What is "trailblazer"

by 1893, from trail (n.) + agent noun from blaze (v.3).

n. 1 One that blaze a trail to guide others; a pathfinder. 2 (context figuratively English) An innovative leader in a field; a pioneer.

1. n. someone who marks a trail by leaving blazes on trees

2. someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art [syn: pioneer, innovator, groundbreaker]

Trailblazer is a video game that requires the player to direct a ball along a series of suspended passages. Released originally by Gremlin Graphics for the Commodore 16/ Commodore Plus/4, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit and Amstrad CPC in 1986 (there was also an enhanced version on Amstrad CPC 3" disc) it was subsequently ported in its original form to the Amiga and Atari ST.

It returned again in 2005 on the Gizmondo handheld games console.

The game can be played either in time trial or arcade mode. The music in the background matches the gameplay with its electronica genre. Races are quite brief and usually last between 15 and 45 seconds. Special fields on the track let the ball jump, slow down, speed up or warp speed the ball, invert the controls or are holes.

Trailblazer may refer to:

• Trail blazing, a person who marks a trail through wilderness areas

In sports:

• Portland Trail Blazers, a basketball team based in Portland, Oregon
• North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's recreational ice hockey association
• Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team
• Southampton Trailblazers, a British basketball club

In transportation and travel:

• The Chevrolet TrailBlazer, a sport utility vehicle made by General Motors
• Trailblazer (travel), an independent British publisher of travel, trekking, and railway route guides
• Trailblazer Travel Books, a US series of guidebooks focusing on Hawaii
• Trail Blazer (passenger train), a Pennsylvania Railroad train, which ran from Chicago to New York, via Pittsburgh
• Toyota Trekker, another name for the Toyota Trailblazer
• A highway shield and route marker roadside sign assembly

In technology and computing:

• Trailblazer Project, a NSA programme to track communication methods such as cell phones and email
• Trailblazer (satellite), a technology demonstration satellite, which was to have been operated by the US Air Force and MDA
• Trailblazer (video game), a 1986 video game by Gremlin Graphics, later updated for the Gizmondo
  • Cosmic Causeway: Trailblazer II, its sequel
• Trailblazer-class cruiser starship in Lightspeed_(video_game)
• The Telebit TrailBlazer, a 1980s–1990s high speed modem
• The codename of Borland's InterBase database version 2007

In media:

• Trailblazer (album), a 1990 live album by punk band ALL
• Trail Blazer (album), an album by the Turkish heavy metal band Mezarkabul
• Trailblazers (Community Channel TV series), a British TV show on UK Community Channel
• Trailblazers (XLEAGUE.TV series), a British TV show on XLEAGUE.TV
• NAACP Theatre Award – Trailblazer Award, an award presented to an individual who has made their mark in the entertainment industry
• Trail Blazer Award (MMVA Award), a defunct MMVA award
• Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer, a 1956 American film
• Albert Pendarvis, more commonly known as The Old Trailblazer, a Christian broadcaster
• The Trail Blazers (film series) a 1940 series of B Westerns made by Monogram Pictures

In other uses:

• Trailblazer (roller coaster), a rollercoaster at Hersheypark, USA
• Trailblazer Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that brings natural gas from Colorado into Nebraska
• Operation Trailblazer, a coalition military operation in the Iraq War

Trailblazer is a live album by the American punk rock band All, released in 1990 through Cruz Records. It was recorded in July 1989 at CBGB in New York City during the band's tour to promote their second studio album, Allroy's Revenge. The album was titled after a brand of portable toilet used by the band while on tour.

Trailblazer is a family roller coaster at Hersheypark amusement park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Pioneer Frontier section of Hersheypark, just below Storm Runner. The ride is notable for being the second-oldest operating coaster in the park, after the Comet, and for its family-friendly height requirement of 36 inches and above with an adult.

Trailblazer is an independent British publisher of travel, trekking and railway route-guides. Started by author Bryn Thomas it was originally synonymous with the Trans Siberian Handbook, which for years was the only guide to crossing Asia by rail and remains much respected.

The company now publishes guides to long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom, and hiking and adventure tourism guides to destinations elsewhere.

The publisher should not be confused with Trailblazer Travel Books, a series of recreational guides for the Hawaiian Islands, Sierra Nevada, and San Francisco, which are published by California-based Diamond Valley Company.

Trailblazer was a technology demonstration satellite, which was to have been operated by the United States Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency. It was selected for launch under a "Jumpstart" contract, to demonstrate responsiveness, with the final payload being chosen less than a month ahead of the scheduled launch date, and was launched as the primary payload of the third Falcon 1, which failed just over two minutes after launch on 3 August 2008. Two previous Falcon 1 launches also failed to reach orbit, but the fourth succeeded although it only carried a dummy payload.

It was originally built for a cancelled MDA project, and was based on a SpaceDev MMB-100 satellite bus. It was launched from Omelek Island, at 03:34 GMT. Several other payloads were to be launched aboard the same rocket, including two CubeSats for NASA, and a space burial payload for Celestis, which would have remained attached to the rocket in low Earth orbit.

Trailblazer was a suspended monorail that operated at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas from 1956 to 1964. It was the first commercially operated monorail system in the United States.