History of Outdoor Laser Tag

“Lazer Tag” was a product created in 1986 by Worlds of Wonder. Don Kingsborough, the WoW founder, built on his success in the mid 1980s with Teddy Ruxpin, a story reading bear.

Playing outdoors with this Lazer Tag equipment, players shot sensors worn by other players to “tag” them. If you’re tagged a certain number of times, you’re out.

The Worlds of Wonder Lazer Tag equipment uses a 57.6 kHz carrier frequency modulated with a 1.8 kHz signal.

Worlds of Wonder ceased production of its Lazer Tag equipment when it went out of business in 1988.

But the invention spawned a thriving hobby market for second-hand guns. The hobbyists were teens and adults keen to use the gear for live action role plays (known as LARPs). These LARPs often simulated military training exercises, such as patrolling, reconnaissance, or capture a base.

And, the term “laser tag” remained to be used to describe many games of the same kind.

Ten years later, Tiger Electronics licensed the Lazer Tag brand and began producing its own Lazer Tag equipment. Tiger Toys, picked up the license to use the Lazer Tag logo and produce Lazer Tag guns. Unfortunately these new guns were not backwardly compatible.

Other companies started producing tag systems as well. For instance, ToyMax’s Laser Challenge line, Playmates/Sega Lock-On, and Tomy’s Electronic Survivor Shot, etc.

These, however, these mass produced products were designed for use by children rather than for gamers. A variety of commercial outdoor laser tag manufacturers, such as Battlefield Sports and Pulse Ranger, sprung up in the late 1990s. Since then there have been several copy-cats that have come and gone.

This new breed of laser skirmish equipment focused on providing equipment to suit running LARPs for team building activities or running scenarios like a live video game.

So whether you are old enough to remember the original toy or simply must have the latest innovation, outdoor lasertag is a lot of fun.