A Light Game of Tennis

It sounds like tennis, it scores like tennis, but where’s that fuzzy yellow ball?

Tiger Electronics, a division of Hasbro, recently introduced Laser Tennis, a scaled-down version of table tennis with a gimmick: Players with child-sized plastic rackets chase a red “ball” of light around the “court.”

The infrared beam is safe to look at.

The game can be played by a single player against a computer or by two players. Players set the game to the desired level of expertise.

The package includes a folding 40-by-19-inch court (the color of a red clay court, if you really use your imagination, with a yellow starburst in the center), two rackets and the light-producing mechanism. Electronic tennis sounds accompany the players’ lobs, serves and smashes, and a mechanical “announcer” keeps a running score. Those who associate John McEnroe-style outbursts with tennis will be disappointed; this is, after all a toy meant for children 7 and older.

Players hit the “ball” with a forward-pushing movement, rather than a full swing, to reflect the light to the opponent’s side of the court. (Not exactly championship form.)

Laser Tennis, about $40, was introduced at this year’s U.S. Open.