This weeks vintage toy is the game Lazer Tag! That’s right Lazer Tag, the pursuit game featuring a light-gun and a “Starsensor” target.

It was X-mas 1986 and my brother and I got this wild thing that after the batteries were installed we would strap on the target’s harness and shoot at each other! What a great way to get out aggression!
As in the photo’s the gun was a futuristic hand weapon with a sight at the top built into the body.  By pulling the trigger half-way a red dot would appear in the center.  There was of course the trigger–that was far from being rapid-fire. When the trigger was pulled there was a “pule” sound that generated from the internal speaker and if the beam hit the target the lights would blink and a tone would sound. After three shots you were “dead!” The “death” was signaled by a loud musical tone and the lights above the red target in the center would be lit up.

Lazer Tag was created by Worlds of Wonder which went up against the “Photon” brand. There was also a TV show for one season in 1987-88 that was a cartoon about “kids” in an academy. Called “Lazer Tag Academy!”

Also available was an outfit which consisted of a silver vest-like jacket where the Starsensor could be attached to the center by Velcro. There was also a silver helmet.

Later on my brother got a floor target that offered different games where it would shoot at you while you had to shoot at it, I tend to remember that when you, the player was out in the open; the floor target would wipe you out pretty quickly.

Very fun for it’s time and still being used in a different environment today. There are some indoor gaming centers that have a version of Lazer Tag and are a lot of fun–especially playing in the dark.

Later…

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