Players entered the game through one of three entry points, called "rabbit holes" by the development team, centering on Dr. Jeanine Salla: trailers and posters credited Jeanine Salla as the production's "sentient machine therapist", a phone number hidden in another trailer ultimately led to Jeanine, and a promotional poster sent to technology and entertainment media outlets had a code stating, "Evan Chan was murdered. Jeanine is the key." "The Beast" was launched on March 8, 2001; however, only roughly one hundred players discovered the game in the first few weeks.