King Announces Winner Of 'America's Next Shuffle Cat' Contest At Live Cat Walk Event In New York City

Michelle Meinhold of Fresno, CA wins opportunity to be featured in King's all-new multiplayer Shuffle Cats game

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Dec 06, 2016, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- King, creator of hit mobile game franchise, Candy Crush, today announced the winner of a nationwide contest to find 'America's Next Shuffle Cat' at a live event held in New York City. Michelle Meinhold of Fresno, CA wins the grand prize of having her cat star in the all-new live multiplayer mobile card game, Shuffle Cats as co-host of 'Walter's Workshop', a weekly in-game event run by the wackiest cat of the cast, Walter.

Actress Hannah Simone partners with King games to select the winner of America's Next Shuffle Cat contest at a live cat-walk event in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. The winning cat will be featured in the new Shuffle Cats mobile game. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for King/ AP Images)

Actress Hannah Simone poses with Wylie Coyote Super Genius, the winner of America's Next Shuffle Cat contest, after a live cat-walk in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. Wylie will be featured in Shuffle Cats, the new mobile game from King. (Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision for King/ AP Images)

Nationwide, cat lovers submitted original photos and videos of their talented cat through social media and tagged #AmericasNextShuffleCat for an opportunity to have their cat join the crafty and competitive street cat gang in the new Shuffle Cats game. After combing through hundreds of eligible entries, King selected four cat finalists to fly to New York City and participate in a live cat walk event. Each finalist strutted their fur-ocious selves in front of a panel of judges including actress Hannah Simone, star of "New Girl" and cat lover, Joanna Zelman, Executive Editor of The Dodo, an online community for animal lovers and Ben Hollis, Lead Game Designer at King.

"At King, we're constantly thinking of fun and creative ways to engage with fans of our most popular games like Candy Crush and now our all-new multiplayer card game, Shuffle Cats," said Ben Hollis, Lead Game Designer at King. "We've been overwhelmed by the response to our contest to find 'America's Next Shuffle Cat' and the huge quantity of fun entries from fans across America, all vying for the chance to have their charismatic cat feature in-game.

"The four finalists we brought to our cat-sting event in New York truly had what it takes to be a part of the crafty cast of Shuffle Cats, and we're excited that Wiley Coyote Super Genius will be joining the gang as the co-host of the weekly live in-game event, Walter's Workshop, in the New Year.

"America's Next Shuffle Cat contest proved to be not only entertaining, but a rare chance for me to have an opportunity to host and judge some of the nation's cutest cats as they strutted the catwalk," said Hannah Simone, actress and star of "New Girl." "I was so impressed by all of the entries submitted and I'm really looking forward to see our winning cat transformed into a character in the Shuffle Cats game."

Shuffle Cats is King's first ever live multiplayer card game where players from around the world can compete against each other in real time through a new, updated mobile version of the traditional card game Rummy. Set in the 1920's across the rooftops of London, Shuffle Cats introduces players to a cast of feline characters, vying their way to the best Card Clubs in town in order to progress along Lucky Lane. Per its namesake, cats play a central role with characters like Montie, the friendly and helpful mentor to new players, and Walter, the mini-game master and Lucky Charm maker.

Shuffle Cats is available to download free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Facebook. Players can discover the Shuffle Cats Mini Instant Game directly through the Messenger games tab or through shared posts on their News Feed on Facebook's new Instant Games platform.

For more information on the competition and full terms and conditions, please visit http://www.shufflecatsgame.com/catsingcall.

About King
King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world. It had 394 million monthly active users as of third quarter 2016 across web, social and mobile platforms, and has developed more than 200 exclusive games that are enjoyed all around the world through its king.com and royalgames.com websites, Facebook, and mobile distribution platforms such as the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Microsoft Windows App Store and Amazon App store. King was acquired by Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) in February 2016. King has game studios in Stockholm, Malmö, London, Barcelona, Berlin and Seattle, along with offices in San Francisco, Malta, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Bucharest.