We were lucky to catch up with Danza Huey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danza, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

So here I am, a 30+ something playing a traditional drinking card game with friends. The game only lasted two rounds. Why? Because I realized, along with my friends, that we are young 20 somethings that just graduated from Louisiana State University anymore. We have grown up and taking “repeated shots” or “finishing your drink” which is the top priority of drinking card games out there today are simply not a fit. Also, Gen-Z drinks less than Millennials and Get-X and all together are now the majority of adults in the United States. This all got me thinking. Why is there not a game out there that puts gameplay first and sipping second? Why are all card “games” now just read this card and respond, which technically is not a game. This is when I started the journey to create Party Card Mash Up the game and now the brand!

I created an MVP to test my idea. That is not the Most Valuable Player my wonderful people, this would be a Minimum Viable Product. A Minimum Viable Product is “the release of a new product (or a major new feature) that is used to validate customer needs and demands prior to developing a more fully featured product.” I quickly made a test copy, which looked crazy with an extra large box, thin cards, and basic branding. I played with friends and family on Labor Day 2021 and told them “I found the game online and wanted to play it with them” just to keep them honest in their reviews. They loved it! I then said this was my idea and I created the test copy. The first game, Party Card Mash Up – The Game, is based on the classic card game Old Maid. The foundation of Old Maid is that all cards have a match except one card, which would be the Old Maid, or for my game, it is the MASH card. The whole premise to not be the last player holding the MASH card or you lose! Four weeks after playing the test copy, Party Card Mash Up was launched to the world on October 1, 2021.

Party Card Mash Up is a “new party for old card games” where we bring classic card games like Old Maid and Slapjack to the 21st century for the 21 and up crowd and welcome to the table spirit and wine lovers, sober curious drinkers, and non-drinkers as gameplay is first and sipping is second.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the tabletop games industry at the age of 13. Ok, not officially that is. I moved to the adult Spades table at 13 which to me was a huge accomplishment, especially in the card party mecca that is my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I used to play all kinds of classic card games and well known party card games like UNO since my early years almost every Sunday after church at my grandmother’s house in downtown Baton Rouge. I made the official move into tabletop games by bringing my idea for Party Card Mash Up to life in 2021 and really moving forward with confidence after participating in the second cohort of Target Accelerators’ then new program Target Forward Founders in March 2022. I have now taken the game to local breweries in Atlanta, played at events in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, featured at the Creative Industries Expo at SXSW 2023, highlighted at Black Tech Week 2023 as a speaker, and featured in Inc. Magazine’s “Spark of Innovation” series in 2023. I will heading back to SXSW 2024 as a speaker with the Ignite Talks: Gaming Industry event and also as a speaker with the New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week 2024 on the Founders Stage! More to come in 2024!

I am originally from Baton Rouge and am proud graduate from Baton Rouge Magnet High School and a first-generation college graduate from Louisiana State University (Geaux Tigers!). After college, I participated in AmeriCorps VISTA in New York City with NYC Civic Corps. After four years in New York, I moved to Atlanta to obtain my MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology and have worked in corporate marketing and product/program management at Mercedes-Benz USA, UPS, Elevance Health, and now at Amazon as a Program Manager in Brand Protection. My corporate experience and love for art as an artist has helped me propel Party Card Mash Up strategically and with strong brand standards.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What has helped build my reputation in the market is having a great professional resume which has opened many doors in addition to having a pretty large “receipt” by being a Target Accelerators Alumni brand. Target Accelerators is the gold standard for CPG / retail accelerators in the market and this has helped legitimize my brand in the market as I continue to grow. As currently a bootstrapped brand, my marketing budget is low yet I have been able to capitalize on my professional experiences, professional network, and build on what I learned in Target Forward Founders to reach great moments in this entrepreneurial journey as being featured in Inc. Magazine!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I am currently pivoting now! I have been bootstrapping my business for the past two years and I am now at the point of needing to scale in a major way. I have learned that we as people, and particularly Black people, do not have the best relationship with debt – loans, financing, or even investors. There have systemic reasons for this but also fear. I learned over the past two years to not let the fear of the unknown hold back what could be exponential growth. So I am currently looking into debt financing, inventory financing, and angel investors to back me as I attempt to grow exponentially, activate more selling channels (like Amazon), gain and maintain a marketing/PR budget, and work on even more games for the Party Card Mash Up brand! Up next, Spades will officially be “mashed up” for Q3 2024. I look forward to hopefully much expansion and growth in the coming year.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.partycardmashup.com
• Instagram: @partycardmashup
• Facebook: @partycardmashup
• Linkedin: @mashupgames
• Twitter: @partycardmashup

Image Credits
Mhandy Gerard Photography