![[full]](Images/funhouse.gif)
It all started back in early 2001 when
the Founder
and CEO of BMI Gaming,
David Young, stumbled upon
a small local "mom & pop" gaming repair shop
in Broward County, Florida, in
which he discovered
and
purchased his very
first pinball machine (Funhouse) for his
new home.
Having not played pinball in years due the lack
of pinball machines in many
arcade centers,
David
immediately fell back in love with the game, and started
his present-day
passion with
first
collecting, then restoring modern pinball
machines, then video games, and then just about everything else!
His pinball machine collection quickly grew from one to over fifteen pinball machines
in the
space of
less than a year, and David was forced to rent out a
local warehouse to
store them all!
Then on one historic day
in late 2001, while
David was taking delivery of yet another machine
for his burgeoning gaming collection at the warehouse, a man walked up to David
out of the blue and said :
" Wow...... You sell pinball machines ? Cool ! "
At first, David was surprised
by this comment,
and then told the man that no, he did
not sell
pinball machines, but was in fact a private collector of them. But after
the man pleaded with
David to take a look at his games,
he agreed to let
him inside the warehouse for a quick peek.
A few minutes into exploring his collection, the man offered David a very
handsome price
for one particular machine (Twilight Zone) out of the blue, and after some thought,
David agreed
to sell it to him.
The very next day, the man showed up to pay for the machine, but also brought
along a friend
who was also very eager to buy a pinball machine - and David wound up
selling
machines to both men that day..... just so he could reinvest the
handsome profits made to
find
and purchase even more pinball machines for his rapidly growing collection!
From that encounter, David
starting thinking about how very difficult it was to locate top quality
arcade games that were totally restored, from a "brand name" firm,
who provided nationwide
delivery and service, and the apparently
untapped market and demand for commercial-quality
games that could be bought,
delivered, serviced and played
in either the home or office.
From this realization, and from the
profound enjoyment pinball machines and arcade games
brought to him, David started
researching "on the side" the possibility of entering the emerging
market
for home, office and corporate arcade gaming entertainment, and on a
whim, in 2002
he
decided to
learn how to program in HTML and create a tiny website
that initially
offered just
a
few machines from his collection, to "test the
waters", so to speak, for a proof of concept
test for another web-based business that he was at this time deep in the
middle of starting up.
And what a test it
was
- Within a few weeks of launching his tiny three page web
site,
David
sold out his entire pinball machine collection, and was receiving hundreds of emails
a month
from folks and firms
all across America and all over the world, wanting to buy his
games.
David
quickly realized that he might be onto something big, and then quickly started a in-depth
research project
of the commercial and residential coin-operated machine market, by contacting
various manufacturers,
game collectors and technicians across the country to
learn about the
commercial side of the market, and by attending
various private shows and industry trade
events featuring
coin-operated products, to learn all about the industry from the
ground up.
Based on his extensive research project, David
determined three separate factors:
One, there did not exist any national firm devoted strictly to catering
to the needs of both the home
commercial and corporate
users for commercial coin-op products in the USA, or anywhere
else in
the
world.
Sure, there were plenty of small "one-man bands" and "mom and
pops" working out of
their basements, garages or small shops with a website, or individuals who sold
older beat-up
games via eBay or other auctions sites, and a handful of commercial distributors
who cater to
arcades and operators, that would
occasionally sell sub-standard and heavily used products taken
in on trade, but no firm could really
say they were totally
focused on restoring, selling,
servicing,
supporting and catering to the home, commercial and
corporate markets on
a nationwide basis.
Two, the "home/office" marketplace for commercial-quality
coin-op products, a
market which was
almost completely non-existent just a few years back, was rapidly emerging due to
consumers
having larger homes,
more expendable income and more free time, and the home "cocooning
factor", due to
the world at large becoming ever so more a dangerous place to
venture out
into,
and the entire "entertainment at home" arena being taken to a higher
level, with
consumers both
young and old wanting the
"real thing" in their homes now, as opposed to inexpensive gaming
console
they may have owned, which was quickly becoming relegated to
the status
of a child's
playtoy, in contrast to actual higher-dollar, collectable
commercial arcade games.
