Laser tag gun question

[David Crow]

If you've ever played this, then you are familiar with the scorecard that is handed out at the end of the game. It shows who you hit, where, and how many times. It also shows who hit you, where, and how many times. My question is how does the system know whose gun shot which sensor? Each gun shoots a red laser, but are they possibly tuned just enough to be considered unique yet still in the red range?

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[Stuart Dootson]

Possibly some sort of pulse coding system? i.e. the laser output is modulated?

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[Henry Minute]

As far as I understand it (not that I do) one form of it works in a similar way to FM radio.THere is an explanation here[^], that is way over my head but you may understand it.

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[GavErry]

Don't they modulate the laser with information? Each gun has a unique code that is detected by the receiver vest. Think fibre optic communications but in free space. Gavin

[phannon86]

I used to work at one in my youth :) I'm not sure of the technical bits behind it, but every user was asked to "login" with a membership card, scanning it under a barcode reader, providing their suit with a unique ID.

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[MollyTheCoder]

I'd go with encoded pulses. That makes it more like a TV remote.

[Erik R Nielsen]

According to WikiPedia it's like a remote control with a laser for fluffs sake: At their core, laser tag systems typically use infrared signaling to track firing of the laser. In indoor play, a visible laser combined with theatrical fog typically provide the visual effect of firing, while having no actual role in transmitting the fire signal. In all but the most basic of systems, the infrared signal sent by the laser when it fires is encoded with information such as the identity of the pack from which it originated. This coding allows for scoring and may also act to discourage interference from unauthorized devices in the playing area