag Museum, and worked for the International Laser Tag Association for several years. Nice video.
The laser tag museum is in Louisville, Kentucky at a facility called Lazer Blaze. Worth checking out if you're in the area. Erik Guthrie, owner of the museum, was featured in Storage Wars in May of 2017 and in the documentary, Another Man's Treasure: A Collector's Movie, which is free to watch on UA-cam.
NICE i used play at an Ultra Zone in Maryland. later moved over Darklight center (fun story about that) that opened closer to me good to hear Zone is still going. Ocean city Maryland had one of the best Q-zar centers with 2 massive 2 story arenas shame it went under its good location.
When are you guys going to talk about Dino Riders?
I found out about this line from a VHS tape of the cartoon pilot I got from a frickin pawn shop in the mid ninties. Never heard or saw or knew anything else about it until about 2005 when I remembered the name of the line while sitting at an internet enabled computer.
I had one of the of the Lazer Tag systems back in the late 80s. Back then I do remember a few local Lazer Tag arenas. It was one of two pretty busy spots for kids to go back then, that and roller skate arenas.
Then it was around the early 90s when people who grew up on Lazer Tag started picking up paint-balling, trading those infrared guns for paintball guns. Then around the late 90s to early ‘00s arcades started to go out of style with home consoles taking over. That put even more Lazer tag places out who were limping by with their arcade games.
Now sadly around here they’re is only one Lazer Tag place that is still open. It was a place that’s I used to frequent as a kid that a few years ago I took my young nephew to. It was like stepping back in a time machine. I was surprised that there were kids still going to it, mine you not as many as it’s hey-day but still about 15 other kids. From what I remember it is only open 3 days a week to cut down on cost but it was at least still in operation.
Fun fact) in the 90s was a famicom clone named Panther YF - 938. Lightgun was a copy of a Lazer tag gun, but without red line.
power lords next pls
"Tag, you're dead"
-police officer
This made my Thursday. I've been quoting Arthur Dent all day until now. "This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays"
During college in the late-90's we had Laser CHALLENGE sets! We'd mod the sets, painting the guns and sensors, and disabling the constant beeping sound that would give away where you were hiding, or if you were moving. We had 24 hour access to the Art building on campus, so every Thursday night was Laser Challenge night! We'd play until the sun came up, then went out for breakfast. That was good times!
I'd argue the usage of the word "tag", as no one was "it"....everyone had a target, everyone had a gun....Tag does sound better than deathmatch, though
"Battle Royale" Back in my day we called that mega deathmatch!
I had a Photon set (Photon also had a cartoon). I always thought it was the cheap ripoff of Lazer Tag (I was wrong)
What made it better?
I'm pretty sure that the Photon show was live action - and with some pretty ridiculous scenes. I only caught one part of an episode, and I caught glimpses of another on Retroblasting's channel. I remember the Lazer Tag cartoon more vividly. The oldest boy was the actual ancestor, otherwise there'd be a lot of incest.
@@AzyrealLal I don't think either was better than the other, I think Lazer tag had better marketing and accessories, though
Photon was live-action, Lazer Tag Academy was animated.
Oreo was a Hydrox ripoff, after all...
This just reminded me that I had a whole Lazer Tag Academy bed set as a kid - comforter, pillow cases, and sheets. Damn. 😏 The nostalgia hit me hard. Lol. Sidenote: Nope, parents didn't buy me the toys.
What I remember of the first redesign was changing the starlytes from black to white to be less "real gun"-like.
The revival version comboed gun and sensor into a wrist mounted gizmo with a pistol grip.
I collect laser tag sets like you collect toys. I have several examples from various sets over the years, including WOW Lazer Tag, Tiger's Lazer Tag variants, Photon, Laser Challenge, etc.
My current favorite aside from the original version is Recoil (which is now defunct) but incorporates a lot of great features unique to all other systems, along with some homebrew software support (Check out SimpleCoil for Android! lots of customization for gameplay! github.com/Dees-Troy/SimpleCoil/releases ). I got some more Recoil gear dirt cheap on closeout recently!
BTW, I'm definitely team Lazer Tag, in my opinion, the Design of the Worlds of Wonder gear is probably some of the slickest ever made, and some of the features such as integrated red dot sights and selectable range on the Starlyte, coupled with high quality coated lenses, made them truly accurate! The old Worlds of Wonder LT standard is still used in a lot of gear, both consumer and privately produced.
Lastly, the Lazer Tag rulebook by TSR is a must have; it really expanded the game and set good guidelines for setting up leagues and handicapping. You could say I'm an enthusiast.
I do have a Starcap in my collection, no Helmet though...
It's less a problem with the toy and more a systemic problem of police militarism.
16 trigger happy cops gave this a thumbs down so far. February 22, 2019.
No one seems to think this is important, but a lot of U.S. police departs use glocks as standard service pistols, glocks don't have a thumb safety, just a trigger safety, if you panic and pull on the trigger of a safe Beretta 92 as hard as you can, nothing happens, You panic and pull the trigger as hard as you can on a glock, it's going off. Sure, you can solve that problem with training, but you can solve just about any issue with weapon handling with enough training, makes more sense to just have a damn proper safety. Before anyone jumps on me here, I'm pro law and order, pro gun, pro safety, anti militarization of police, pro training.
