Celebrity Contest Pits a Real Astronaut Against a Monkee in a Battle of Wits

    AUSTIN, TX, March 11, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ricochet Labs announced today a celebrity showdown using its new iPhone social quiz game QRANK. Each day QRANK pulls fresh questions from the Internet, many of them ripped straight from the day's headlines, a feat no other mobile trivia game matches.

To celebrate QRANK's launch and represent the breadth of its topics, Ricochet Labs enlisted 10 smarties, including astronaut and game luminary Richard Garriott and former Monkee and media innovator Michael Nesmith, to play each other in QRANK.

The contestants will play head-to-head for three days, starting today, Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Thanks to QRANK's unique time-shifted play sessions, each contestant feels as if he is playing alongside the other players. The winner will be announced during QRANK's launch party at the SXSW Interactive Festival on March 13, 2010.
"We're thrilled to have folks we admire engage in a game of wits using QRANK," said Ricochet Labs CEO Rodney Gibbs. "Playing from all parts of the country, our celebrity contestants illustrate how easy it is to play your friends in our quick daily game."

Other confirmed celebrity contestants include:
* Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm
* Evan Smith, former panelist for "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!" and editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune
* Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell
* Boing Boing game blogger Brandon Boyer
* LA Times travel blogger Jen Leo
* Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
* Omar Gallega, tech columnist for the Austin American-Statesman
* "Deus Ex" game designer Harvey Smith; and
* Geoff Ketchum of ESPN Radio.

Ricochet Labs will donate $500 to a charity of the winner's choice and award the winner with a pair of Norwegian Olympic curling team pants.

For more information on QRANK or to schedule an interview call (512) 825-8021 or email [email protected].

ABOUT QRANK
QRANK (pronounced "crank") is a daily quiz game played with friends. Pulling fresh questions from the Internet, QRANK never runs out of new content as it lets friends compete in fun, short, sassy trivia contests. QRANK will soon be available for free from Apple's App Store, and shortly thereafter will be available on Facebook.

Website: http://qrankthegame.com/

ABOUT RICOCHET LABS
Founded in 2009 by veterans of the video game and online media industries, Ricochet Labs develops location-based social games and applications. It is based in Austin, Texas, and QRANK is its first release.

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