History od Laser Tag

USA: George Carter III, while watching a battle scene in Star Wars, got an idea to create Photon - The Sport of the Next Century: the very idea of laser tag was born.

USA: Military laser engagement combat simulation system aimed at personnel's training, MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System), was approved by US Army.

USA: Inspired by Star Trek: The Motion Picture consumable laser tag toys - the so-called Star Trek Phasers - were produced by South Bend Toys company.

USA: George Carter III started research and development of Photon - the first commercial laser tag system in the world.

March: The first commercial laser tag site - Photon - was opened in Dallas, Texas, USA (at the picture: creator of laser tag George Carter III in a Photon maze). The Laser Tag Era began!

USA: Regular supplies of MILES combat simulation training system to US Army began.

June - The first Photon franchise is opened in Toronto. As they say, the price of franchise at that time could reach the level of 2,000,000 USD. At the picture: a player wearing Photon ammunition (which included vest, phasor, accu belt and helmet) in a typical futuristic Photon environment (or, arena).

March - The Photon concept was licensed to MCA: toy phasor sets went on market.

July - In a commercial showing arena play identical to Photon, Worlds of Wonder introduced their own laser tag toys and started their marketing under the Lazer Tag brand.

December - laser tag toys (both by Photon and Worlds of Wonder) became the number one Christmas present in the States. At the picture: StarVest by Worlds of Wonder.

USA: Photon was at its peak: seventy franchises has been sold and 45 were open or under construction. Over 2 million players had played Photon.

United Kingdom: Learning of the success of laser games, Phil Pickersgill, Simon James and Nick Brunt created Laser Quest Company - another laser tag manufacturer (at the picture: players wearing Laser Quest ammunition).

USA: The first fatal accident tied to laser tag occurred in Los Angeles - a police officer took the played by a teenager StarLyte Pro (Worlds of Wonder) phasor for a real gun and shot the kid to death.

Australia: Geoff Haselhurst developed Quasar system (which was later sold to Irish investors and was marketed worldwide under the Q-Zar brand).

January - Kelly Brothers Games Company developed new laser tag equipment - LaserForce (at the picture) - and opened their first site in Brisbane (Australia). This site is the longest running laser tag facility in the world which is still in operation to the present.

December - The first laser tag site by LaserTron, Inc. was opened in Buffalo (New York, USA). This is the longest running facility in the United States which is still in operation to this day.

USA: Photon was unable to secure financing and no longer was receiving franchising income; George Carter decided to sell Photon. The company centers, technical rights and equipment were sold to various entities. The parent Photon company was closed in good standing and no bankruptcy. At this, the opened Photon sites continued operations (the last one was closed in the beginning of the next century).

USA: Worlds of Wonder started bankruptcy procedures (the company was closed two years later, in 1991).

USA: Training Device Operational Requirements Document for new ground tactical laser engagement simlation system - MILES-2000 - is approved by US Army.

United States: In Denver (Colorado) Laser Storm, Inc. was founded and started marketing laser tag equipment of own production (under Laser Storm brand) and themed mazes for laser tag industry. At the picture: a player wearing Laser Storm ammunition.

United Kingdom: New laser tag manufacturer - DarkLight Development Ltd. - was founded and started marketing their laser tag system under the DarkLIght brand (at the picture: a player wearing DarkLight ammunition).

United States: After Worlds of Wonder gone bancrupt, the brand Lazer Tag was acquired by Shoot the Moon Company, which conducted some further developments of the system.

World: Mass marketing of Q-Zar system (at the picture) began; in the United Kingdom the system was still marketed under its original Quasar brand. Due to the implementation of bright and new (at that time) technical feautures, Q-Zar was getting more and more popular - in a year or so the total number of the sites operated that system came up to 275. Even now, in some countries the name "Q-Zar" is still synonymous to "Laser Tag".

Canada: Actual Reality was founded (at the picture).

USA: The first Q-Zar arena was opened in the States. To assist marketing, the head office of Q-Zar was moved to Dallas and was named Q-Zar USA, Inc. (at this, the manufacturing facility remained in Dublin, Ireland).

World: Q-Zar equipment was exported to USA, Canada, South America and Asia - the brand was booming.

October / United Kingdom - Veqtorian Limited presented in London their own laser tag product under the Veqtor brand.

June - Veqtor opened their first site in Guildford, Surrey (United Kingdom).

November - Veqtor Lite was presented in Miami (USA), the first product's trials being started in March in California.