@@Strawberry92fs Deciding wether or not to pull a gun on a child has nothing to do with what kind of safety is on the gun.
@@gavinerickson9392 But whether or not a cop negligently discharges their pistol into a child has everything to do with a proper safety. The U.S. Police Departments have systemic training issues that need to be dealt with, but incidents of cops shooting people they shouldn't have went up after switching to guns that didn't have manual safeties.
@@Strawberry92fs You're really missing the point. Tamir Rice was killed within 20 seconds of the police arriving, there was no confrontation, just a drive by murder. It is the job of the police to deescalate the situation, raising a gun to a child is not doing that.
I love the electronic sound of the starlight pistols when they were fired. So badass.
There's also Tazer Tag. Like regular school yard tag, but with a hand held Tazer. If you're "it," you run around and chase people with your Tazer until you "tag" someone. Then you drop the Tazer, and run.
You've gotta love the irony of Worlds of Wonder having the top selling toys of Christmas two years in a row (Teddy Ruxpin in 1985, and Lazer Tag in 1986), and being a part of the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System here in the US, then going out of business 3 years later.
I was a Photon kid in the '80s. We had a Photon arena here in Baltimore (Dundalk) and it was fascinating, with fog and lasers and ambient lighting with cool synth wave soundtrack.
Now the arena is a flea market. I miss the '80s...
My friends and I used to play Lazer Tag all over my college campus, we had a great time! Worlds of Wonder's biggest blunder was marketing the sets to small kids (you can see it in all the marketing stills in this video). The sets weren't cheap, not many parents would pay for the sets that the kids were likely to break. Had they done Red Bull style promos and targeted older teens to 20 somethings I think they wouldn't have gone bankrupt.
I had Lazer Tag, my cousin had Photon. We loved them both. My brother brother and I got the Star Wars Lazer Tag as Christmas gifts
One of the best xmas presents I ever received in 86. I was hooked on their commercials to!
My brother and I lived in the valley (Hawthorne) in Los Angeles when these came out. We had a pair of 'Lazer' guns, the silver vests and the ballcap version of the helmet. It was a great time with these shooting up and down apartment complexes, parking lots and alleys. We had a GREAT time with these. We never heard of Photon centers.
My gang and I all bought Lazer Tag sets at KBToys on the cheap and played steadily until the mid 90s. We would call the cops and tell them where we would be playing and only had to leave the grounds a few times in the six years we played. Our main spot was the ground around the civic auditorium, which was perfect for the game, but we also used schools and the local community college. We switched to Survivor Shot and played that until the early 2000s. For us the hobby didn’t die until the affordable emergence of paintball on the general scene, but to this day I still own enough sets of Survivor Shot to put a six man game together, and still have my Starlite Pro ready for a game of Lazer Tag.
I like how everyone in the commercial was in like their 20's and 30's, and the actual equipment sold fit like 7 year olds. I was 13 in '86, and the vest didn't fit me, nor did the cap or the helmet.
But maaaaaan did I love that rifle.
Yessss!!! I've been peculiarly nostalgic for this but could not even find the original stuff with Google. Thanks for this!
My eye is always drawn to that helmet in the background, and yet, I only now realize it's a Lazer Tag helmet.
Never was a Lazer Tag fan, but the nostalgia of it is pretty cool!
I remember getting Lazer tag for Christmas. Loved the sound the gun made when you shot it!
i remember playing laser tag at this local business. they had stealth missions where the lights and music were turned off. all of that ended when some kid ran into a wall and broke his arm
Great review! Lazer tag WAS the 80's! But, my god, a lot of police back then were too trigger-happy and definitely needed more training! Lazer tag guns look NOTHING like a real gun.
Unfortunately they still are.
@@greggv8 I concur.
When it came out, my father bought us a couple sets of Lazer Tag gear, and shortly after we got the vests and hats... (Which, admittedly, were nowhere near as cool as the helmet!) At the time we lived in a rural area and had massive front and back yards to play in... In the mid-'90s I lived in a town that every year had what they called a 'Town For Sale' where literally everyone would set up a yard sale...it was a great way to score realistic toy guns and other old toys and random cool stuff. One year I picked up five complete Lazer Tag sets from a nice old woman who just wanted to get it out of her basement... I paid like $2 for it. _Good times!_ (Wish I still had any of it!)
One of the coolest things about the Lazer Tag hardware was that the integrated 'scope' on the weapons had a _working red dot sight_ and, as I recall, the dot changed to a pinpoint when you switched the 'laser' from wide to narrow beam. I still love the sound they made when firing. Damn, that's nostalgic! The sensors themselves were cool, too. The arched 'Larson scanner' LEDs, and the constant 'heartbeat' ping sound they made, which sped up the closer you were to being eliminated...
I had 2 laser tag rifles, 1 pistol, 2 hats (cloth), sensors. To learn, today, that Photon (which also had a series of paperback novels), Lazer Tag and an innocent teenager suffered "death by cop" is just sad.