Interactive light-operated toy shooting game

Abstract

The invention provides a toy light projector or light gun and player-worn and self-propelled toy targets which detect light emitted by a toy light gun, and a toy shooting game which includes at least one toy light gun, and at least one toy target. The game is played by a player attempting to 'hit' a target which provides audio/visual effects upon detecting light projected by the gun. A main target contains a light detector and all of the circuitry and audio/visual components needed to play a game, and an auxiliary target may contain a light detector and only some of the components needed to play a game and be coupled to a main target to share components therein. A self-propelled target includes circuitry which provides pseudorandom (or other pre-programmed or random) motion to the target. The light gun emits a sound while it is on and ready to be fired, which can serve as a warning to an opposing player. Squeezing a trigger causes the gun to emit light with a first code, and pressing a reset button causes the gun to emit light with a second code. The circuitry in a target decodes the codes and registers and counts hits for light detected with the first code, ending the game when a given number of hits is counted. In response to light detected with the second code, the circuitry in a target resets the count of hits and starts a new game. The gun can thus remotely reset the target. The gun has a reload feature which requires that a player 'reload' the gun (press a reload button) after a given number of shots. A target may be provided with an adjustable optical system which affects the reception and/or detection of light projected from a light gun and thereby change the difficulty level of the game.