Cards Against Humanity Inspires Six-Figure Party Game

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Hey, cycle school listeners, welcome back. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Even in a digital age, board games and card games are seeing a renaissance. Perhaps you've noticed this yourself, perhaps you've played some board games or card games. I recently read that on Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms, board games now raise more money than video games do, which is pretty amazing considering how much cost goes into making a video game.

Now, some of this can be traced to the popularity of cards against humanity, or I suppose you could say that cards against humanity is a result of this renaissance. Whatever the story is there, our story today concerns a different party game that two friends created for fun a decade ago. Only much later did they think, hey, maybe there's something to this. We should try making a go of it as a small business. As you'll hear of that decision led to a massive success, but it all started with something very silly.

Stay tuned and I'll tell you all about it. [Music]

Tim Swindle was 30 when he joined a college friend's software startup. He had high hopes the company would make it, but he also understood the risk. A side hustle seemed like a good idea just in case. Around that time, cards against humanity, a card game that Tim loved, had recently become massively popular.

In some ways it reminded him of a game he and a friend had come up with back in their 20s and they would gather with other friends at a lake house outside Chicago. Each person would write the name of an actor or character on one piece of paper and then a funny phrase on a second. They would then take turns pulling a paper from each pile and reading it in the voice of that actor or character. The concept just worked. No one took themselves too seriously, especially after a few drinks.

The success of cards against humanity made Tim take another look at that lake house game. He wondered if turning it into an actual product would work as a side hustle. So on New Year's Day 2014 in a Chicago bar, Tim and the friend who had created the game with him in the first place decided to give it a try. Tim says they spent the next six months working nice and weekends to launch on Kickstarter in August. They wanted to get their game into the hands of customers by the holidays.

This took a lot of months of tweaking and testing the game. They needed to create a website and a promotional video. They also refined and tested the game using Chicago's active theatrical and improv community. Their hard work paid off. They were able to launch the Kickstarter campaign on time in August and they titled their game, Utter Nonsense.

The campaign was successful. It raised a bit more than their $15,000 goal. And with that money, the partners placed their first order to get the game produced. In the meantime, they were put in contact with a founder of Marvel's The Brain Store, a boutique toy and game shop with about 30 locations across the US known for finding new and innovative games. Going retail was not in the original plan and Tim and his partner were reluctant to consider Marvel's invitation to feature Utter Nonsense in their stores.

They liked the way Cards Against Humanity sold directly to customers, not through retailers. And that's the model they thought they preferred. However, Marvel's was a small retailer with a big following among people they felt would love the game, so they agreed to do it. They increased their production order to meet Marvel's wider reach and their game was in the marketplace by Thanksgiving of 2014 as planned. Soon after that, an article about Utter Nonsense appeared in a trade magazine called Toy and Games UK.

Tim's sister Shannon, a teacher with no PR background, served as their off-hours publicist and caught the attention of the magazine. Tim appreciated her work, but didn't think it would turn into anything since their game was not offered in the UK. So he was surprised when they got a call in January from a buyer at Target who had read the article and wanted to sell Utter Nonsense in their stores. An idea that threw the game's creators into Utter Overwhelm. Tim says they were even more nervous about working with a big retailer.

It really didn't fit their plan. Plus, he and his friend each had full-time jobs and it seemed like a lot to take on. Target was good about calming their concerns and the two realized that Cards Against Humanity had actually created a huge opportunity in retail for party games. The deal was made and Tim reports that Target has been an incredible partner. In fact, since that first game, a family version has been added along with a holiday pack for the 2017 season.

Not only that, but in less than two years, Tim's side hustle turned into his main hustle. Utter Nonsense generates six figures in revenue per month and is very profitable. The business is cashflow positive with no debt and no overhead. Tim bought out his partner last year and his sister Shannon, whose work first led to that Target connection, is now the company's director of operations. Utter Nonsense has literally changed Tim's life.

He wakes up every day and wonders what he can do to help people laugh and play more. In other words, his business is fun. Tim says the best part of the experience has been the freedom it gives him. He spent the first half of 2017 working remotely while exploring the world with his fiance. For him, Utter Nonsense became GoodSense and his side hustle story might give someone another place to look for ideas, the silly things you do with friends that become lasting memories.

[Music]

Well, I like how Tim and his friend decided to change their minds about retail. They might've been successful with their idea of direct sales, we just don't know, but being open to new opportunities allowed them to grow far beyond their expectations. You get to the point of doing six figures in revenue per month with a card game. I mean, that's huge. And you might listen to the story and think, well, it's an interesting product, but they kind of just got lucky because Target picked them.

You know, if they weren't in Target, they wouldn't be doing that huge amount of revenue. And perhaps that's true, but as I've said before on the show, I really like that phrase to have more luck, take more chances. They wouldn't have been in a position to have been picked by Target had they not developed that game and had Tim's sister not pitch the magazine in the UK. So yes, some of these things may be coincidental or luck or good fortune, but who's to say that you can't get lucky? And what do you want to do to position yourself in a place to be luckier?

Well, I think you want to take more chances. That's my advice to you today, my suggestion, let's say. Before I sign off, I'll remind you, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are online at sidehustleschool.com/339. You can learn more about this card game, the world of cards in general, and in case you don't know it, the cards against humanity story.

Thank you for listening. I hope you're having a wonderful day wherever you are in the world. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Cytosol School. [Music]