Our Story

Hey, I’m Matt, and I made Bottoms Up.

The idea and creation of the game all happened while on furlough with nothing to do during the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown. I wanted to create a fun drinking game that would help participants get to know the people they were playing with. I came up with some cool commands for the card text, then was given the idea to make it a drinking game that can actually be won. This led me to redevelop the game’s structure and introduce the point cards and just for fun cards. I kept building ideas for the commands then bought plain playing cards and jotted the commands down on them so I could test the game out with friends. After playing and taking notes, I worked out the initial flaws, went back to the drawing board and changed things around a little. I then had digital designs made for the cards, printed them out and stuck them to the blank playing cards to test out with more friends. After getting more feedback, I updated cards, added cards and changed the wording around until I was happy with it.

The next step was figuring out how to get the cards made. I ordered samples of different materials, print styles and sizes. I was adamant I wanted the cards a certain size, thickness and that they needed to be durable and water-resistant for all the alcohol that would inevitably be split on them. I had several costly samples made as I continued to research for manufacturers that could bring my chosen creation to life with details down to the feel of the card and style of the packaging. Realising I’d already racked up more than I’d expected just developing the concept and prototypes, I then found out my minimum order would be five hundred packs and that’s when I decided to try to get funding to help produce the first order of Bottoms Up.

I then launched a Kickstarter campaign offering discounted packs and other perks as rewards to try to raise the remaining funds needed to make the production order a reality. The Kickstarter was successfully funded in just 23 hours and went on to raise two and a half times the amount I had aimed to. After a two and a half month wait, the first editions of Bottoms Up arrived on 26 November 2020.