Rain, rain go away
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
April 13, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 131
(USPS 650-640)
Kansas House, Senate recess
By CHRISTOPHER HINES Staff writer
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The state Legislature took a two and a half week recess Friday without finishing some of its homework, including several bills concerning money and programs for the University of Kansas.
“This year is exceptional in that so many bills are in conference and that so many issues are unresolved,” said State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence. “This is becoming more so every year.”
State lawmakers did, however, approve a state lottery, liquor by the drink and a bill prohibiting nuclear waste disposal in Kansas, before going into recess. Two weeks ago, the Senate threw out by four votes the death penalty, despite strong support from Gov. Mike Hayden.
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Childhood game
The city hall in Mound City was built in 1868 and houses the old city jail.
When lawmakers return on April 29
Mound City retains small-town values.
IN FOCUS
A Darth Vader-like voice booms out in a foggy, futuristic setting instructing the players that the game has begun. "Try to trace your opponent and capture his base."
When a player is hit, his gun is disabled for five seconds and he loses points.
Players then carefully move around looking for the opposition. As each sees his opponent, he aims his laser gun, trying to hit his foe's sensory headband.
The game is called Tracer, and players on one team try to shoot the players on the other team with a yellow light beam from a laser light gun. As few as two players to as many as 10 can play at one time.
Tracer is just another version of a new game called laser tag that emerged in the fall.
Only two places presently have laser tag games in the Kansas City area.
Tracer, 103rd and Metcalf streets,
opened November 19. 1986 and Laser
Chase Arena, N.E. 76th Street in
Gladstone, Mo., opened after Christmas.
"It was fun walking around trying to shoot people." Keen Martin, 15,Owen D. McCormick
Martin played for the first time at Tracer last month, and said he would come again.
"It was really neat," he said.
Every first-time player must go
"It was really neat," he said.
through orientation before playing the game. A video presentation plays in the lobby to show the beginner the rules of the game. Also, Tracer has an observation level for people to watch the game.
It costs $7 for a membership to Tracer, which includes two games, each lasting about 15 minutes. Members pay $3 for each subsequent game. At Laser Chase Arena, games cost $3.50 for 15 minutes and $6 for a half hour.
The setting at Tracer combines primitive objects with futuristic structures as lights and sounds move across the terrain.
"Our place is more sophisticated than others because we have this light and sound system that other laser tag places don't," said Kevin Sutcliffe, manager of Tracer.
Laser Chase Arena's setting is a foggy room with six buildings, a tunnel, and cars in which players may hide.
The general age group of players is between 14 and 18 years old. Sutchie, though, said people aged 10 to 50 had plaved the game.
Instead of pitting one team against another as in some laser tag games, laser chase is every man for himself.
Because laser games are non-contact, they are popular with both sexes. Sutcliffe said.
Some people think the game causes aggressive behavior because its main
object is to shoot the opponent.
"like it because it's like a gun shoot-out," Kurt Wilson, 14, Overland Park, said at the Tracer arena.
Despite the object of shooting the opposing player, Sutclife does not think the game breeds aggressive instincts.
"We're talking about a game in which players can be disabled by opposing players for a few seconds, for which they lose points," Sutcliffe said. "It's a form of electronic tag.
"I believe it's on a less aggressive level than snowball fights, and certainly not as dangerous."
Despite the game's potential for violence, laser tag is gaining popularity.
"It's getting bigger and better," Ken Lourwood, employee of Laser Chase Arena, said. "During the summer it will probably pick up even more."
Lourwood said that an average of 40 to 50 people came in each day and that Friday and Saturday were the busiest days.
In a recent article in Business Week magazine, experts speculated that, like video games, laser tag may gain initial excitement and build high interest only to decline in a few years.
"I don't think laser tag will decline," Sutcliffe said, "but I guess we will find out soon.
"The important thing is that the high-tech entertainment industry is
upon us."
In fact, the original idea of laser tag equipment came from former Atari Corp. executive vice president Donald D. Kingsborough. He developed the laser gun and sensor jacket for the Worlds of Wonder toy company.
Business Week estimated that by March, Worlds of Wonder would have grossed $30 million since it introduced the equipment last fall.
Worlds of Wonder has spent about $7 million for advertising to promote its futuristic tag game.
It is sponsoring tag games at different college campuses, and the company started running teaser ads on MTV in July.
Sutcliffe said, "We have done very limited advertising prior to opening because we don't yet know how much advertising will be necessary."
If a Friday late last month was any indication, Tracer is a game that is only going to grow in popularity.
The Tracer arena was filled with children and their parents playing or watching the new game.
When one player left the arena after a game his parents yelled, "How did you do?"
"I shot 17 people and was hit 11 times." he responded.
When a person steps through the door at an event, enters a new world of eerie sounds.
Players get 30 points for hits and lose 10 points for being hit. If a team
See LASER, p. 20
12 KANSAN MAGAZINE/April 10, 1987
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