Lasertag Live Action Roleplaying
Technical
 
Lasertag, as played by myself in the UK, is a Live-Action-Role-Play combat system based around a set of commercially produced toy guns and sensors that used to be made by a company called 'Worlds of Wonder' (WoW) around 1986-1988. The company went bust about 10 years ago after making some 4 million pieces of Laser Tag (TM) equipment and we continue to play today with what equipment we can find or build for ourselves.

Doug Ross's Pulse Rifle Tag Rifle line-art © Doug Ross 1998

I primarily play genre-based science-fiction live role play games (such as Aliens / Predators, Star Wars, Star Trek, Space Above & Beyond, etc.), however I have also played a very enjoyable Wild-West game (with suitably short range pistols) and a 1920's gangster game using the same system. I find night-time Aliens games to be particularly atmospheric, as you jump at every shadow that moves.

Predators and Aliens Photo Opportunity Predator/Alien photo © David Harvey
The guns fire a totally safe beam of invisible infra-red light at an electronic sensor which beeps at you when it has been hit, using similar technology to a TV remote controller.
They are normally also fitted with a muzzle-flash LED or other visible light device and a loudspeaker so you can see and hear them when they fire. They can be made to produce many different sounds, ranging from simple 'bang' and 'kerpow' noises to futuristic laser 'zaaap' sounds.


Dave Bodger takes aim

The Starsensor can record a total of 6 hits before it 'dies' and you are out of the game. Game rules can extend this by using Medic characters (healers) and can reduce it by only giving a limited number of "hits" which you can increase by wearing physical representations of helmets and other body armour. Dependant on the rules, some short-term increases or faster recovery rates can sometimes be got from combat drugs (often represented by small sweets)

It has none of the electronic sophistication of the arena-based 'laser' tag games such as Quasar (Qzar), Laser Quest, UltraZone, etc. which would be difficult to use outdoors due to their reliance on big base computers to do the scoring; but it is easy to use and cheap to play outdoors and, with modifications, over great distances. Because of this, the system is ideally suited to LARP use

Old WoW Starsensor and new SmartGun circuit



In its most basic form it is a simple automatic hit counter, however home-grown versions of the equipment can have extra game-orientated features built in. Such as ammo-counters and magazine changing for the guns, armour and regenerative shields for the sensors.

Doug Ross's Terminator Gun
I am based in the South of England and many 'taggers' here build their own guns, costumes and role-play props. Home-built guns with 200 meters range are common here in the UK.

Help from interested techies is always in demand at lasertag LARP clubs and there is no limit to the range of weird and wonderful electronic props that have been built for games over the years.
Imagine designing and building gauss guns, booby traps, rocket launchers, ion cannon, robots, monster claws, force fields, perimeter defences, remote control devices and anything else you can think up or imitate safely.

Oh, and if your preference is for the technical things in life, it makes it real easy to slip into character when there are genuine in-game tech challenges.....

Anyone for the bomb disposal corps ? - new heroes sought daily !

Dave Bodger
Warlords