Since its birth in 1979, laser tag has involved both indoor and outdoor styles of play, including simulations of
close quarter combat,
role play-style adventure games, or competitive sporting events including tactical configurations and precise game goals. In late 1970s and early 1980s, the
United States Army deployed a system using
lasers for
combat training. This
MILES system functioned like laser tag in that beams are "fired" into receivers that score hits. The first known toy to use infrared light and a corresponding sensor was manufactured and marketed in 1979 as the
Star Trek Electronic Phaser Guns set to accompany the release of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In 1982,
George Carter III began the process of designing an arena-based system for playing a scored version of the game, a possibility which had initially occurred to him in 1977 while watching the film
Star Wars. The grand opening for the first
Photon center was in
Dallas, Texas on 28 March 1984. Carter was honored by the International Laser Tag Association on 17 November 2005 for his contribution to the laser tag industry. The award is engraved "Presented to George A. Carter III in recognition for being the Inventor and Founder of the laser tag industry". In 1986, the first
Photon toys were sold, nearly simultaneously with the
Lazer Tag toys from
Worlds of Wonder and several other similar infrared and visible light-based toys.
Worlds of Wonder went out of business around 1988, and
Photon soon followed in 1989, as the fad of the games wore off. Today there are laser tag arenas all over the world bearing various names and brands, as well as a large variety of consumer equipment for home play and professional grade equipment for outdoor laser tag arenas and businesses. In March 2009, upon the
Winnenden school shooting, the German government announced that it would ban games such as laser tag and
paintball, claiming that they trivialize and encourage violence. It later retracted this assertion. ==Equipment and technology==