The Man Behind Taco Cat Games: The Story of Dave Campbell
Many people look at the success of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and think, “Wow, Dave got lucky! He must have had great connections.” But I can assure you, there is a very different story behind that success. Because before becoming one of the most recognized card games in the world, Dave Campbell was simply a man with an idea, a family to support, and countless hours of driving ahead of him.
Dave didn’t start out in the game industry. For years, he worked selling welding supplies and spent countless hours driving from one city to another. And it was during those long road trips that it all began. While driving, Dave imagined games, thought about new mechanics, and developed ideas in his head that he would later turn into prototypes. The interesting thing is thatTaco Catwasn’t even his first attempt. He had created other games before, and they didn’t always work out the way he hoped. But instead of stopping, he kept creating. And that’s a part of success we rarely see: we know the game that made it, but we almost never see all the attempts, mistakes, and prototypes that came before it.
Then came Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.
In 2017, Dave launched the game on Kickstarter. The campaign attracted around 107 backers and raised about $2,190. If you had seen those numbers at the time, you probably wouldn’t have imagined what was about to happen. There were no millions of dollars behind the project, no major company, and no massive advertising campaign. It was simply a little card game created by someone who believed he could make people have fun around a table.
And Dave did something that would change the game’s story: he started putting it into people’s hands. He visited stores, sent out samples, attended events, and took every opportunity to get someone to play it. And little by little, something started happening that no marketing plan could guarantee. People played it, laughed, showed it to someone else, and recommended it. One person brought the game to another table, that person showed it to another family, and before he knew it, Taco Cat started to grow.
But while the game was gaining followers, Dave was also taking real risks. He had a family to support and still had his day job, yet he was investing his own money into this new company. He even went as far as sending money to a factory on the other side of the world to produce his games, without knowing for certain how it would all turn out.
Think about that for a moment. You have a family, a stable job, and a dream that still exists mostly in your head and in a few boxes of cards. And you decide to bet on it. You don’t know if it will work. You don’t know if people will buy it. You don’t know if you’ll ever get your money back.
That doesn’t sound like luck to me. It sounds like having the courage to bet on a dream.
From a Small Game to #1 on Amazon
And then something happened that Dave probably never imagined when he started.
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza kept growing until it reached the #1 spot among the best-selling games on Amazon, competing directly with some of the biggest brands in the industry, including Mattel and Hasbro.
The company has sold more than 12 million copies of its game worldwide, and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza has been distributed in more than 45 countries and translated into more than 20 languages.
An idea that began during long road trips had become a game played by millions of people.
And this is where the story becomes especially meaningful to me.
I’ve Met Dave.
I have the pleasure of knowing Dave personally, and there is something about him that impresses me deeply: after everything he has accomplished, he remains an incredibly down-to-earth person. Perhaps what I admire most is that, after everything he has achieved and everything this journey has brought him, he still knows exactly why he started.
Dave didn’t begin by asking himself, “How can I create a game that sells millions?”
He started with a much simpler question:
“How can I create a game that makes everyone have fun?”
And that simple question ended up bringing fun and laughter to millions of families around the world.
So if you have a card game idea today, if you have a prototype sitting in a box, if you’ve created something that nobody knows about yet, or even if someone has told you that your game will never work, remember Dave’s story.
You don’t need to wait for a big company to discover your game. You don’t need to have everything figured out before you begin. And you don’t need to know how far your idea will go.
You need to create it. Test it. Listen to the people who play it. Improve it. Try again. And above all, have the courage to keep moving forward when nobody else can see what you see yet.
Dave didn’t know that Taco Cat would one day reach millions of people when he started. He only knew that he had a game he wanted to share.
And maybe that’s all you need to start your own journey.
Remember: the most meaningful experiences are often the simplest ones. So grab a deck of cards, gather your loved ones, and enjoy every round together.
See you in the next game!
Daniel López de Medrano III
The Card Game Maker
Disclaimer: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a registered trademark of Taco Cat Games. This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Kawaii Lab Games is not affiliated with, associated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Taco Cat Games. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
