I first discovered this game about a year and a half ago in one of my locals. I swear myself and about 3 of my friends went to no other pub and played no other games for about six month straight. Do you know why we stopped playing the game? Because they removed it from the pub! Not only did that place lose the money we where ploughing in to BBH (about £15-£20 a night) but also lost our custom to the next best thing, which was an O’Neils that had Silver Strike Bowling. My point is myself, and my friends have never been so hooked addicted obsessed with a game. We were always trying to achieve that perfect round or take down the buck far off in the distance with a precise head shot. So it’s a relief to find out that there are a whole bunch of people out there who are as thoroughly obsessed with this game as me and my buddies used to be. I say used to be because I’ve yet to find another pub with BBH in.
Mike Pantaleno wipes his hands on his jeans before he takes a bright orange gun, raises it to eye level and squints to line up a shot. It’s just before midnight on a Tuesday at Lido Bar in Brooklyn, N.Y., which means the weekly Big Buck Hunter Pro Tournament has begun. Pantaleno rocks back and forth as he vigorously reloads the barrel of his plastic weapon and, with ease and precision, takes down animated deer that dart across the screen.
“I smell a double perfect!” shouts one onlooker as Pantaleno drops the gun and raises his arms in jubilation, celebrating his performance and awaiting his score.
Pantaleno is one of the growing number of bar patrons flocking to play Big Buck Hunter Pro, a simulated hunting arcade game that allows users to shoot deer, moose, elk, rams and sheep while battling to best fellow players. Big Buck Hunter Pro, also known as BBHP, is the newest and most popular version of the Big Buck Hunter games first launched in 2001. Since its introduction last year BBHP has sold more than 7,000 units in the United States and has been ranked the most popular coin-operated game three out of the past four months by RePlay magazine.
“They’d have to come up with something pretty good to beat this game,” said Kenny Williams, who started playing BBHP at his favorite watering hole, Keegan’s Pub in Chicago. Williams thought it looked ridiculous at first, but once he played, he was addicted.
