Laser Tag Museum Logo
    Laser Tag Museum Logo

    Laser Chaser

    Laser Chaser V1 pack and phaser (circa 1995) - donated by Cynthia Barca
    Laser Chaser V1 phaser - donnated by Cynthia Barca
    Laser Chaser V2 pack and phaser (circa 1999) - Donated by Pete Schwartz
    Laser Chaser V2 phaser - Donated by Pete Schwartz
    Laser Chaser remote - Donated by Cynthia Barca
    Laser Chaser battery charger - Donated by Cynthia Barca
    Laaser Chaser battery charging box - Donated by FUNWORKS!
    Laser Chaser downloader - Donated by FUNWORKS!
    Laser Chaser brochure (page 1) - trade show acquisition
    Laser Chaser brochure (page 2) - trade show acquisition
    Laser Chaser dongle - Donnated by FUNWORKS!
    Laser Chaser relay switch - Donated by FUNWORKS!

    Founded By: Andras Uhlyarik

    Originated: 1995 Date Closed: Approx. April 1, 2005- sold to LaserMaxx

    Number of Locations: 39 

    Personnel of Note:
    Julie Fawcett
    Andras Uhlyarik: President
    Craig Grimm: Technical Director 
    Monika Uhlyarik

    First Facility: Named LaserLand in Seattle, Washington

    Equipment Overview: According to a Laser Chaser advertisement: “The lightweight Laser Chaser vest features a high denier woven fabric for superior comfort, fit, and breathability. Under 5 pounds and fully adjustable, the Laser Chaser vest will fit both children and adults comfortably. The phaser shows you the time left in the game, remaining number of shots and lives, and will guide you through the game with voice commands.” The phaser design included two handles so as to require the player to operate using both hands.

    A number of innovations were implemented by Laser Chaser that continue to be used within the laser tag industry including smart card technology. Here is a bit about this feature as quoted from the Laser Chaser’s online sales literature (circa March 2004):

    “When a player pays for a game, they are issued a smart card.  This card is encoded with their name and personal game handicap.  The player can pick up any pack in the vesting room and insert the card.  The pack immediately radios back to the computer who is using it.  This eliminates confusing pack assignments in traditional laser tag systems.  The smart card can also be used as a membership card.  Player information is also stored on this card to track player history and game performance.  Another piece of information to be stored on the card is prepaid credits.  The card can then function as a debit card within the facility for video games and concessions.”

    A digital sales brochure downloaded from the Laser Chaser website on April 13, 2004 explains a bit more about this Smart Card Technology, including how it might be of benefit to an operator in reducing and labor and therefore saving the operator money.

    “If you have a member at the counter, he/she just has to insert his membership card (Smart Card) into the main card reader. His/her code name will immediately appear in the Alias box.  If the player is not a member, you can either select his code name from a drop-down menu, or if you wish, you can type it in.  The key is that if you want to completely eliminate the need for typing code names into the computer, you can.  For more information, please refer to the Player Booking section.  Streamlining the booking-in process is very important.  Decreasing labor hours it takes to operate the system means saving money.”

    In 2004 the functionality of this technology was rather distinctive. As quoted further from the Laser Chaser sales document downloaded on April 13, 2004:

    “Developing a completely software driven pack has further advantages. You can create a system where players do not have to remember their pack assignment (i.e. the code name Asteroid is assigned to Red 5). Having to remember pack assignment creates operational headaches. During the briefing/vesting process game marshals have to announce which pack number belongs to which code name or player. Excited players sometimes pick up the wrong pack and mess up the score cards.

    We came up with a solution to streamline this process. We use Smart Card technology to program the game plan and the player’s identity onto. The Smart Cards take the place of colored mission slips most operators use to identify which game a player is scheduled into. The player can take the card into the vesting room and insert it into ANY pack he/she wants to. There is an internal serial number in each pack. This way the computer knows that pack number 25 is being used by Asteroid in this game. The computer then stores the incoming data in a file that belongs to Asteroid.

    The other advanced feature that now becomes possible is the following. Asteroid’s pack (#25) breaks down in the middle of the game. The game marshal can now take Asteroid and pack 25 into the vesting room. Through a drop-down menu the marshal can program another Smart card with Asteroid’s game parameters. Asteroid can swipe it into any of the remaining packs in the vesting room. The new pack, let’s say pack #3, now will transmit the data into the same file the previous pack was transmitting into (Asteroid). This way the game is not ruined for this player and perhaps the others in the arena. Asteroid only lost a couple of minutes of game time.”

    More information about the smart card technology can be located through the Internet Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20040302083411/http://www.laserchaser.com/browse.php/frm_category=185 

    Andreas Uhlyarik, president of Laser Chaser, donated a sample membership card to the Laser Tag Museum collection following his resignation from Laser Chaser and the sale of the company to LaserMaxx in 2005.

    Historical Synopsis: Laser Chaser electronics were manufactured by Autolec based out of Sussex, UK. There was a common proprietary communication protocol and structure used that was owned by Martin Shoebridge. Laser Chaser appears to have been inspired by Pulsar, which appears to have been inspired by Laser Force (UK).