Three, there currently not a way for consumers, commercial users or corporate buyers to safely
purchase
a product from a nationally recognized firm that could provide machines
backed with a
rock-solid warranty, nationwide delivery and service, lifetime technical
support geared toward the
first-time game owner, and most importantly (due
to the many firms who sold "junk" or "abused"
games via eBay and various
other internet sites, then leaving
them high and dry with a broken
game) some
sort of accountability of their "track record" with game buyers, and at
the same time,
offering buyers a safe online shopping experience through enrollment
with such organizations as
the Better Business Bureau Online Reliability Program,
SquareTrade
Resolution Program and HackerSafe, to guard against credit card
fraud, and to separate the company from the
many
unscrupulous
coin-op dealers who frequently misrepresented the quality of their
products
online.
From the above observations,
David (who was already a successful businessman and serial
entrepreneur with three
profitable startup firms under his belt) concluded there might
be a real
opportunity in the market for a
nationally-based coin-op firm that would focus primarily on the
home and corporate user,
but who would also plan on
offering its exceptional services and
innovative ideas in the industry to the larger commercial gaming market in time.
And from these observations, the inspiration and vision
of BMI Gaming was formed.
Since that first idea , BMI
Gaming has grown to become the world's leading coin-op gaming
company catering to home and business users, not only in the USA, but all over the world,
now
with
customers
in fourteen different countries and all 50 states, with customers ranging
from
young
families,
baby boomers to successful business leaders, professional athletes, movie
celebrities, rock stars and book authors to arcades, family
entertainment centers, nightclubs,
bars,
small businesses, large corporations, research & development labs,
advertising agencies,
nursing homes, hospitals,
US Military, local, state and federal government agencies, and
non
profit organizations like
colleges, universities, churches, youth centers, schools, camps, etc...
With over 1,500,000 + unique visitors per year, BMI Gaming remains the world leader on the
web, offering its customers over 1300 + amusement, gaming and vending products,
spanning
over
800 + web pages which contains over 850,000 words, and with over
one gigabyte of
total
online
content at
last count, and which continues to grow on a daily basis.
BMI Gaming also hosts one of the largest gaming showroom in
the world, based on size
and
amount of working games on display, with 5,000 + sq ft. devoted entirely to
showcasing
over
150 + commercial-quality arcade and sports games on working display at
all times,
BMI Gaming has been recognized by
Inc. Magazine
as one of the "Top 500" Fastest Growing
Private Firms" in 2007,
by PriceWaterhouseCoopers
as one of the "Hot 100 Fastest Growing
Private Firms in America" in 2006, and by
Internet
Retailer Magazine as one of the "Top 500
Internet Retailers in America", in both 2006
and 2007.
BMI Gaming has appeared in
prominent national publications and broadcasts like
CNN,
The New York Times, Fortune Magazine,
Newsweek, The Robb Report,
Wired, Entrepreneur
Magazine, PBS, MSNBC.com, FHM, Maxim and many other newspapers and magazines.
Press / Media / Interview Inquiries
:
We love to share our interesting story of risk-taking,
innovation, success, entrepreneurship
and childhood nostalgia rediscovered with the media, along with
introducing the latest / hottest
trend in home entertainment to your audience or readership anytime - And
our both our games
and warehouse offer a lively, colorful and visually appealing photo and
broadcast background.
Press /
Media Relations Contact :
Email:
pr@bmigaming.com
Telephone : (561) 939-2875 | Monday - Friday
| 2pm - 10pm (Eastern Time)
Corporate Headquarters
BMI Gaming, Inc.
3500 NW Boca Raton Boulevard
Administration - Building 720
Boca Raton, Florida 33431
Telephone: (561) 391-7200
Fax: (561) 391-8040
Click here to read Welcome
Letter from our Founder and CEO
Click here
to read
what our Customers have to say about us
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to see our Awards and what the Press has to say
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Gaming in general
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