40 Years of Games
From Pocket PC ports to disco cat salons to a hobby operating system — the Mean Hamster story, one milestone at a time.
- 1985
Mean Hamster Software founded
John Swiderski starts the studio that will spend the next four decades making games.
- ~2002
Myst and Riven for Pocket PC
Ported the landmark adventure classics to Pocket PC and Windows Mobile, bringing those worlds to handheld devices.
- 2004
Big Fish era begins
Mean Hamster shifts to casual PC and Mac games, partnering with Big Fish Games to reach millions of players.
- 2007
Ye Olde Sandwich Shoppe
#1 time management game on Big Fish Games for 16 consecutive weeks.
- 2008
Bryan Vestey joins as Lead Engineer
Bryan graduates from DeVry and joins the team, shipping Everything Nice, Pet Shop Hop, and several more titles.
- 2009-10
Big Fish golden era
Pet Shop Hop, Cat Wash, Passport to Perfume (1940s globe-trotting adventure), Everything Nice, and Mother Nature.
- 2010-11
Facebook and social games
Vegas Nights series, Hospitopia (a hospital-builder benefiting children's charities), and seasonal variants on Facebook.
- 2011
Atari Days and arcade ports
KLAX and other Atari titles get the Mean Hamster treatment; several games ported to GSN WorldWinner.
- 2012
Crossbow mobile, Bee Craft, R8IT
Officially licensed mobile port of the Exidy arcade classic Crossbow. Bee Craft brings hive management to new platforms. R8IT co-developed with Sleepy Giant.
- 2013
Girl Frames for iOS
A photo-framing app featuring decorative digital frames, published on the App Store.
- 2026
A new chapter
New website, Hamster Dash browser game, PawPrints 3D, Crossbow remake (Oct), HamsterOS hobby OS (Nov), and Cat Wash 2 in the works.