Game created by Whaaat!? Lab co-directors selected for coveted GDC showcase

A game developed by ATLAS Senior Instructor and TAM Program Director Matt Bethancourt, his partner, Lisa Bethancourt, and ATLAS Instructor Danny Rankin will exhibit at alt.ctrl.GDC, a coveted showcase of alternative game controller schemes and interactions that happens during the world's largest professional game developer's conference held in San Francisco, March 16-20. 

Buy! Sell!, created under the Bethancourts' creative firm, Mouse & the Billionaire, is one of 21 games to be exhibited at the 2020 Game Developer's Conference (GDC). The fast-paced, multi-player, stock-trading game uses analog telephones as game controllers, and players watch a terminal full of charts, graphs and breaking news to make split-second decisions whether to buy or sell stocks like, pizza, candy and gold. The goal is to dial the phone number for a stock and shout “Buy!” or “Sell!” before competitors; transactions affect the stock prices, and the player with the largest portfolio at the end of the trading day wins.

Matt Bethancourt and Rankin also co-direct the ATLAS Whaaat!? Lab, which explores new ways to "bring more delight to the world through games and experimental interactions." Two years ago the two also started the Whaaat!? festival in order to "geek-out with a group of like-minded game developers." This year the event attracted 250 participants, and 5280 magazine designated it as an "Editor's Pick" in its "Best things to do in Colorado in October" listing.