During his teenage years, Rignall held the UK and World Record high scores on video games such as Defender, Pole Position and Crossfire.

[2] In 1985, the former editor of Personal Computer Games, Chris Anderson, invited Rignall to join the launch team for Newsfield Publications' Commodore 64 magazine, Zzap!64.

[3] As a staff writer, Rignall continued to display his gameplaying abilities as he repeatedly emerged the victor of the monthly ZZAP!

Upon his promotion to editor, Rignall changed the magazine's editorial direction focusing more on the newly emerging Japanese video game consoles instead of the fading 8-bit generation of microcomputers.

[6] Covering the top-selling video game systems of the time, such as the Super NES and Mega Drive, Mean Machines became the largest-selling multi-platform publication in the United Kingdom.

In 1994, Rignall transitioned from magazine publishing to software development, joining Virgin Interactive Entertainment[8] in Irvine, California.

In 2006, Rignall became the vice-president and editorial creative director with Bank of America's user-centred design and research division where he developed consumer, business and marketing content for the company's 22 million website customers.