PHOTON@FINALCOM

Remember it? If you don't you missed one of the greatest amusements you could partake. They used to be all over the country, now, there is only NONE, (well, there is XP Lasersport who happens to USE Photon designs and equipment, so that kind of counts..) This page is a retro-look at what I remember Photon as, followed by my experience when I finally made it to Laurel, MD to play the last (most recent) "official" Photon in existence. You'll see why it was and still is the finest lasertag system in the world. It's not just a lasertag game, it's a lasersport.

What was it? (Cleveland,Oh. 1986)

NOTE: (This is the way I remember my first time playing at the Photon Lasertag center on Hauserman road in Parma, Ohio. (A suburb of Cleveland.) This was an ALPHA field with the early versions of the equipment and operating systems.)

You walk up a staircase and look out at what appears to be a futuristic world, where there is smoke, and sound, and lights, and everywhere people dressed in futuristic suits and are firing guns at each other, and dodging, and running. You put a token in a small station in front of you. You can fire upon the players, and get your shooting skills honed. The gun is weighted nicely, and you only need one hand to fire it. The sound track to the game adds excitement. It's all synchronized, like a movie. The lights, the sounds, you simply can't avoid it, you've got to play!

You go to the front desk. The staff is more than happy to answer. They are dressed in Photon wear, and some have symbols on their arms which you guess is status as to how well they have played. They help you get a Photon picture I.D. You think about a silly pose for the picture, but you're going to have the card for the entire year.

You're pointed towards a line of people that look to have played the game many times. Many of these people are wearing surgical caps. You have been given one. You see it's just a precaution for the helmet required as part of the Photon equipment. You watch the real time scoring on a large monitor. One or two players seem to be cleaning up the rest of the teams. You hope you'll be so good.

In line you talk to other players intetested that it's your first time. You have no idea that you'll be "easy meat" to them. A "newbie." You'll learn that term later, but you won't mind. Slowly they get to your group.

You strap on a heavy pack of equipment. It starts with a large battery belt which you tighten quite a bit. It's the helmet and the suit itself that make you thrilled to be there. A large plug is placed in the battery pack and held in place with a rubber strap. You await the game commander's instructions. Most of the players are talking and you're one of the few listening as he goes over instructions for your equipment. A motorcross sound (like a motorcycle video game from the early eighties) continues over and over in your head. Then you fire your gun. A distinct sound confirms each time you squeeze the trigger. Blinking LED lights on the gun attempt to show your aim. You ignore those, just hoping to hit whomever you can.

You are lead out into the futuristic field, and taken over to one side under some odd-shaped arcitecture. The game commanders tell you to wait for the countdown and then have at it. You know one of the goals in the game is to race back to the other side of the field and score on the other color base. The room lights change and a futuristic custom sound track begins. A woman says very sumptuously, "Welcome Photon Warriors, commence strategic maneuvers on audible command signal: 5...4...3...2...1.." That's your cue. Of course, this is your first time playing so you immediately try to score 200 points by shooting at the opponent's base, and you are being shot trying. You can hear the buzz in you helmet warning you that you have been hit. That "zing" of your gun finally delivers a hit for you. A rush overtakes you. This is a life or death situation you are playing in, it's no ordinary "game."

Here you must run, dodge, hide. At one point score matters not. It's your first and damn it, you are going to score on that base. After about 3 minutes in the game, you finally get three consecutive shots into that base without being hit yourself. 200 points you'll only see after the game when you look at your score. You now go on with the game. The rest is cake. You explore the field as you try not to be shot.

Most impressive are "intruder alerts". The thumping sound track announces you are under attack, as more fog comes for cover under scanning blue spotlights. This happens twice, and you hide each time, not knowing if you're about to be blasted. Finally, you remember hearing "Congratulations Photon warriors, you have successfully completed your strategic manuver. Disperse to exit...disperse to exit..."

Those words ring in your head as you pull off your equipment and walk down the exit lane on your way to the television monitor to see how you did. Next to last. You laugh, yet your friends are raving about how much of a great experience it was. You hit the snack bar for a red licorice jump rope, then return to the line. You'll play again today, and tell everyone you know about this killer new experience open over dey near the Brown's training facility.

That was what I experienced when I played Photon the first time back on 12/27/86 Of course, I was poor, and became only a regular on weekends when they ran specials, but there was something else about Photon. It was almost a place to relax and unwind. A number of times I'd drive there just to watch maneuvers and shoot people from the observation deck. If you've played the other systems, (unless it was built in an old Photon the owners decided to keep together like LaserBlaze in Louisville, Ky.) You can't watch a game happening. This is sorely missed.

What about the NEW crop of lasertag systems?

I've only tried three systems thus far, and they all seemed to miss what makes Photon so different. An EXPERIENCE. The systems I've tried are mere laser games played in a "haunted house" atmosphere. Walls, fluorescent paint, cheap sound system firing a generic soundtrack..and lasertag. Whoopee.

Photon is all about being on "Planet Photon", and inside the game. You have a lasertag expierience rather than mindlessly shooting anything that moves. First of all, everything was done in aircraft grey carpet. There were no a bare plywood walls sprayed with flourescent paint. Even the floor was carpeted. (Rug burns were an unwelcome part of the game, but part of the experience nonetheless. I never played in shorts, no matter how hot it was outside.)

