Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011
Star Trek Electronic Phasers
Another space-age cultural juggernaut to leave its sci-fi mark on the toy industry was TV's Star Trek, a futuristic, gadget-heavy series that left toymakers drooling at the possibilities. Though the TV series first appeared in the 1960s, it wasn't until 1979 that the first "working" Star Trek Electronic Phasers were released, accompanied by instructions on how to play a taglike game by using the red "laser" inside the gun: Hit a piece of paper taped to your opponent's shirt front with your laser and declare that player out of the game. Sound familiar? It later became known as laser tag.