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# Gadget man honored for his games
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/gadget-man-honored-for-his-games/
- Published: 2003-05-27T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:12:11.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

A Santa Monica man was recently recognized for more than 100 inventions he created and the development of more than four dozen video games.

Jay Smith was one of seven alumni recognized by the College of Engineering’s Committee at Virginia Tech and was named as a member of the Academy of Engineering Excellence. Smith was recognized as a outstanding contributor to the profession of engineering and to the college.

Smith, who is an engineering mechanics graduate at Virginia Tech, holds 40 patents, most of which are related to the toy or game industry.

Smith says he has always been a gadget maker. He illustrated his creative genius early on by winning science fairs in elementary school. Smith kept his fascination with toys and games, but after completing his engineering degree at Virginia Tech, he felt compelled to pursue what he considered to be a real engineering job. He joined TRW and worked on the U.S. space program.

After a few years, the toy company, Mattel, knocked on his door, and he jumped at the chance to become a kid at heart again. One day he was working on a Minuteman missile and the next day he was playing with Creepy Crawlers and bottles of black, purple and pink Plasti-Goop.

Smith and a small group from Mattel decided to take a different leap and start their own company called Innova. After a year, he moved on to become a founding partner of California R&D Center. He remained for five years and then established Smith Engineering and later Western Technologies, a successful developer of toys, entertainment software, and consumer products. His clients included Mattel, Milton Bradley and Nintendo.

After owning and operating both companies for 19 years, Wanderlust Interactive acquired Western and changed its name to Adrenalin Interactive. Smith was retained as its CEO of the now publicly owned company, and was responsible for its merger into a larger company.

Adrenalin was sold in 2000, and Smith took a break from the fast track and served as a consultant to Water Network, a new digital TV channel for water sports and recreation. He remains a director and a major stockholder of that company while he pursues his new role with Play-It-Now, a company he founded in 2001\. Smith serves as the chief executive officer of the Los Angeles based media content company that develops and distributes games using the interactive technologies of cable and satellite television to provide in-home distribution.

Smith is a member of the Toy Industry of America, the Board of Advisors of Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center, the Santa Monica Rotary Club, and he is active in several Californian service and charitable organizations.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 27, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052703.pdf?ref=smdp.com)