HollyStock.com Launches Fantasy Celebrity Stock Game

Online, August 15, 2010 (Newswire.com) - HollyStock.com is a unique game that combines the competitive aspects of fantasy sports with the entertainment value of celebrity gossip and the dynamics of the stock market. The game searches more than 200 of the leading entertainment websites each day including websites such as TMZ, E! Online, ReelzChannel, Entertainment Tonight, Maxim Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, X17, the NY Post, Fancast, and more. Celebrities increase in value each time they are mentioned in any of these sites. "Our unique celebrity stock ticker calculates a weighted value for each celebrity mention based upon the website publishing the article. Getting a mention in a site like TMZ or Yahoo! can earn a celebrity additional money" stated J. Joseph Dyken, the creator of HollyStock.com. "It's a great concept in that reality meets fantasy. Our obsession with celebs is seemingly insatiable and now you can add a competitive twist to that obsession."

The game is free to play and players are grouped into leagues of between 2 and 20 people. Players can join public leagues or create private leagues between themselves and family and friends. Leagues can be customized to alter the level of gameplay. For example, leagues can last anywhere from 1 day to 1 year. Players can be allowed to "own" up to 20 celebrities in their HollyStock portfolio and a celebrity can only be owned by 1 player at a time. Leagues can be customized so that when a celebrity is sold, that celebrity can be "unavailable" to the market for a designated amount of time.

The goal of the game is to be the player with the highest net worth at the end of the league. Players can achieve this by buying celebrities when their daily values are low and then selling them when they believe a celebrity's value is at it's highest. For example, Lindsay Lohan's HollyStock value was $12,000 prior to her well-publicized run-in with the courts in July of 2010. Her worth shot up to $1.1 million the day she appeared in court with "F**K U" painted on her fingernail. Mel Gibson was worth $38,000 just before the tapes of his domestic rants were released to the public where his value shot up to a whopping $556,000. Successful players bought these celebrities when their values were low and sold them when they were high.

HollyStock.com is free to play and is also available through Facebook. "We've tried to make the game as simple as possible yet competitive enough to satisfy even the most knowledgeable celebrity enthusiast" said Joe Dyken. "The entertainment world is constantly moving so we try to put as much of that world at the fingertips of our players as we can. The websites that HollyStock.com searches are simply the best at what they do and they publish great content all day long. Players can do very well by paying attention to what's going on in the news."

HollyStock.com was built by TayTech, LLC. TayTech owns and operates several online entities including another fantasy-related website called FantasyFootballNerd.com which is geared towards the 20 million U.S. adults who participate in fantasy sports each year. The site has been called the "Cliffs Notes of the industry" by the Washington Post and has been highlighted for it's technological innovation by both football and technology outlets. Since its founding in 2005, TayTech's goal has been to create a more enjoyable and useful Internet experience by aggregating and enhancing disparate data sources. TayTech achieves this with a simple recipe of creativity and innovation. Whether applying advanced analytics to NFL players or aggregating and calculating celebrity values, TayTech operates under the idea that technology can and should be fun.