Laser tag glossary
The terms you meet when choosing laser tag equipment, setting up games or planning a venue, in plain English. Each entry links to the page that covers it in depth.
- Additional device
- Any game device beyond the players’ kits: control points, flags, first aid kits, bombs, mines, grenades, targets and remotes. Additional devices turn a team battle into a scenario with objectives. More
- ALPHALINK
- The data protocol used by 11th-generation Alphatag equipment, in place of the MilesTag 2-based protocol of earlier generations. More
- Alphatag
- The 11th electronics generation of our equipment. It links up to seven in-game devices to each player with Smart NFC, keeps online and offline statistics and uses the ALPHALINK protocol. More
- Alphatag Arena
- A wireless indoor laser tag system in which the blaster and the vest talk over Wi-Fi, so there is no cable between them. It runs more than 20 built-in scenarios from AlphaTag Server. More
- Anti-cheat
- Rules built into the equipment that stop common tricks, for example treating a switched-off headband as a virtual death and forcing a reload, or disabling a gun that is fired from behind cover. More
- Blaster
- A laser tag gun designed for indoor arenas rather than for realism: compact, with bumpers, a display readable in the dark and team lighting. More
- Capture the flag
- A game mode in which a team must take the enemy flag and bring it back to its own base. Electronic versions use a digital flag that registers who carries it. More
- Changeover
- The time between two games spent briefing the next group, handing out and fitting kits and resetting devices. Changeover length limits how many games a venue can run per hour. More
- Configurator
- Software that writes game settings, such as health, ammunition, damage, team colours, characters and scenarios, to every game set, and reads back statistics. More
- Control point
- A game device that teams capture and hold by shooting it; holding time or capture decides the round. More
- Damage
- How much health a single hit removes. In MilesTag-based equipment damage is a four-bit code in the shot packet with 16 values from 1 to 100 units. More
- Data protocol
- The format of the infrared message a tagger sends: who fired, for which team and with what damage, plus control commands such as respawn, pause or full ammo. More
- Deathmatch (team deathmatch)
- The base laser tag game mode: two or more teams score hits on each other and respawn at their base until time runs out. More
- Digital flag
- An electronic flag that players capture by shooting it at close range. It tracks who carries it and can run several other objective scenarios. More
- Electronics generation
- A version of the electronics inside the taggers, sensors and devices. Equipment of one generation is designed to work together; mixing generations needs a compatibility check or an upgrade. More
- Eye-safe optics
- Optical systems whose infrared emitter has been tested and certified as safe for the eyes. Our Prism and Parallax optics have such certificates. More
- First aid kit (medkit)
- A game device that restores a player’s health, usually placed at a team base so eliminated players can return to the game. More
- FOKUS optics
- An adjustable optical system whose hit spot can be aligned on two axes to a specific shooter, about 22 cm at 10 m, for competition and phygital sport. More
- Game set (kit)
- The equipment one player uses: a tagger and a hit sensor (headband or vest). Venues count their fleet in kits. More
- Grenade
- A thrown game device that hits every player within its radius with an infrared pulse when it goes off. More
- Headband
- A hit sensor worn on the head, light and quick to put on, common in outdoor laser tag. Sensors around the band register hits from any direction. More
- Hit sensor
- A receiver that detects the coded infrared shot and records the hit: worn as a headband or vest, or built into a tagger or game device. More
- Hit spot
- The size of the infrared beam at a given distance. A wide hit spot is forgiving; a narrow one rewards accurate aiming. More
- Indoor laser tag
- Laser tag in a fixed arena, often dark, with walls, obstacles and lighting effects; equipment is built for close quarters and is often sold by the number of players. More
- Inflatable bunker (figure)
- Inflatable cover used to build a laser tag field on open ground or indoors and packed away after the game. More
- Infrared (IR) shot
- The short coded burst of infrared light a tagger sends when the trigger is pulled. Laser tag equipment uses infrared light, not a laser beam, to carry the shot. More
- Instructor
- The staff member who briefs players on safety, explains the scenario, runs the remote and keeps a game fair and moving. More
- MilesTag
- A laser tag data protocol family (MilesTag II / MILES2). Equipment that shares the protocol can work alongside equipment from other makers that use it. More
- Mine
- A game device that hits players within its radius, triggered by movement, by a shot or remotely, used for ambush scenarios. More
- Mobile laser tag
- A business model in which the operator brings the equipment to the customer, for parties, schools, company days and festivals, instead of running a fixed venue. More
- Optics (optical system)
- The lens assembly in front of the infrared emitter that shapes the beam, setting range and hit-spot size. More
- Outdoor laser tag
- Laser tag on open ground, in woods or on a prepared field, with long-range taggers, headbands, scenario devices and natural or inflatable cover. More
- Parallax optics
- A compact optical system shaped like a flash hider that concentrates the infrared spot. Our figures are 62% more effective range and 3.2 times the accuracy of the older optics. More
- Payback period
- How many months of profit it takes to recover the equipment and set-up cost: cost divided by monthly revenue minus monthly running costs. More
- Phygital sport
- A format that combines an esports round with a real round on the field, with the same teams, such as tactical shooting biathlon. More
- Prism optics
- Our proven, certified optical system styled like a suppressor, common in rental fleets. More
- Remote (instructor remote)
- A handheld device that sends infrared commands to game sets: start, pause, end, respawn, change team or settings, without stopping the game. More
- Respawn
- Bringing an eliminated player back into the game, usually at a team base or a first aid kit. More
- Scenario
- A set of game rules with an objective, such as capture the flag, hold the point or defuse the bomb, often run with game devices and preset settings. More
- Shot power
- The strength of the infrared shot. On our 9th generation it can be set from 1 to 100% from the remote for indoor and night games. More
- Smart NFC
- Near-field pairing used by Alphatag equipment to link a player’s devices to their game set. More
- Smart RGB
- Our 9th electronics generation, built around the Smart RGB headband with colour-changing, multi-zone sensors. More
- Tagger
- A laser tag gun: the device that sends the coded infrared shot. Outdoor taggers are often shaped like real firearms; indoor ones are usually called blasters. More
- Throughput
- How many players a venue can host per hour, set by game length, changeover time and the number of kits in use. More
- Trade-in (upgrade)
- Sending older game sets to have current electronics fitted instead of buying new sets. More
- Utilisation
- The share of available player places that are actually booked, used to estimate revenue from capacity. More
- Vest
- A hit sensor worn on the body, giving a bigger, more visible target; common in indoor arenas. More
- X-Generation
- Our 10th electronics generation, which added online game statistics over Wi-Fi through the X-Core module. More