Computer Museum of America (CMoA) joins the new season of Catalyst Games

NEWS ITEM

Since 2012, Catalyst Games (formerly known as Start Up Games) has facilitated friendly team building competitions among various organizations by playing games for charity, primarily located in their headquarters of Austin, TX, Denver, CO and Atlanta, GA. Company teams choose nonprofits they want to support and sponsors fund each nonprofit organization, with the winning charity receiving the largest donation.

Points are earned by volunteering for participating nonprofits followed by competing in games on behalf of those nonprofits.  With this being the first year everything is virtual, players will compete in activities such as trivia, virtual relay races, and an immersive escape room.

CMoA will be participating along with, other nonprofits including A Precious Child, Code2College, E4Youth, SaulPaulFoundation and Youth on Record. CMoA is the only Atlanta area nonprofit participating in this year’s games. Atlanta area organizations competing in the games are Carvana and Sage Foundation with eighteen other organizations playing nationally.

Since 2012, Catalyst Games has donated over $830,000.00 into the communities served and over 200 companies have played on behalf of the nonprofits.

The event takes place for two months. In the first half, the companies earn points by interacting   and volunteering for nonprofits like CMoA. Because the volunteer opportunities are virtual this year, players across the country can earn points helping CMoA by writing blog posts, designing merchandise, or selecting items from our Amazon Wishlist to donate to the museum. We also recorded two educational videos on supercomputers and gaming with the help of Dr. Robert Harris, Georgia Tech Research; Todd Harris, Skillshot Media; and Ben Lewin, New Earth Entertainment. You can view these videos at YouTube here:  https://youtu.be/5an0St5xpy8 & https://youtu.be/5P6UnxlaVN8.

This year’s theme is Access to Opportunity. Rena Youngblood, Executive Director at CMoA, participated in a panel discussion about what that means to the Museum.  “The stories of the ‘Hidden Figures’ in technology must be told; the stories of people like Dorothy Vaughan and Ada Lovelace,” says Youngblood. “Surveys have told us that people trust the information they receive from history museums more than from nearly any other source– so we have a real responsibility to make sure that information is shared.”

The volunteer season ends September 25th and the games begin on October 1st.  The winner of the games will be announced November 12th following the National Championship played between the top two teams which will be live-streamed.