​WE PUT THE
FUN
INTO CASINO GAMING

MEET THE OWNER

Frank Pellegrini  (1956-2021), founder

After more than 40 years in entertainment games, Frank Pellegrini expanded into the casino gaming industry with his intellectual property licensing company, Dirty Dog Gaming, Inc. 

Eighteen years after Frank Pellegrini first established the game development powerhouse known as Team Play, Inc., Frank sold his ownership interest and left Team Play in 2019.  As a part of the transaction, Team Play assigned to Frank the exclusive rights to all of Team Play's current and future games for licensing to manufacturers of slot machines. 

Frank already has licensed Fishbowl Frenzy® and Launch Code®.  Both were very successful, arcade-style entertainment games.  They are expected to convert into exciting, innovative, skill-based slot machines.  In fact, Scientific Games has the rights to release a gaming version of Fishbowl Frenzy as Scientific Game's Gold Fish Frenzy® slot machine.

Before Frank established Team Play in 2001, he enjoyed an extremely successful career with prestigious video game manufacturers, including Bally Midwest, Atari Manufacturing, Konami USA, Electronic Arts, Sega Enterprises USA, and TouchTunes Music Corporation.
 
Frank started his career with Bally Midwest and Atari Manufacturing in video game sales upon completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Marketing at Northern University.  Fresh out of college, Frank simultaneously entered into his first business venture with his employer's blessing.  Frank owned and operated three stand-alone video arcades, an experience that provided him with a detailed understanding of operators' needs.

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It was this insight as an arcade owner that prompted Frank to envision, invent, and patent the use of debit card systems in video arcades, more than a decade before such technology became commonplace.  

Frank's debit card system invention was awarded US Patent 4,575,622.  Years later, he licensed the '622 Patent to a variety of large and small entities, including The Walt Disney Company, Dave & Buster’s, GameWorks, and American Express.  In the process of enforcing his '622 Patent, Frank gained substantial experience in negotiating intellectual property license agreements.  And, having been married to a litigation attorney for nearly three decades, Frank had more legal experience than your typical executive.

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Frank left Atari to accept a position with Konami USA as Senior Vice President in charge of Konami's Coin‑Op Division, reporting directly to the President of Konami USA.  For ten years, Frank conceptualized, created, and supervised the design, development and marketing of Konami's hugely-successful coin-op arcade games.  Frank traveled to Japan over 50 times to supervise Konami's engineering teams.  And, Frank negotiated all character licensing for Konami's well-known titles, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lethal Enforcers and The Simpsons.  (To this day, he still gets recognized as one of the bad guys in Lethal Enforcers.)

With Konami's consent, Frank simultaneously designed, developed, manufactured and sold video games, redemption games, and jukeboxes with his brother, Ed Pellegrini, through their development company, P&P Marketing, Inc.  They released many popular arcade games, such as Police Trainer, Pub Time Darts, Capcom Bowling, Bozo’s Buckets, and the Regatta CD Jukebox.

Frank was persuaded to leave Konami by the CEO of Electronic Arts, in order to establish EA's new coin‑op video game division.  One year later, the founder / CEO / Vice-Chairman of Sega of Japan, Mr. Hayao Nakayama, personally recruited Frank to become the Senior Vice President in Charge of New Business Development for Sega Enterprises USA.  For the next five years, Frank established and expanded Sega's presence in the previously-untapped markets of South America, Central America and Mexico, adding $24 Million per year to Sega's revenue.

After more than 55 trips to Japan and five years spent traveling throughout South America, Central America and Mexico, Frank decided to devote his full attention to game development closer to home.  So, in 2001, Frank founded Team Play, Inc. 

At Team Play, Frank managed 20 employees and all of the development, marketing, manufacturing and intellectual property licensing for Team Play's video games, such as Star Trek Voyager, Crossfire Maximum Paintball, Joust/Robotron, Centipede/Millipede and Pacman/Galaga. 

"Team Play might be a small company, but it's a powerhouse of game development."  
RePlay Magazine, March 2017, p. 103.

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Frank also collaborated with a small group of partners in 2005 to establish and manage the White Rabbit Game Studio.  Frank contributed to the development of White Rabbit's  PlayporTT countertop entertainment game system, which was named AMOA's "Most Innovative Product" in 2008.  White Rabbit sold its business to TouchTunes Music Corporation, which hired Frank as Senior Vice President - Market Development.  Frank was the only White Rabbit employee retained by TouchTunes as an outside consultant after the sale transition period.

With the White Rabbit project concluded, Frank returned his attention to Team Play by expanding its development team.  Frank remained Team Play's President.  He continued to manage all aspects of the Fun Stop Photos® line of photo booths, while also substantially contributing to the design and development of Team Play’s video redemption games.  Those videmption games included the award-winning Fishbowl Frenzy (IAAPA’s “Best New Coin-Op Product” in 2014) and Launch Code (IAAPA's "Best New Coin‑Op Product" in 2016). 

Frank designed Team Play's game cabinets, directed Team Play's mechanical and hardware engineers, directed Team Play’s in‑house and third-party manufacturing of games and photo booths, handled all international sales, directed all legal matters and coordinated with outside counsel for contracts and intellectual property, and directed the day‑to‑day operations of the Team Play facility in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

Frank's licensing company, Dirty Dog Gaming, Inc., currently has available games that are in development but not yet released,  for licensing into the gaming industry.  Dirty Dog Gaming™ also owns the exclusive gaming rights to Team Play's Spins Ahoy, Surfin' Surfari, Fun Stop Photos, Countdown, Bopper Ball, Line It Up, Pirate's Booty, Prize Hoops, and all new games developed by Team Play in the future. 

Frank brought to Dirty Dog Gaming® his extensive knowledge of the Design, Development, Operation, Manufacturing, Intellectual Property Licensing, and International Sales aspects of the entertainment industry.  Frank was happily married to litigation attorney, Sheri Pellegrini, and shared their home with two horses and two cats.

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