Toymakers bring out the heavy artillery in water-gun arms race

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Toymakers bring out the heavy artillery in water-gun arms race

Saturday, June 8, 2002

By DANIEL J. VARGAS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

To measure how far the human race has come, let's examine one of our greatest achievements.

The mapping of the human genome? Not exactly. Microwave kettle-corn popcorn? Not quite.

The real measuring stick is at your local toy store. Head to the water-toys area. That's it, the plaything from your childhood: the water gun.

Once palm-size toys that leaked faster than a crumbling roof during a rainstorm, water guns are now Shaq-sized and have a Constant Pressure System that can launch virtual rivers from four nozzles as far as 50 feet. They come with reserve tanks you can strap to your back for those extended afternoon battles. Some even come equipped with lights to target your prey.

We've come a long way, baby.

School's out for summer, and when the heat rises a funny thing happens: It fries our brains, turning us into rascally kids ready to splish-splash. The season's inaugural wet ambush can't be too far behind.

"Let's face it, how much fun is it to squirt someone?" asks Tim Englert, the Tampa Bay, Fla., inventor of Water Wheels, a bicycle-mounted water-gun system. "It's a blast."

Ah, the anticipation as you sneak up on your friend, then quickly but firmly squeeze the trigger in high-noon, Wild West fashion, releasing a narrow spritz of water that smacks him right on target. You squeeze again. And again. And once more for total soaking humiliation. Then you run, not only to escape from your antagonized victim but also to reload at the nearest water hose. What a rush.

Englert, who has a patent on Water Wheels but is looking for an investor, hopes his invention becomes the next generation of water guns, a field dominated by Laramie's Super Soaker line.

He got his idea when he saw children riding bikes and squirting one another with water pistols. Englert, a structural/architectural designer, figured he could make something that was just as much fun but safer, allowing kids to keep both hands on the handlebars. Water Wheels comes with two front guns, optional rear guns and tanks. A thumb-controlled button maneuvers the guns.

The 41-year-old fondly recalls his first water gun.

"I remember the days of the old plastic, 6-inch squirt gun," he says. "It looked like a German Luger. You had to run up to the garden hose or spigot, pull off the plastic cap, fill it with water and turn the gun upside down to let the air bubbles out."

The Toy Industry Association estimates that water guns are a $100 million-a-year business. In 2000, the latest figures available, Americans bought 15 million of them. Water guns are the No. 1 spring/summer toy.

Chris "The Toy Guy" Byrne, a New York-based toy researcher and analyst for more than two decades, says toy pistols caught on in the 1950s and '60s when kids emulated cowboys. But the water guns of old weren't very dependable. They held little water, and they leaked. Sometimes the trigger jammed or the nozzle clogged.

Motorized water guns running on batteries arrived in the 1970s and '80s. All you had to do was press and hold the trigger, freeing your trigger-happy index finger from cramps and potential carpal tunnel syndrome. Better, but not quite perfect.

The big innovation came in 1990 with the advent of the Super Soaker (briefly known as the Drencher), created by nuclear scientist Lonnie Johnson, who designed an air-pressure system that can shoot streams of water up to 50 feet. Finally some serious power.

Byrne says Trend Masters, a toy company, recently entered the water-blaster market with a line of weapons called Storm that feature red or blue lights to help you aim.

Just listen to the arsenal that's available: There's Super Soaker Wipeout, Super Soaker Max D 5000, Storm 3000 Tsunami Force 5, Storm 2000 Monsoon Force 4 and Super Soaker Monster X, which holds a whopping 120 ounces of water, the largest Super Soaker.

"There's a water-gun arms race out there now," observes John Young of Philadelphia, the 31-year-old creator and owner of the Ultimate Water Gun and a water-gun connoisseur.

The Ultimate Water Gun is a homemade, one-of-a-kind weapon. It's made from an old fire extinguisher and harnessed in a scuba-tank backpack. The extinguisher nozzle is secured on a motorcycle helmet. A cable to the extinguisher handle releases pressurized water. When it's filled, the Ultimate Water Gun weighs 50 to 75 pounds. Simply put, it's a beast.

Young lends it to people if their cause is worthy enough, hence it travels across the United States and Canada. It enjoyed nationwide attention when humor columnist Dave Barry borrowed and wrote about it. (Log on to www.ultimatewatergun.com to fill out a request.)

Young, who grew up in Austin, made the water gun 10 years ago after getting the idea during a philosophy seminar. (The mind does strange things when it wanders.)

He's always been a water-gun fan. At his Quaker high school, he shot fellow students with a motorized water pistol concealed inside a hollowed-out copy of "Pride and Prejudice." It landed him in detention, but by then he had experienced the power a water gun wields.

"It's a safer, more humane way to go about your fantasy of global domination," says Young, who now lives in Philadelphia. "The worst that can happen to anyone is that you make them mad and steam comes out of their ears."

Byrne, who writes articles for Toy Wishes magazine and a trade magazine called The Toy Book, says today's water blasters appeal to people of all ages, from teens to college students to kids at heart.

"In my office, my assistant hit me in the face with a splash of water from a water gun we just received," he recalls. "Then we ended up in a water battle. It's silly but really harmless."

Dan Watson, marketing director for Laramie, says some guns, such as its Max D line, are built for distance. Others produce more powerful blasts, including Laramie's CPS (Constant Pressure System) line.

"We've come pretty far," he says. "The Super Soaker really revolutionized the way people enjoy water guns."

These days the words squirt, spritz and splash have been replaced by douse, drench and deluge.

So what's ahead for water guns? With the "healthy, competitive battle" between Laramie and Trend Masters, Watson says, expect more innovations to transform the water blaster as we know it.

One thing stays the same, though. There are still unwritten rules when it comes to dousing someone with water. It's not wise to target the neighborhood bully (or the boss, for that matter). It's not funny to squirt the elderly or preschoolers. And ...

"Anyone with large muscles, no shirt and aggressive facial hair, stay away from," Young says.

Maybe that should be added to the warning label.

THE WATERWORKS

There's something about summer -- gee, maybe it's the heat -- that makes you want to get wet and wild. You can hit the beach or the nearest pool, or just turn on the garden hose to enjoy these toys.

Here are some of the newest on the market:

Magnet Dive Glove (Wild Planet, $14.99) -- Go up against a friend and see how many magnetic fish you can attract with your Magnet Dive Glove in the pool.

Aqua Radio (Wild Planet, $24.99) -- You can hear this underwater FM radio in or out of the water. It also makes dolphin and submarine sonar sounds.

Big Splash Slip'N Slide (Wham-O, $29.99-$34.99) -- The original Slip'N Slide gets an update. It's 22 feet long and features an automatic "splash and dump" water tunnel that dumps water on sliders as they zoom through the inflatable tunnel before hitting the splash chamber.

Water Blast Speedway (Wham-O, $19.99-$24.99) -- The colorful dragster speeds off the base launcher, spraying a wall of water on everyone behind it. Just fuel up with a garden hose and wave the green flag as often as you like.

Alien Splash Attack (Wham-O, $9.99-$12.99) -- Turn on the hose and watch as the circular alien spaceship hovers on a powerful stream of water, creating a splash attack from above.

Water-gun Web sites:

www.supersoaker.com
www.isoaker.com
www.sinasnet.nl/Watergun.html
www.ultimatewatergun.com
www.water-wheels.com

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