It has recently come to my attention that not only do you need to have
a Yahoo! ID to join this group (something I knew), but also that you
need to supply your CREDIT CARD information just to GET a Yahoo! ID --
something many people are not willing to do. No big deal, I keep the
messages section of this group open to the public so that you don't
HAVE to join this group in order to benefit from the messages. But
unfortunately, the FAQ list has been in the FILES section all along,
which means that non-members could not access it -- and it is the one
thing most new searchers are likely to be interested in.

So, I have decided to post the whole FAQ here as a message, so that
people can get to it more easily. There were a few messages in the
past that contained links to off-site versions of the FAQ, but it
seems like a good idea to keep them posted here as well, and to have a
link to this message in the home-page greeting for this group. So
that's what my goal for today is...

I've also decided to edit this up a bit, since some of the information
is a bit out of date at this point. I'll try to get the FILES version
of it up to speed soon.

========== LTTO FAQ ==========

CONTENTS (questions answered below):

1. How do I turn this thing off or start a new game?

2. It doesn't do anything (or, there is just a meaningless display
that does nothing). What's wrong with it?

3. Is there an easy way to play Lazer Tag with this thing?

4. Do I need to wear the HUD in order to play? (see Question 13)

5. What is this timer display at the end of the game?

6. How do I turn the shields back off?

7. How come I get tagged at the start of a game when nobody tagged me?

8. How do I aim this thing?

9. It still doesn't hit anything, what's wrong?

10. Hosted games take too long to start, can I change this?

11. OWNZ/2TOZ/3TOZ/RSPN/2TRS/3TRS games never start. What's wrong?

12. A Tagger was shut off, so now we can't debrief them. What do we do?

13. Can the HUD be adjusted so it doesn't hurt so much to wear?

14. What models and accessories are available?

15. Is LTTO compatible with Laser Challenge gear?

16. Is LTTO compatible with any other gear?

17. My question wasn't answered, where can I go for help?


==========================
1.
Q: How do I turn this thing off if I have started a game accidentally,
or after a game is over? / How do I start a new game?

A: Press and release the CANCEL button while holding down the 2ndF
button. I find the easiest technique with the Deluxe model is to
press the "2ndF" button (center button on the right) with my thumb,
and then roll my thumb up and over the "CANCEL" button. For the
IRT-2X "Drone" I just push my thumb down over the two right buttons at
the same time. For the Tag Master Blaster, I use my thumb and
forefinger to press the 2ndF and CANCEL buttons (mysteriously
relocated to the left side of the keypad in this model) at the same time.

The original "Deluxe" model will shut down immediately, the IRT-2X
"Drone" and Tag Master Blaster models will first scroll
"WWW.LAZERTAG.COM" across the LCD and then shut down.

You can also just press RESET as described in the answer to Question
2, below.

But first read the note at the end of the Question 5, regarding
turning your Tagger off during Hosted games.

==========================
2.
Q: I put the batteries in, but it doesn't do anything when I pull the
trigger or press the buttons (or, there is just a meaningless display
that does nothing). What's wrong with it?

A: Probably the processor chip has "locked up" from the intermittent
contacting of the batteries when you first installed them or the tray.
This is very easy to fix, just press the little recessed "RESET"
button in the middle of the keypad just below the LCD. A ball-point
pen or unbent paperclip will work just fine for this.

Also, on the Deluxe and Tag Master Blaster models, make sure the
battery tray is ALL the way in before installing the battery door --
the bottom of the battery door has a little "hinge" feature that
should be INSIDE the Tagger where the screw is installed, as shown in
the photos below:

Correct closure of the battery door:
http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Deluxe_Battery_Door_--_Correct.jpg

Wrong closure of the battery door:
http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Deluxe_Battery_Door_--_Wrong.jpg


==========================
3.
Q: The instructions are too long. Isn't there just an easy way to
play Lazer Tag with this thing?

A: You bet! The instructions are long because LTTO does a LOT more
than the old systems ever did -- so there is definitely a "learning
curve" for getting used to the advanced features.

The good news is, you don't have to use any of the advanced features
to just play a game of Classic Lazer Tag, or "LTAG" as we call it.
Just do the following:
(1) Pull the trigger once to wake the Tagger up. It should make a
power-up sound and display "LTAG" on the screen.
(2) Pull the trigger again to start a 10-second countdown ("T-9, T-8,
T-7" etc. on the screen) with a beep every second. Take up your
starting position during this countdown.
(3) When the countdown finishes, the tagger will say "Good Luck!" and
you will be in a regular old Lazer Tag game, the kind where you are
out when you take 10 hits, you have an infinite number of shots and
unlimited time, and the winner is the last player not tagged out.

You can tell how many tags you have left until you are out by looking
at the "TAGS" graph on the left side of the screen in the Deluxe
model, or by using the Up-Arrow or Down-Arrow buttons on the IRT-2X
"Drone" or Tag Master Blaster models to scroll to the screen that says
"TAGS:".

