LTAR Display!!

There's a lot of plans for the Midwest Laser Tag Association's 9th Summer Season, including the launch of our adapter parts for the LTAR to make modifications for players more accessible.

Among those developments, I'm also excited to start working with Dustin Westaby with an LED Display for the LTAR.  I followed production in the Lazer Tag Modders Facebook Page and it really looks like something that'll be a good option for players who have wanted that sort of readout on their blaster... but not wanted to deal with the iOS Cradle to hook up a phone or iPod to see that information.  This also still allows the user to use the iron sights on the LTAR, which is generally preferred for aiming than using the App-blaster method.  Dustin has already made an ammo counter that resembles the readout from a Halo Assault Rifle that looks quite good!

The new ZZLT Display can display information for Shields and Health, just like the Digital Display.  The big difference between the two is the number of wires used in construction and hosted gametypes. The Digital Display is really great syncing to the LTAR for unhosted gametypes. It can still do hosted custom games too, but you have to manually enter the numbers in. It is not ideal. The ZZLT, on the other hand, has a direct serial wire to the main board and has access to all game info. It supports all game modes by communicating with the tagger over the LTAR's headphone jack, just like the iOS device would.  This is the display circuit originally designed by "Izzy" on theYahoo: Lazer Tag Team Ops Players Group.

The ZZLT Display will be featured on my LTAR-AR, as it works flawlessly with the current adapters that are already on it.  The lens adapter (complete), stock adapter (in progress) and Weaver Rail adapter (in progress) are all being worked on by our group to produce and distribute to fellow Laser Taggers that will make modifying these blasters to each individuals personal taste that much easier.

With that said, it's time to blow the dust off our Laser Tag Armory and have a game at the new park!  This coming Sunday (March 30th), we'll host games out of my back yard that opens up to the parks we'll be using.  It'll be a good opportunity for me to get a good system for hosting these games at the new location, too.