The initial series of games released from 2000 to 2005 by Incredible Technologies operated on a single gun platform and allowed four players to compete round robin style through various treks and bonus stages.

Games beginning with Big Buck Hunter Pro, released in 2006 by Raw Thrills, introduced a two-gun platform, allowing head-to-head competition in addition to a variety of new animals and critters to hunt.

[7] Big Buck HD was the first edition to integrate Facebook and Twitter, which allows players to share and compare scores and awards via social networks.

[8] Big Buck Hunter game cabinets that are connected to the CoinUp Network can support local and national tournaments.

National Tournaments did return to Big Buck HD WILD for a short time in 2017 and 2018, but on a weekly basis with a particular theme for each month.

Operators can also choose to set up their own custom tournaments for Big Buck HD, Wild, & Reloaded games that they own via the CoinUp website.

[10] It brings in 64 people from all over the world in an elimination tournament, where the highest rated players in each region get to earn an invite for the event.

With Pro mode becoming a core part of the game, the qualifier would start in November, and end in September, with the World Championship happening in October.

After the release of Midway's Invasion: The Abductors in 1999, Petro thought that hunting games were popular in homes but there was also a lack of those in arcades.

He pitched the idea to the design team, and shortly after started developing the prototype, with Incredible Technologies handling the manufacture of the arcade machine.

[13] Needing financial support to make the next game in the series, Big Buck Hunter Pro, the developers contacted Raw Thrills in January 2006.

In 2012, they released Big Buck HD, which combined elements from Pro and Safari and presented them in 1080p high-definition graphics, and added groundbreaking online features such as the ability to compete with players from other locations live, improved tournaments, and easier account creation.

[19][20] In 2019, Play Mechanix also announced a partnership with Tastemakers LLC to release an Arcade1Up version of Big Buck Hunter Pro in fall 2020.