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Fog-choked blacklight mazes where you strapped into a chunky plastic vest, grabbed a blaster, and tagged opponents in a neon-soaked techno dreamscape. Laser tag arenas were birthday-party bedlam — loud, disorienting, and absolutely thrilling.
For a few extra dollars on picture day, your school portrait could look like you were being teleported through a neon grid. The criss-crossing teal-and-pink 'laser' backdrop turned late-'80s and '90s class photos into sci-fi album covers — begged for by kids, paid for by sighing parents, treasured forever.
Pencils that didn't look like wood. Created by Ken Cooper at Empire Berol, Yikes! Pencils hit back-to-school 1993 in neon colors, wild patterns, and clashing dyes that made your standard wooden No. 2 look boring by comparison. They were a lunchbox status symbol and the kind of thing you'd trade or lose and actually care about.