The Plunk-o-Matic game was commissioned as part of a joint promotion between Pepsi and Electronic Arts. The game is based on a TV commercial from Pepsi showing a little boy trying (unsuccessfully) to get a dinosaur out of a skill crane machine.

Players use the arrow keys and the "drop crane" button to try and nab the prizes. The prizes have other ideas, however. They move, squirm, and generally try to avoid the Claw.

They don't seem very happy to be caught, do they?

A successful plunk brings about an animated reward screen with your new prize doing a little dance and some positive reinforcement for your ego.

Too many misses and it's game over. You can always put another virtual quarter into the machine and try again, of course.

The working title of the game was Plushie Plunk, until the Electronic Arts legal team found a site called plushies.com and decided that wasn't something they wanted associated with their brand.

Plunk-o-Matic Credits

Flash Programming: SayDesign.com Producer for Gamelet.com: Tom Jacobson Producer for Electronic Arts: Kristin Latimore Artwork and Animation: Zachary Present

©2002 Tom Jacobson. All rights reserved.