Founding Mission

To design and develop the most compelling and profitable interactive entertainment products for the coin-operated, consumer and casino gaming markets.

Services

Play Mechanix, Inc. provides a full suite of design and development services in order to make any video entertainment design and development project successful:

Company History

Play Mechanix was founded in 1995 by George Petro, a former game designer for Midway Games, a leading console game publisher. George and three others reestablished the video game department of Midway in 1987 while Midway was part of Williams-Bally-Midway. While at Midway, George lead the development of many successful titles including Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Revolution X with Aerosmith, and NARC.

In 1996, Play Mechanix began a game design and development project for Midway. Under the development agreement, Midway manufactured and sold the game INVASION: The Abductors. Play Mechanix was responsible for all aspects of development including: i) game design ii) system design and programming iii) art, sound and cabinet graphic creation and iv) project management. Play Mechanix built a staff of veteran programmers and artists in order to create INVASION, completing development in the summer of 1999.

During 1998, the company developed the video slot machine INDIGO SWING that was manufactured and sold by International Game Technology (IGT), the world's largest manufacturer of traditional and video slot machines. In 1999, Play Mechanix completed a second video slot machine which was based on the popular TV show
I DREAM of JEANNIE. Since 1998, the company designed and developed 8 video slot machine games sold by leading manufactures such as IGT, Sigma Game and Konami Gaming.

In 1999, the company began designing an original coin-operated video game -
Big Buck Hunter. Play Mechanix partnered with Incredible Technologies, developers of the popular coin-op video game Golden Tee Fore!, for manufacturing, sales and marketing. Big Buck Hunter was released into the marketplace in January 2001.

Due to the success of the original game, Big Buck Hunter: Shooter's Challenge was released in March 2002 as an upgrade to Big Buck Hunter. Shooter's Challenge improved the game by allowing players to shoot up to 3 bucks per stand. In May 2002, both Big Buck Hunter: Shooter's Challenge and Big Buck Hunter were #1 and #2 respectively on Replay magazine's industry chart.

Big Buck Hunter II: Sportsman's Paradise was released in June of 2002 and incorporated the enhancements in Shooter's Challenge, as well as adding new regions and online features. It was also the first Big Buck game to feature tournaments online.

2006 saw Play Mechanix partner-up with Raw Thrills, developers of coin-op hits The Fast and The Furious: Super Bikes and Target: Terror, and Betson Enterprises, one of the industry's leading distributors to assist in the development, manufacturing and sale of Big Buck Hunter Pro, which featured more compelling backgrounds, and an all-new two-player element known in the game as “Shootout”. Shootout allows two players to compete in head-to-head, real-time competition. Big Buck Hunter Pro also expanded the wild game to 5 all-new, high-definition 3-D modeled animals to hunt: Whitetail Deer, Elk, Prong Horn Antelope and now Moose and Big Horn Sheep. Hunting treks are now organized by species and not by region. Big Buck Hunter Pro also included 15 new bonus rounds and a gameplay option of playing "Bonus-Only".
Big Buck Hunter Pro is gearing up for tournament play in the near future. The new tournament system will bring a new level of excitement to players everywhere with on-line competitions, local contests and all the features you are used to and much more.

After the success of Big Buck Hunter Pro, Play Mechanix and Raw Thrills saw it in their best interests to combine talent, and Play Mechanix became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raw Thrills, Inc.

Play Mechanix is currently developing, for release in 2007 and 2008, other licensed and original products for the coin-op markets. Stay tuned!