| Star Laser Force | |
| |
| Years active | 1985 - 1986/7? |
| Number of games | 10-12 |
| Located | U. S. A. |
| Status | Closed |
Background[]
Star Laser Force was one of the very first laser tag games ever, being third in the world (after the first Photon in Dallas, Texas, and Laser Zone in Chicago, Illinois). It was founded by Bill Lewis with Lee Weinstein serving as the technical engineer, creating the Force uniforms. It opened in April, 1985.
During a game, players had seven minutes to run around in a darkened maze and, armed with a uniform of a chest piece, helmet and interconnecting laser gun, shoot as many enemy players as possible. The arena featured a jail, a viewing area (the latter of which had a lit up mural of Saturn, resembling a space ship viewscreen), a removable area that could fit one person inside of it, protecting them from hits/offered a good defensive point and a reactor on top of a structure that players could enter and exit, although their equipment would usually detect the flashing light from the reactor and a "hit" would result, increasing the player's score (as being shot from an enemy player or taking a hit from the reactor light would increase their score by 10 points, which it was the players' goal to have as low of a score as possible during a game).
Games originally cost $3.00 with membership, along with a membership card costing a one time time fee of $3.50, although game prices were later reduced.
One of the regulars of the game’s father was involved with the Worlds of Wonder toy company, who bought out the Star Laser Force patent in order to release their own home brand of Laser Tag, who then closed down Star Laser Force.
The arena was located at 5810 South Rice Avenue in Houston, Texas. It started off with one video game at a time in its waiting room (a Centipede, then later a Gauntlet and Space War), which expanded to about a dozen games later.
The arcade/known games[]
The games ran on quarters.
- Bomb Jack
- Centipede
- Gauntlet
- Space War
- Others
This arcade was featured in January, 2020.