One plucky teenager has already become a millionaire before celebrating his 16th birthday, thanks to a card game he created when he was only seven-years-old.
Alex Butler, hailing from Seattle, Washington, sold his game, Taco vs Burrito, to a Wisconsin-based toy company called PlayMonster, as reported by The Seattle Times. The cash deal took place last month.
The exact amount Butler received from the company was not disclosed, but the teen inventor is working with his family on how to invest the money.
“It was never something that I’ve been attached to or anything,” Butler told The Seattle Times. “It’s not super important to me. I just kind of wanted to get the most money out of it.”
The card game, which can be played with two to four people, is a strategic card game where players with the most points win by using ingredient cards to add points or various action cards to sabotage your opponents. Taco vs Burrito has sold 1.5 million copies to date, generating $1.1 million in its first year of being launched in 2018.
Butler was randomly inspired to make the game after playing a series of card games with his family, like Exploding Kittens. The teenager said he didn’t even like tacos or burritos at the time.
His mother, Leslie Pierson, who has an entrepreneurial background and even appeared on Shark Tank in 2016 to promote GoodHangUps, encouraged her son to bring the invention to life. Pierson did not expect the game to reach the status it did, stating that she thought her young son would get bored and pursue other things.
But instead, the game evolved. Butler and his family would frequent a local cafe called Cafe Bambino to test out the game’s prototype and tweak it with new ideas. Butler also played the game with his friends.
Eventually, Butler and his family decided to start a fundraiser to cover production costs, raising over $25,000 after promoting the game both online and at Seattle’s Comic Con.
With the funds, the family decided to choose a manufacturer that “treated Alex like an adult” and put around $25,000 to $30,000 worth of products on Amazon. After each batch continued to sell out, the family decided to scale their business, Hot Taco Inc., but they knew they couldn’t do it alone.
Butler had previously declined offers for a buyout, but when it came to PlayMonster, Pierson and Butler both liked the company’s vision, choosing a complete buyout after agreeing to sell the rights.
“It was never something I wanted to do later in life,” Alex said.
PlayMonster’s CEO, Jonathan Berkowitz, said the game piqued his interest because the “characters are amazing,” and all ages can enjoy the game.
“It’s always fun when kids can beat their parents in a game, but the parents can still truly enjoy playing,” Berkowitz said.
Butler, who is now a teenager, has different interests besides making card games. He enjoys music production, sports, and video games, and the one thing he wants to buy with his cash payment?
“A Lambo,” he said.
PlayMonster said it would expand Taco vs. Burrito, and starting in the fall, a new version of the game will be released in a collectors tin according to Berkowitz.
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