Interview with Michael Butler, the CEO of Card Twister [2023]

Hi, I’m Michael, a 23 year old software developer born and raised in the Jersey Channel Islands.

I have always been a big lover of party games. They get the shy new people talking, and allow friends who have known each other for years to discover new things about one another that usually wouldn’t, which paves the way for a bonding experience.

After coding for many years, I took the opportunity to move a primarily physical industry digital with the aim of introducing the quality found within physical card games to a new medium.

Each step of my career has taught me a little more about what it takes to run a company. Each of these companies has a strong culture of growth, with the three latter operating as startups, giving me great exposure to the life and struggles of an entrepreneur.

I had some great mentors throughout who helped me follow best practices and ensure that Card Twister could be a bug-free and professionally executed experience for our users.

There’s something for everyone. Users can expect to find cards from any of the following in each game mode and deck:

• Categories

• Stories

• Charades

• Most likely to

• Never have I ever

• Truth or dare

• Spin the bottle

• Tongue twister

• Face off

• Vines

• Wink murder

• Two truths and a lie

There’s also more to come in the future, so keep your eyes glued!

We don’t limit the number of players, you can play with as many friends as you like!

We would recommend you play with at least 3 players, as more cards are available when playing with 3+ players, but it works just as well for people playing with less than this!

This is a really tough point. I am currently wearing two hats, as I work full time at Aleck®. Balancing my work life with my family life and socialising with friends, along with my hobbies can be tricky.

I’ve found using the Pomodoro technique really helpful to make sure that I stay focused on one task at a time and really get through the workload.

I also find it really important to take at least one or two hours a day where you just focus on your friends or family. Phones down, laptops closed. This really helps to stop you feeling isolated!

I most appreciate getting to work with a wide variety of incredibly talented freelancers from across the world. The level of skill of the people I’ve worked with is incredible and inspiring.

I think keeping a positive environment at work is all about treating people how you would want to be treated. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for companies with very positive work environments so have tried to carry their practice across to Card Twister, which so far has worked very well.

Start off with an MVP and garner some feedback and go from there.

If you’re looking to create a party game, reach out to me at michael@card-twister.com, there’ll definitely be lots of ways that I can help and that potentially we can work together on this endeavour.

We aim to become a regularly played game in the hands of a global audience and have many plans of directions for growth. Most of which unfortunately we are currently keeping close to our chest!