Laser Tag History The ILTA will be developing a detailed history of the laser tag industry when it launches a website dedicated to that subject. However, the ILTA gets inquiries from time to time regarding who created laser tag.
The answer is very straightforward: George A. Carter III. 
George opened the first commercial laser tag business on March 24 1984. The poster announcing the grand opening of the first "Photon" is in the laser tag museum in the Photon display case. In a personal interview with George Carter, George reiterated the concept for the laser tag game while watching the famous scene of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker fighting their way across the deck of the Death Star to reach the Millennium Falcon. George thought it would be cool if people could play with ray guns in a new sport of the century. The idea of Photon was born!
In 1986, the United States Patent Office issued a patent to George Carter and James Dooley for the creation of Photon Laser Tag. The patent number is 4,695,058 and was granted on January 28, 1986.
Photon started to franchise their business model and over time nearly 70 franchise locations were sold. When the economy started to suffer a recession in 1987, the large and expensive Photon locations became an unsustainable model. George Carter sold his interest to an outside investment group.
The laser tag industry hobbled and floundered until 1992 when it started to enjoy a resurgence. Now today, there are nearly 2000 laser tag locations worldwide.
In 2010, a claim was made that laser tag was created by Lee Weinstein. In a newspaper article, Lee Weinstein claims to have open before Photon. Lee's concept was called Star Laser Force. There has been no documentation that Star Laser Force opened to the general public before the Photon in Dallas. There is a wealth of proof of the claim of Photon but there was no proof has been presented as to the opening date of Star Laser Force.
On June 17, 2011 the ILTA received a copy of the Certificate of Occupancy for Star Laser Force located at 5810 South Rice Road, Houston, TX. The CoA was issued on April 16, 1985. Certificate of Occupancy are only issued when a building has met all the building codes applicable and only then may it open to allow members of the public to enter. Since Photon Dallas opened March 24, 1984, clearly the claim of Star Laser Force having predated Photon is impossible and is now provable that Photon Dallas was the first commercial laser tag system to exist.
The difference between the two laser tag systems is (1) Photon used a reverse infra-red system for pack communication and Star Laser Force used what is now the industry standard forward infra-red communication and (2) Photon was the first commercial laser tag system that tracked the player's score through a computerized system.
The patent for the technology used by Star Laser Force was sold to World's of Wonder which then enjoyed some mild success in the home laser tag market under the brand name "Lazer Tag" which was later bought by ILTA Member Hasbro.
The laser tag industry, like any industry that is over a quarter century old, has a interesting and storied development. The ILTA will be developing an entire website dedicated to showcasing the industry and how it has developed complete with never before seen documents, emails, plans, drawings and much more. Look for http://www.lasertagmuseum.com to be online near the end of Spring 2012.
