TV Frame

Returning for its seventh season:
America's favorite festival for experimental games and playful interactions!

The Whaaat!? Gang Has Been Busy Since Last Year!

The gang has been busy, and this year's Whaaat!? Festival promises to wow attendees, befuddle critics, and cement its place as the nation's hottest festival for experimental games and playful interactions!

You can expect old favorites (the return of the crowd-pleasing cereal bar), new faces (amazing, nationally known keynote speakers), and as always, buddling games and interactions that will make you wonder whaaat might happen next!

Generously Supported by...

New Faces Join the Cast!

Our keynote speakers this year are really something!

Round Image

Josh Zhong

Josh Zhong is an art school veteran, most recently serving two years at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program where he is now a “Post-Doctoral Research Resident” despite not having a PhD. He designs questionably fun tools and experiences capitalising on the disembodiment of himself, and has never taken a single thing seriously in his life.

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Naomi Clark

Naomi Clark is a game designer, teacher, and scholar who has been making games since 1999. In that time, she's contributed to over three dozen titles in varied roles including game designer, writer, and producer, as well as occasionally contributing to code and graphic design. Naomi's experience ranges from games for well-known companies such as LEGO and Atari to casual and mobile games for mass audiences as well as smaller-scale independent and experimental work.

Episode by Episode!

9AM - 10AM
ATLAS Lobby
Check-in and Cereal Bar
It's everyone's favorite once a year tradition: the ALL YOU CAN EAT WHAAAT!? CEREAL EXTRAVAGANZA. Brought to you this year by the one and only Sunblink.
9AM - 10AM
ATLAS BBX
VIP Arcade
Big Festival Passholders get one hour to luxuriate in all our phenomenal games before the unwashed masses arrive.
10AM - 10:15AM
ATLAS 100
Opening Remarks
The Whaaat!? Team will 100% remember all of the things that they want to let you know about the exciting events of the day. There is no way they will forget to mention something that will pop-up later to surprise and delight you.
10:30AM - 11:30AM
ATLAS 100
Talk: Josh Zhong
We all lean forward in our seats, waiting with bated breath for Josh Zhong to tell us things. Amazing things. Life-changing things.
11:30AM - 12PM
ATLAS 100
First Person Josh (FPJ)
You are a ghost who controls real-life Josh Zhong as he goes out in the world, making him interact with everything around him. Makes perfect sense to us, why are you looking at us like that?
11:30AM - 1:00PM
ATLAS 104
5x5 Gameshow
You think you remember the 90s? What about the 80s? Don't tell me you can recall the 70s? Surely not the 60s?! Prove it, in a fast-paced trivia game full of questions proven to stave off brainrot from watching too much TV.
12PM - 1PM
ATLAS Lobby / Boulder Area
Lunch Break / Game Lunch
For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to let you borrow a game from our extensive board game library AND provide you with an all-you-can-eat nacho bar? We don't know. Weird business model, if you ask us.
1PM - 2PM
ATLAS 100
Talk: Naomi Clark
You thought you were full from the nachos at lunch... Wait until Naomi Clark stuffs your brain with a spicy mix of joy, knowledge, and inspiration!
2PM - 2:30PM
ATLAS 102
LazerDisc Mysteries
We know, we know. It's laser with an S, but really? Can you blame us? Semi-obscure mystery games on antiquated technology in a movie theatre?! It deserves the Z.
2:00PM - 3:00PM
ATLAS 104
5x5 Gameshow
This will be a lot easier if you do it at 11:30AM too... good thing we aren't handing out prizes to the winners of this. Or are we? I can't remember. Shoot, there's that brainrot again.
2:30PM - 3PM
ATLAS 100
Group Games
"There's too many of us!" you say. "This room is too large" Au contraire. It's the perfect size to contain all the fun we're going to have with this buffet of large-group games to end the day.
3PM - 3:15PM
ATLAS 100
Closing Remarks and Whaaat!? Raffle
"Wait. What raffle?" Exactly. "No, I mean what are you going to raffle off?" See. You get it.

Games Galore This Season!

TV Frame

This season, the gang races slugs, scales to new heights, campaigns for rodent gun control legislation, lives a Kafka-esque existence, and much more!

10AM - 3PM
ATLAS BBX
Whaaat!? Arcade
Games! It's the name of the game! It's the games with our name! The Whaaat!? Arcade! Located in the ATLAS Lobby and the B2 level. Maybe we included your favorite game this year? Only one way to find out!
10AM - 3PM
ATLAS SL3
MAL presents That Kid in Your Neighborhood's Basement
The coolest kids on the block, the Media Archeology Lab return with their plaid suitcases stuffed to the brim with vintage games. Come play Q*bert, Zork, Contra, GoldenEye, the infamous ET, and MORE on an original Commodore 64, Apple //c, Atari 2600, NES, N64, Sega Genesis, and Vextrex!
10AM - 3PM
ATLAS SL2
Chill Games for Spicy Times
Come. Take a seat. Breath. Pick up a controller. Play some of these games. Everything is going to be AOK. We promise.
10AM - 3PM
ATLAS SL1
Crittercaaade
Look, it's not our fault. We weren't planning on doing a themed arcade this year, but then all of these adorable animals in video games started being all cute and doing awesome stuff? What were we supposed to do? Not include them?!

Won't You Join Us for Season Seven?