Tiny Pieces of Photon History

I recently put a question to the Photon community regarding the distinctly different Photon tokens (more correctly known as “klinks”) that I have collected over the years. I have five variants and wondered if the former players might remember anything regarding the differences in the designs and at which Photon centers they may have been used. Here’s a look along with some of the feedback that was shared with me about these little pieces of Photon history.

#1 and #3 seem to be the more typical klinks to come across with the same size and markings, but silver and gold color variants. These klinks would have been used with phaser stations. One player thought he recalled that the centers could create their own version in the early days, but eventually they became standardized to the gold version.

#2 was speculated to be from Houston, San Antonio or Baton Rouge. Was this a common theme for centers in the south? Not certain. The pyramid design on the back makes it particularly unique. This also was a klink that would have been used with a phaser station (as opposed to a game token).

#4 is smaller in size than the others, but had no specific information offered about it. Due to the size, I wonder if this was a game token? The print variant on the front that reads “The Sport of the Next Century” followed by the TM intrigued me. It appears there may be some other text after the TM, but it is too small for me to make it out, even under magnification.

#5 was confirmed by a player to be a game token used at the Kenilworth, NJ center. This is the only one that was simple to figure out because that info is imprinted directly onto the token.

It was interesting to me to compare sizes of the variants.

I am intrigued to know whether there are other known variants floating around out there and I welcome any Photon historians to share that info with me. These are some of the really cool little nuances that go into the tapestry that is the history of Photon.

Comments or Questions? 

Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com 

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com