Light gun

A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games. The first light guns appeared in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing vacuum tubes. It wasn't long before the technology began appearing in arcade shooting games, beginning with the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite in 1936. These early light gun games used small targets (usually moving) onto which a light-sensing tube was mounted; the player used a gun (usually a rifle) that emitted a beam of light when the trigger was pulled. If the beam struck the target, a "hit" was scored. Modern screen-based light guns work on the opposite principle -- the sensor is built into the gun itself, and the on-screen target(s) emit light rather than the gun. The first light gun of this type was used on the MIT Whirlwind computer.

Related Topics:
Pointing device - Computer - Control device - Arcade - Video games - Vacuum tubes - Arcade - Seeburg Ray-O-Lite - 1936 - MIT Whirlwind

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The light gun, and its descendant, the light pen, are now rarely used as computer pointing devices, because of the popularity of the mouse and changes in monitor display technology -- light guns can only work with standard CRT monitors.

Related Topics:
Light pen - Mouse - Monitor - CRT

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