From commuting to creating

When Hewlett High School business teacher Ron Remick was a youth group counselor at Our Lady of Youth Ministry in Hicksville, the kids played a paper version of a number and word game they called Bullets & Maggots.
Nearly 20 years later, while commuting to Hewlett from Poughkeepsie, Remick thought about how that game could work as an app. “It’s about an hour and a half commute each way so you have a lot of time to think,” he said. “It’s a fun and challenging game where you try to guess a number or word code that your friend created before they guess your code; it’s like Mastermind and Hangman with a twist.”
After several months of planning, Remick launched his company, Rem Tech, in February 2012 to create the game and then approached friends and family to see if they’d like to invest in it. “This July we started designing it and launched it in October,” he said. “It was a long eighteen months; longer than I expected but it was exciting to see an idea I roughly drew on paper to come alive on a phone and tablet.” The creation process included research of existing games and how they were marketed, Remick added.
Director of Athletics at Lawrence Woodmere Academy, Jeff Weiss, has known Remick for six years and was excited by the concept for Bullets & Maggots, which is the first multi-player, multi-platform code-guessing mobile game. “Though I’m not much of a gamer myself, I see others who are really into that stuff,” Weiss said. “While my wife and I are always open to becoming involved in new projects, we only become involved with people we trust, have a great product and are dedicated; Ron is all of that.”
Hewlett High senior Matthew Bickoff has had Remick as a teacher for several business courses and was excited when he heard about the game. “The creation of the app was truly a long process and when it was finally completed my schoolmates and I downloaded the game immediately,” Bickoff said. “I frequently play it and I enjoy it because of its uniqueness. It provides players with a fun, yet challenging experience, and to emerge victorious, you must think.”

Connecting to the game via social media, such as Facebook or Twitter, adds to the appeal of the game, Bickoff said. “The theme is one of a kind as there are no other code guessing games like it on the market,” he said. “In the future, I hope Bullets & Maggots will continue to thrive and that it will earn the credit it truly deserves. This game has the potential to start a chain reaction within Rem Tech and can possibly lead to many more wonderful apps.”
Knowing the amount of enthusiasm Remick brings to his work, Weiss is confident in his investment. “Of course, any investor looks to the future and I hope the game catches fire and profits follow at some point,” he said. “It’s an awesome game and I hope this works out for Ron as I know how passionate he is about his work.”
Remick said he would like to create an educational program for younger kids to use in school as the app, which is intended for ages 10 and up, can sometimes include more advanced words. “We’re also turning to charities to spread the word about the game and if people use the special code given to them from the charity, we’ll donate a certain percentage to the organization,” he said. “I’m really hoping to do that down the road.”

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