Cousins’ Startup Weekend idea grabs Cards Against Humanity contest win

Cousins Cara Heacock and Marcus Ross had a winning combination when they created Discount Salmon, a tabletop card game that won Tabletop Deathmatch. Last week, the pair were announced as the winners out of 500 entries for the game design competition put on by the makers of Cards Against Humanity, the hilariously dark, inappropriate version…

Cousins Cara Heacock and Marcus Ross had a winning combination when they created Discount Salmon, a tabletop card game that won Tabletop Deathmatch.

Last week, the pair were announced as the winners out of 500 entries for the game design competition put on by the makers of Cards Against Humanity, the hilariously dark, inappropriate version of Apples to Apples.

The creators of the competition also taped the whole thing for a YouTube show.

Discount Salmon has an interesting local twist to its origin.

It started during Omaha’s Startup Weekend in Sept. 2012 when Heacock, an artist, and Ross, the game mechanics designer, formed Water Bear Games, a website where users could download print-and-play board games and designers could upload games for review.

They lost, but later pivoted to developing and hosting games for themselves, meeting weekly to brainstorm and work on ideas, Ross says. From their newfound company, Water Bear Games, they began creating games regularly. You may also know Heacock as one of the thirteen graduates of Omaha Code School.

Last year, they decided to enter one of their games into Tabletop Deathmatch, before scrapping it on the last day of registration and instead entered in their newest game, Discount Salmon, only four months old at the time. 

The game’s website describes it like this: “Welcome to Lake Miasma, the world’s most contaminated body of water. As a champion fishmonger, it’s your job to catch defective fish from its depths, and fix them up to sell them. Race your friends in this hilarious, speed-based, trick-taking game!”

By the end of July, they found out they were one of 16 finalists for the YouTube series and presented the game to judges at Gen Con in Indianapolis that August. They found out they won Tabletop Deathmatch in September, but had to keep quiet until last week. The show started airing in April and on June 10, Discount Salmon was announced to the public as the winner.

It will receive a free first printing by AdMagic—Cards Against Humanity’s printer—and will join the “party game for horrible people” on the Gen Con 2014 show floor.

The game is available for pre-order for $16 at DiscountSalmon.com. They’ve already had more than 50 and the game hasn’t even arrived yet, Ross says.

You can watch them present Discount Salmon below:

Watch Cara and Marcus’ reaction to the news that they won at 12:57.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

One response to “Cousins’ Startup Weekend idea grabs Cards Against Humanity contest win”

  1. […] a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card. Reviews of Cards Against Humanity: "Pretty amazing." – The Onion AV Club "An incredible game." – Mike […]