I'm not sure if toys are still like this, but in the 90s you became accustomed to being disappointed by the toys you got when you compared them to either the box art or commercials.

Laser Challenge did not have this problem.

It worked. It worked like a fucking charm. The range was great, the sensors were perfect, and the grenade didn't break when you threw it. We couldn't believe it. We suited up, locked and loaded, and the summer of 1998 officially began.

We played every day, and the woods behind my dad’s house became our Vietnam (too soon?). The game was simple: five hits and you were dead; front and back sensors could be shot, just like real war. The guns had a clever game mechanic: when you started them up, there was a loud charge-up sound and a slight delay before you could fire, and they beeped every three seconds. That meant if you were hiding, you'd have to shut your gun down and turn it on at the right second to shoot someone who was looking for you. This made for great moments as someone looking for you would have their gun beeping. The beeping would get closer and closer. Then your gun would screech on, you'd burst out of your hiding spot and the firefight would begin… just like real war.

As the summer dragged on, an unending war was fought. New tactics were devised, and countermeasures were executed. No one person could gain an advantage; that is, until Curtiss starting winning every game. Curtiss became war incarnate; he was Death; he was one with the battleground; he would win games without you scoring a single hit. Curtiss was no longer a child. That summer he became something else. Not a man. Men were ruthless and vicious. Curtiss wasn't that; he was something more than man, something that understood life and death were just a continuation of five shots and reset… just like real war.

That summer wound down like any other, school started, and the leaves fell from the trees. Laser guns would be replaced by girls, homework, and growing up, but the nightmares still linger to this day. It was only a month ago -- twenty years later -- that Curtiss revealed how he achieved his winning streak.

Twenty years can heal many wounds, and enemies can become allies. Curtiss and I have buried the hatchet since that summer. I guess he felt it was time to come clean about the summer of '98.

We were online killing whatever new enemy had cropped up (after a while, they all look the same… just like real war). The headset had been silent for a while when he came over the coms. "I need to tell you something." I could hear the remorse in his voice. "Twenty years ago I stole one of your laser challenge guns and disabled the speaker. My gun never warned you when I was nearby."

It all flooded back in that moment, the death, the defeat, the confusion. I looked into his avatar's dead eyes and shot the nearby exploding barrel killing us both. We respawned seconds later, friends again… just like real war.