You will need to "reload" the Deluxe model after every 10 tags fired
-- this is easy, just pull back on the forward handle to reload. You
can see how many shots you have left until you need to reload by
looking at the "AMMO" graph on the right side of the screen.

For the IRT-2X "Drone" and Tag Master Blaster models, reloading
happens automatically after every 10th shot (but it takes about 1.5
seconds -- you will just get a "buzz" noise if you pull the trigger
during this time, telling you that it is not possible to fire yet).
In the IRT-2X and TMB, with the game timer display active, there is a
single-digit counter on the far right of the LCD which tells you how
many shots are left until it reloads (F = Full = 10 shots, otherwise 9
down to 1 shots remaining -- it will display "RELD" while reloading).

If you hold the trigger down constantly or otherwise fire too many
tags in too short of a time, the Tagger will "overheat" -- this is
just a simulated overheat, there is nothing wrong with the Tagger.
This is just done to keep players from "hosing down" the other players
in the game with continuous tags. The LCD will show "OVHT" with a
countdown, and generate an alarm sound and "buzz" any trigger pull or
attempt to raise shields.

==========================
4.
Q: Do I need to wear the HUD in order to play?

A: No, it is optional. All of the conditions indicated by the lights
in the HUD ("locked-on to an opponent", "scored a tag on an opponent",
and "tagged by an opponent") also have unique sound effects, and in
addition are displayed as icons along the top edge of the LCD.

If you just don't like the way the HUD feels, but want to have access
to the indicators it contains, see question 13 below.

==========================
5.
Q: What is this timer at the end of the game when it says "GAME OVER"?

A: That is an anti-cheat timer. It keeps running for a while after
you are tagged out, so you can compare it against other players'
timers -- if they have cheated by resetting their Tagger part-way
through the game and restarting, their timer will show less time than
yours.

Note that in LTAG games this timer counts up from 00:00 to 99:59, but
in Hosted games, it counts down from the game duration to 00:00.

If you are playing a Hosted game and are tagged-out before the game
ends, do NOT turn your Tagger off until you have been debriefed by the
Host Tagger and received your rank. Shutting down early will prevent
your scores from being tallied and will mess everyone else's scores up
too, so it is very rude to shut off you Tagger before the debriefing
is completed.

==========================
6.
Q: I keep bumping the SHIELDS button and turning on the shields by
accident. How do I turn them back off?

A: Just press the SHIELDS button again to turn them off immediately.

If you don't like to use shields at all, you can use them all up right
at the start of a game so that then the SHIELDS button won't do
anything but make a "buzz" sound when you hit it by accident. In the
Hosted games, you can define games with no shields and it will work
the same way -- the button will just buzz if you bump it accidentally.

On the IRT-2X "Drone" and Tag Master Blaster models, the SHIELDS
button is much better protected than in the original Deluxe model, so
it is much harder to press by accident.

==========================
7.
Q: How come I sometimes get tagged right at the start of a game even
though nobody tagged me?

A: Because I messed up. Please accept my apologies. There is a bug
in the code in which, if you are tagged-out at the end of an LTAG game
by a burst of rapid fire tags, it still remembers the first one to
arrive AFTER THE ONE THAT TAGGED YOU OUT and saves it until the start
of the next game. Then you get hit with that one.

The good news is, this is very easy to avoid: just press RESET before
the start of each LTAG game, and it will clear out all remembered tags
from the previous game.

Alternatively, you can start up an LTAG game, let the T-Minus
countdown finish and the game begin, and take the "phantom hit" that
was waiting. Now just turn the Tagger back off (see the answer to
Question 1) and then restart it for a new game -- the old "phantom
hit" will have been used up and you can play in peace, such as it were.

Finally, this problem ONLY affects LTAG games -- none of the hosted
games are affected by this bug, they work just fine.

==========================
8.
Q: How do I aim this thing? It doesn't seem to hit anything.

A: The sights on the Deluxe model are a bit unorthodox. There's a
long story behind how they came to be on the left side of the Tagger
instead of on the top, but I won't go into that right now...

Anyway, you get used to the side-sights pretty quickly with a bit of
practice. Some players prefer to rotate the Tagger to the right and
hold it "Gangsta Style" like in the movies, which does work pretty
well but you need to agree with the other players whether or not this
will be allowed (because it blocks most of the tags coming from your
left side when you do this).

Also, there is an accessory kit with a "Virtual Scope" (reflective-dot
type thing, commonly called an "Aimpoint" or "Red-Dot" scope) available.

All other LTTO models have the sights along the top where they belong,
by the way. Just line up the rib along the top of the receiver dome
into the middle of the notch on top of the LCD housing, and whatever
these two points are aligned over is where the IR Tag will land.

