Laser tag
Laser tag is a combat game that uses special guns that shoot beams of light. Sensors that are usually head-mounted or vest-mounted record light strikes and eliminate a player after a certain number of "hits." And since there's no physical projectile being fired, laser tag doesn't subject players to pain like paintball does. The guns consist of a stock, trigger, battery pack and charger, laser and laser encoder.
Stock
The stock is the frame that holds all of the components of the gun together. If it is a rifle style, it must fit comfortably against the shoulder with the shooter's eye looking over the top of the barrel and with the shooter's index finger in a comfortable position to pull the trigger. Styles vary. Some guns look like military rifles and some have a more science-fiction appearance. Pistol-type guns must look like a real pistol and not be too heavy.
Trigger
Usually, triggers are simply levers that activate a switch that turns on the light beam. Because it is important to conserve battery power, sometimes the triggers are more complicated. Several simple mechanisms (some mechanical and some electrical) can ensure that a single trigger pull only operates the light beam for a predetermined amount of time. To make another shot, the trigger must be pulled again.
Battery Pack and Charger
The battery pack (and sometimes the charger) fit into the stock. This is one of the big reasons that rifle-style guns are more popular than pistol-style guns--they can hold more batteries. Typically the gun batteries also power the sensors through a connecting wire. In some arcades, the players wear vests that connect to both the sensors and the gun. The vest also holds the batteries, which makes pistol-type guns more feasible.
Laser
Some laser guns really shoot laser beams (laser pointers are used) and some shoot only infrared beams. Most shooters prefer lasers because you can see the beam, but stealth shooters prefer infrared. Lasers require more battery power than infrared projectors.
Laser Encoder
The laser (or infrared) beam is not just a beam of light. It also carries information. This is similar to the way that the infrared beam that comes out of your TV remote control is encoded with information. The information on your TV remote's beam codes for on/off, mute, last channel, etc. The beam coming from a laser tag gun can encode information such as which team you are on and if the shooter is "dead" or not. The gun contains a chip that encodes the signals.
Tags: battery power, guns more, infrared beam, light beam, look like
