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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl

Flash Suit  
  Special suit for practice battles.  

It was the largest compartment that contained the prize. It looked like a spacesuit at first glance, complete with helmet and gloves. But it wasn't. There was no airtight seal. Still, it would effectively cover the whole body. It was thickly padded. It was also a little stiff...

The flash suits were designed for wars fought with harmless light; they offered little protection and seriously hampered movement if it came to hand-to-hand fighting in nullo. Half the boys were flashed, anyway, and couldn't fight; but the stiffness of their suits made them potentially useful...

Technovelgy from Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.
Published by Tor in 1985
Additional resources -

The flash suits were lighted; they went dark wherever they were 'frozen':

From the number of lights showing on their flash suits, Bee could see that three of them were disabled and two of them damaged...

It's important to note that the novel is based on Card's 1977 short story of the same name. It contains the battleroom material. It's important because people familiar with Lazer Tag and its variants weren't developed until the mid-1980's.

As it turns out, there really is such a thing as a "flash suit" - it's unrelated to Card's idea. It is a thermal-protective garment made of heavy weight NOMEX, PBI or other flame-retardant material. They can provide protection for temperatures of up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Ender's Game
  More Ideas and Technology by Orson Scott Card
  Tech news articles related to Ender's Game
  Tech news articles related to works by Orson Scott Card

Flash Suit-related news articles:
  - BRUISE Smart Injury Detection Suit

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