==========================
9.
Q: It still doesn't hit anything. What am I doing wrong?

A: Make sure the Indoor/Outdoor switch is set to OUTDOOR for maximum
tagging energy. Indoor mode reduces the tag power so that it won't
reflect off walls so much, but this greatly reduces outdoor range.

Also remember, just because you don't HEAR the "you hit them" sound
and get the flashing LED or icon to confirm the hit, it doesn't mean
you missed -- sometimes the other player pulls their Tagger out of
your line of sight (or you move the point of aim of your own Tagger)
before there was time for their Tagger to send the "you just hit me!"
signal back to you. It will all be scored correctly at the end of the
game, though, because each Tagger reports back how many times it GOT
hit, not how many times it thinks it hit somebody else.

The Tag Master Blaster has a set of very bright LED's that light up
it's receiver dome when it gets hit, making it much easier for you to
tell if you are landing tags on someone who has a TMB.

==========================
10.
Q: I am hosting a game, and it takes too long for the game to start.
Why does it take so long, and can I change this?

A: The Hosting Tagger waits for 60 seconds after the last successful
Joiner before it automatically starts the countdown. This is to allow
time for you to explain how to join to new players and take them
through the process. Once everyone has joined, you can force an
immediate start to the T-Minus countdown by pressing "2ndF" and "OK"
together on the Hosting Tagger.

There is no way to skip the T-Minus countdown, it exists to allow
players to take up starting positions and to program their Taggers for
DUAL mode if they are using that feature (allows one player to use two
Taggers at the same time and still get the right score -- the IRT-2X
"Drone" and Tag Master Blaster models support this mode, the Deluxe
model does not).

==========================
11.
Q: I am trying to host an OWNZ, 2TOZ, 3TOZ, RSPN, 2TRS, or 3TRS game
but it never starts the T-Minus countdown, it just says "ADD: 01" and
counts down from 59 to 0, then says "NO GAME" and drops back out to
the LTAG screen. What am I doing wrong?

A: The Zone games (OWNZ, 2TOZ, and 3TOZ) and Respawn games (RSPN,
2TRS, and 3TRS) require a minimum of 3 Taggers. The first Tagger (the
Host) becomes the Zone over which the players are competing or the
Respawn point, and a minimum of 2 more player Taggers are needed for
the human players. The Host will not start the game until at least
two player Taggers have joined.

==========================
12.
Q: We hosted a game, and somebody shut their Tagger off after they
were tagged out (or bumped their Tagger too hard and made it reset),
so now we can't debrief them. The Host is stuck waiting for them to
be debriefed. What do we do?

A: Wait until it is definitely just them that the Host is looking for
(the screen stays stuck on "FIND" or "?" and showing the missing
player's Player ID), then press CANCEL to "boot" them from the game.
Please note, as mentioned in the answer to question 5, that this will
possibly mess up the scores for the remaining players so the
individual ranks may be juggled around a bit if there is one player
who tagged the missing player a disproportionate number of times.

Also note, that if a player used DUAL Taggers mode but failed to
un-DUAL at the end of the game (they are allowed only 30 seconds for
this, and normally cannot do it in the near vicinity of the Host),
then their Tagger will not report back all of the information that the
Host wants to hear, so it will look like they are not present. After
bringing their Primary Tagger right next to the Host for several
seconds and still seeing the "FIND: xx" or "? xx" message on the Host,
you will need to boot them as described above.

==========================
13.
Q: The HUD hurts too much to wear, but I WANT to use it. Can it be
adjusted?

A: Yes, it is fairly simple to do. All you have to do is "cold-form"
the plastic by bending it far enough at specific points that it will
take a permanent "set" in a new shape. The plastic will discolor a
bit, turning a sort of milky white color right at the spot where you
bend it, but this will not hurt anything. Just take your time and do
these bends GRADUALLY, stopping to check along the way that it is bent
far enough but not too far. Bending it back after bending it too far
may cause the plastic to fatigue (become weak) or snap.

In each of the pictures below, please take care to make sure you do
not stress the optical section that sticks out on a bent post from the
right side (same side as the over-the-ear speaker) -- if the optical
part gets bent or broken, there is no easy way to fix it.

Bend the bridge OUTWARD, to make it flatter across your brow (this
reduces the squeezing on your temples):
http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Bending_HUD_--_Bridge.jpg

Bend the strap that goes over the left ear inwards, making the entire
HUD a bit more round in shape (so you don't have to pull the strap so
tight to keep it in place):
http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Bending_HUD_--_Left.jpg

Bend the strap that goes over the right ear the same way, for the same
reason:
http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Bending_HUD_--_Right.jpg

For the more ambitious, check out the LINKS section of this group and
look up the mods that have been developed by the IndyLazerTagClub --
one of their people made a great modification to mount just the
optical part of the HUD onto a ballcap! This is especially nice for
players who wear glasses to help their vision.

