Spring Breakers Get Soaked

Panama City, Florida has always been a prime destination for spring breakers looking to leave the colder climes for some sunshine. Now this hot spot got even cooler. "Newstream.com":http://www.newstream.com/us/story_pub.shtml?story_id=12661&user_ip=68.38.76.95 is reporting that… bq. The "Super Soaker Survivor Challenge" -- a three-day game of Soakertag in Panama City, Florida -- has come to a soaking conclusion. Using Super Soaker Water Blasters, players battled it out on the beach until there was just one (watered down) winner. But this was no typical water fight where everyone just gets wet. Instead, Soakertag was played using water-soluble targets attached to the players. The object -- dissolve your opponent's target before he dissolves yours. The game became more intense when the new line-up of Super Soaker blasters let players drench their opponents in every way possible. Their options included nozzles that shoot two blasts at the same time and a detachable min-soaker that shoots a foam-soaked ball. Even though the last Super Soaker warrior standing was drenched, he did walk away with a $4,000 grand prize. Hopefully, he'll use some of it to buy a few towels for his friends. Super Soaker water guns were invented by Dr. Lonnie Johnson, one the smartest (and nicest) inventors I had the privledge to interview for _The Playmakers_. At first the toy was called the Power Drencher and was released by Larami in the fall of 1990. After a trademark infringement claim by a rival water gun maker, the Power Drencher’s name was changed to Super Soaker in 1991. The rest, as they say, is squirt gun history. By 1994 the air-powered water gun market was a $215 million a year business. To those water gun warriors who grew up Pre-Super Soaker, Johnson’s invention seems like a technological leap of epic proportions. Maybe that’s why adults loved Super Soakers from the start. A 35-foot stream of continuous water tends to impress us more than kids who never had to suffer the indignities of our “ray gun” water pistols with a “squirt” range that peaked at a whopping three feet. At an estimated 300 million sold and 15 years on the market, Super Soaker still delivers the water and the promise: “Don’t get wet … get soaked!”