New Online Game “Rhythm”, Invented by Teenager Dan Slutz, 18, of Canton, Ohio, Goes Live

“Rhythm”, Invented by Aspiring Teen Video Game Designer Dan Slutz, Winner of National Invent-A-Game Challenge, Now Available as a Free, Online Game by EA

Best Buy and EA in association with By Kids For Kids (BKFK) announced today that “Rhythm,” the new game invented by Dan Slutz, winner of their 2009 Invent-A-Game Challenge, is now available free of charge at EA.com/rhythm and will be available the first week of August at bestbuy.com/games.

Dan Slutz, 18, of Canton, Ohio won the National Invent-A-Game Challenge, a competition for America’s youth to create their own video games in June 2009. Slutz won for his music-based platform game where players battle evil forces utilizing various musical styles as weapons to advance, conquer and defeat their enemies. As the Grand Prize Winner, Dan was honored at EA’s offices in Los Angeles, and received his Grand Prize, a $10,000 U.S. savings bond.

In the game, Rhythm is the hero of the story, in trying to recover the stolen platinum disc from his nemesis Sylence. The loss of the platinum disc has stolen music and color from the world, and converted its youthful inhabitants into mindless, colorless drones. Rhythm needs to explore the world, use a megaphone to convert drones back to music loving teens, and re-power amps to bring music and color back to the world. Rhythm can collect new musical genres, which when enabled change the world and allow him to perform special moves. When Rhythm finally catches up with Sylence, he needs all of the musical genres to defeat his arch enemy and recover the platinum disc.

‘Rhythm,’ created by Dan Slutz, was developed by Say Design, with support and funding from Electronic Arts Inc. and the Best Buy Foundation, in cooperation with BKFK.

“It is really exciting to see that my game has actually come to life and is ready to play,” said inventor Dan Slutz. “This is a very important first step in realizing my dream to become a video game developer.”

“Best Buy is thrilled to be able to bring the game ‘Rhythm’ to life for our customers,” said David Benson, merchant director, gaming for Best Buy. “Dan’s hard work has definitely paid off.”

“The game is loads of fun to play,” said Kevin Shrapnell, Development Director of EA, “and it has been a pleasure bringing Dan’s vision to reality.”

Norman Goldstein, the founder and CEO of By Kids For Kids, added: “Dan Slutz is a perfect example of the power of youth to create engaging and compelling products. We congratulate Dan on the launch of ‘Rhythm’ and wish him well in his future career as a video game developer. Also, BKFK would like to thank EA and Best Buy for all their incredible support of this competition.”