Also please note that the Deluxe model which comes in single-player
packs (with camouflage paint scheme) has an improved HUD, which fits
much better than the original HUD. I find it still needs a little
work just above the bridge of the nose, but otherwise feels fine.

==========================
14.
Q: What models and accessories are available?

A: The original model was the "Deluxe", which is a pistol-style model
that has two grips. The forward grip acts as a reload lever. The
Deluxe model is the only model which uses a HUD (Heads-Up Display,
like a set of sunglasses with status indicators visible to the
wearer). The Deluxe model was first available in July of 2004 as a
2-player set for US$49.99. In January 2005 a single-player pack came
out with an improved-fit HUD and camouflage style paint schemes for
US$29.99, but from a games and function standpoint these are the same
as the original Deluxe model sold in the 2-player packs.

The first accessory was the Team Comm headsets, which are 900 MHz
walkie-talkies designed to clip to the HUD, for US$24.99. These are
much improved over the traditional cheap "toy" style walkie talkies
(you might as well throw notes wrapped around a rock with those),
having a range of about 1000 feet and 3 channels, with a good squelch
to eliminate static. They are not as good as a nice set of FRS/GMRS
radios that you would find the most hardcore Tag players using, but
they are great for neighborhood games and so on.

The second model was the IRT-2X, or "Drone," model which was another
pistol style model but smaller than the Deluxe, and which reloads
automatically. The IRT-2X "Drone" was first available in January 2005
in single-packs for US$19.99.

The third model is the Tag Master Blaster, a large rifle style model
with double the normal range plus an air-launched "Nerf" style missile
that emits tags when it lands for close-in battles. The TMB will be
available in September 2005, a single-player pack with one missile is
US$49.99.

The second accessory is a kit containing a "Thunder Pack" which
vibrates when firing or hit by an opponent (much more intense when
hit), and a "virtual scope" to help aim. The scope is especially
useful with the Deluxe model, which has odd sights. Both of these
accessories work with all models of LTTO. This kit was first
available in February or March of 2005, and cost US$12.99.

More new models and accessories are scheduled to come out over the
next several years -- probably 3 or 4 new items each year.

All models are fully compatible with each other. Each model hosts
some games that only it can host, but any LTTO model can JOIN in those
games and will work just fine. This is something we intend to do for
the entire life of the product line. There may be some model-specific
accessories (for example, spare missile packs for the Tag Master
Blaster), but most accessories will be designed for use with all LTTO
models.

==========================
15.
Q: Is this set compatible with Laser Challenge gear?

A: No. There are a number of legal, technical, and business reasons
why we could not do this.

I have received reports that the IFF beacons in LTTO will set off the
sensors of Laser Challenge V2 gear -- this is not intentional, but
enthusiasts might be able to come up with some interesting use for
this coincidence.


==========================
16.
Q: Is this set compatible with older Lazer Tag or any other gear?

A: LTTO is not compatible with the Tiger Lazer Tag gear from the
1990's. Despite selling well at the time, there seems to be nobody
still using that gear and since it's signal was a rather unusual one,
it was deemed more trouble than it was worth to try to do everything
LTTO does AND maintain compatibility with a system that was no longer
being used.

For enthusiasts of "old-school Lazer Tag", the IRT-2X "Drone" and Tag
Master Blaster models are compatible with the Worlds Of Wonder ("WoW"
for short) Lazer Tag equipment from the 1980's, and by extension all
of the gear that is compatible with WoW. This was done because there
were still so many clubs and enthusiasts using the older gear. We
will probably continue to maintain compatibility with WOW Lazer Tag
gear for another model or two, but not forever.

More information on how to access this "hidden" mode can be found here:

http://home.comcast.net/~ferret1963/Drone_Self_Hit_Mod.HTML

That page describes a fix to keep the IRT-2X "Drone" model from
hitting itself in this mode. Please note that while the TMB is placed
into the WOW comaptability mode in the same manner that the IRT-2X
"Drone" is, the TMB does NOT show any signs of having the same
self-hit problem and so should not require any modification to use
this mode.

==========================
17.
Q: My question wasn't answered here, where can I go for help?

A: There are lots of places to get help!

Hasbro's official Lazer Tag website can be found at:
http://www.lazertag.com

I heartily recommend the Lazer Tactical Action Games Message Board:
http://www.lazer-tactical-action-game.com

There is, of course, this group:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/LazerTagTeamOps/

And there are a number of clubs, forums, and enthusiasts with their
own websites:
http://www.nucleardawn.us/
http://www.indylazertag.com/
http://www.1sourcelasertag.com/
http://www.fuzzycouch.com/lazertag/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=1
http://www.tagparty.net/
http://www.ggaub.com/ltag/
Those are just a few, and in no particular order...