On June 9, a new business project by Sammy Inc. was announced. The new project by Sammy based on "Texas hold'em" is titled "m". Starting with the development of a game app, various tournaments, anime adaptation, and play spots, the company aims to create new entertainment to spread "Texas hold'em". "The Ultimate Mind Sport" Specialized in Tactics. Sammy announced "M" as their first New Entertainment project. The project is based on the poker game "Texas hold'em", and aims to spread "Texas hold'em" through a game app, portal site, pro league, play spots, anime, and other goods and console games. They announced details about their game app, anime, tournaments, and play spots as specific measures to achieve this. According to Sammy Inc. president/CEO, Satomi Haruki, now that some see entertainment as unnecessary since the COVID pandemic, they wanted to go back to their basic philosophy of "continuing to produce inspiring experiences" and provide new entertainment for the post-COVID era. "m" is their first project, and they are planning for their 2nd and 3rd projects too. So, what kind of poker game is "Texas hold'em"? The rules are simple. All you need to do is make a hand with the two cards in your hand and the 5 cards on the table. There are no additional cards, so you need to figure out if you have a better hand than your opponents by looking at the cards that get turned over. If you think you're going to lose, you fold, and if you think you have a good hand you raise the bet. Even if you don't have a good hand, you can win the game if your opponents fold, so you could pretend to have a strong hand to me your opponents fold. This is the fascinating part of "Texas hold'em", which specializes in tactics. Demonstration of the Game App and Info on the Anime! "m HOLD'EM" is the game app that will be launched as the flagship of the project "m". The characters in the game are designed by popular creators, including, Yoshizaki Mine, Kozaki Yusuke, BUNBUN, Watanabe Akio, and Hara Tetsuo. And the characters will be voiced by Tanezaki Atsumi, Hidaka Rina, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Tachibana rika, Nakajima Yoshiki, Abe Atsushi, Hata Sawako, Ootsuka Akio, and Itou Shizuka. By the way, Nakashima Yuki, who appeared on stage at the presentation, is the voice of "Shinonome Rino", a character designed by Watanabe Akio. The app features 4 game modes: Free Match, Friend Match, Tournament, and Rank Match. As you win in the Rank Match, you will climb the rank of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Professional, and Legend. There will be various tournaments such as: ・ The Legend Cup, which will be held every month for high-ranking app users. ・ A championship with a prize of 1 million yen in total held every three months. ・ The Finals with a prize of 3.31 million yen in total, determining the champion of the year, which only the players with the highest points can participate in. There will also be tournaments that anyone can participate in regardless of their performance such as: ・ Tournaments sponsored by corporations such as the arrows cup and the Otoko Ume Sour cup. ・ Offline tournaments such as the WPT JAPAN and the All Japan Poker Championship held within the app ・ Tournaments in cooperation with local authorities such as the "OSAKA SMARTCITY PARTNERS FORUM" In addition, it was announced that the portal site "m Portal" will feature articles and videos to help people learn the game and that a poker bar "m HOLD'EM Meguro" will be opening in Meguro. The media mix project "HIGH CARD" in which Kawamoto Homura of "Kakegurui" will be participating has also been announced. Kadokawa Corporation, TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd., and Sammy Inc. have teamed up for this project with the story written by TMS, Kawamoto Homura, and Muno Hikaru. The characters will be designed by "Epimo". This project aims to spread "Texas hold'em" to the younger generation, and it has various media mix including, anime, manga, and novels, planned for development. The portal site "m Portal" is already open, and the app game "m HOLD'EM" is currently in open beta testing and pre-registration, and will officially launch on July 1. The poker bar "m HOLD'EM Meguro" is scheduled to open this summer, just a two-minute walk from Meguro Station. (C) Sammy