Laser Tag Arenas

Laser tag in arenas began in 1984 when George Carter III opened the first Photon center in Dallas on March 28, inspired by Star Wars after seeing it in 1977. The technology spread quickly: Photon released home toys in 1986, and Worlds of Wonder — the Teddy Ruxpin empire — launched their own Lazer Tag toys the same year. But the fad crested fast. Worlds of Wonder went under around 1988, and the Photon centers closed by 1989.

The 90s brought a chain-driven revival. Q-Zar, created by Geoff Haselhurst in Perth, Australia in 1987 (originally called Quasar — a name that persisted in the UK and Ireland), was sold to Irish investors in 1991 and opened a North American arm, Q-ZAR International, based in Dallas. By mid-1995, Q-Zar had roughly 250 locations worldwide and even listed on NASDAQ in 1996, though it filed for bankruptcy on November 5, 1997. Across the Atlantic, Laser Quest — founded in Manchester, England in 1989 — reached North America in 1993 and operated about 180 locations worldwide by mid-1995. It shuttered its North American operations in 2020 during the pandemic but still runs in the UK.

A snapshot from 1995 captures the heyday: a 12-minute game cost $6, and new one-off laser tag arenas were constantly opening and folding in strip malls nationwide. The game itself was straightforward and savage — teams competed to tag opponents and zap the enemy base. The visceral memory persists: the fog so thick you could barely see your own hands, the weight of the blaster, the panic of someone emerging from the haze.