When the game started, Photon literally became "a synchronized light and music show." You've seen amusement parks with synchro sound track/shows, Old Photons had it. In each game, the lights, the fog, the music all pulsed in rhythm with each other. You could watch Photon games from the observation deck and enjoy just THAT. On the field however, it was a rather menacing feeling, and it made the game more like impending doom. The sound system itself had a deep rumbling base. Even when you were deep within the catacombs of the field, you could FEEL the sound track throbbing, warning that the game will be over sooner than you think, so you better get out there and get some points !

The lighting effects were amazing. Rather than a few black lights making fluorescent paint glow, there were spotlights that moved, pulsing props on the field that stopped blinking and darkened during intruder alerts. The field was constantly being lighted in different ways. You felt if you went onto the open part, surely a spotlight would fall on you, and you'd be executed.

Granted an imagination helped with all of this. It may seem silly to players of other laser games who would rather shoot-em-up and get the high score. To me, PLAYING Photon was never as big a rush as EXPERIENCING Photon. You can't get that from most the systems out there today.

If Photon is so great, how come they all went out of business?

It's a very long complicated story. Simply stated, the bucks were made. So many things happened to Photon in the late eighties it's hard to say why caused the centers to all close. Many owners made their money, and decided not to spend anything else on their locations, letting them go into the ground, then writing them off. The main office of Photon was notorious for price gouging the equipment. One example I've heard is, during those "intruder alerts" when the blue lights were chasing the field, lasers were also supposed to be scoring on any or all in their path. However, this was a Photon add-on, and it was VERY expensive. For the small thrill added to the game, the expense wasn't worth it to owners on a shoestring. (Nor was it crucial to the game.) As far as I know, only two Photons had that feature.

The nail came when the main Photon home office folded up. The remaining centers had to scramble to buy parts from other closed centers, and keep fixing badly battered systems. Parts got too expensive. Many centers were purchased by groups of dedicated players, just trying to keep their favorite sport alive. (Some of the owners of the most recent Photon venture, had a stake in the Baltimore Photon, which was one of the last of the original centers to close.)

Of course, this really is only my second hand view of the NUMBER of problems that each individual center had. I still don't know the full story of my beloved Cleveland arena shut down. I have heard many things, but it all comes down to money going fast, customers coming slow.

HOPE?

Notice that there are now at least a dozen new companies offering laser tag arenas/equipment. Take a look at them all HERE. Why the renewed interest in something that crashed? Photon and lasertag was ahead of it's time! What happened to get everyone excited about laser games again? DOOM! QUAKE! Walking around a maze with a gun shooting things. Gee, who the hell wouldn't want to experience that in real life? Hence, laser games start to grow again.

If you're playing lasertag to be the high scorer in a game, okay, fine, maybe Photon isn't your cup of tea. However, if you're playing to wipe out your opponents, and help your team emerge victorious in yet another successful maneuver, Photon was about the most exciting thing you can find.

Will Photon spread across the country again?

It has the potential? It could? I sure would like to say yes to those questions, but the equipment is now the very drawback I can see stalling the concept. It needs an update. At the Laurel Photon when I played, my biggest complaint was the condition of the equipment. (A small complaint for someone who loves the game!) I look at it from the new lasertag player's standpoint. Ten year old equipment is kind of marginal. If someone produced a storied update to Photon gear, and kept the helmets and playing essentials, I'm sure new lasertag players would find it superior. HOWEVER , I say again it's the experience that matters most! Photon Laurel had some exciting new things improving on the game. The new computer system ran games smoothly. The player cue system eliminated the need to wait in line. The visible lasers update the game to match the others. (Photon invented this before their first demise, the other systems made it standard.) Combine the new elements with with the helmets, the sound tracks, the fields, the effects, the observation deck, phaser stations, it's unlike any other! In my earlier version of this website, I said the Photon in Laurel had a big advantage: they learned from the mistakes of the past. BOY WAS I WRONG! Somehow the management blew it again! The store closed abruptly in the summer of 1998. After a lot of insider fighting on the Alt.Sport.Photon newsgroup, I still don't know the real reason Photon died again. At least I got the chance to play again after a eleven year hiatus. NEXT?

That was Photon Laurel, it's now a dry cleaners, but the field behind the storefront was supposedly in tact. There was a sliver of hope someone will re-open the field with a different store front, and we waited, LET THERE BE LIGHT!

XP LASERSPORT! (Ex-Photon, get it?) HAS OPENED! Because of ownership issues, the Photon name cannot be used, but the equipment and everything else CAN! The first reports are that the place has improved the old Laurel field and has added the trademark "Alien Towers" that you saw the most when looking at Photon literature from the 80's. I looked at the latest version of the website and I do believe I see molecular lights? (Another Photon standard.) When I get to XP, I'll make my pics available. Apparently they have enlarged the observation deck and changed the field to make it more playable! Check the new website HERE!

R.I.P. Photon Laurel 96-98 (But XP is open a few doors down!!!)

OTHER SITES DEDICATED TO PHOTON:

First off, I used to have a link to Banz's Columbus Center website, and indeed way back when I got the net, his was the first I located about Photon and the one that informed me about Laurel opening up. I guess he took the page down, but I thank him for re-igniting the Photon fire.

A Photon website from Lord Sloth. One of the few still in existance! Manuver #1

The creators of Photon Laurel are back... Manuver #2

OR: GO BACK to Finalcom for stuff I'm not as passionate about. DAMN I LOVE PHOTON!

10/22/03 Revision Revision Say again!