"Plok!"s history began in the late 1980s as a self-funded coin-op project by the two Pickford brothers named "Fleapit"; they worked on it while at Zippo Games and programmed it for Rare's 'Razz Board' hardware. It was cancelled in 1990 following the closure of Zippo Games, but revived as a SNES game developed at Software Creations after the Pickfords were promoted to higher positions, Ste becoming art director and John producer. Software Creations self-funded the game with the Pickfords owning intellectual property rights.