Meet the Seattle teen who became a millionaire at 7 by inventing a card game and here's how he did it

While most kids his age were busy playing video games or kicking a ball around, Alex Butler was busy building a business empire.

At just 7 years old, the Seattle native came up with the idea for Taco vs. Burrito, a quirky card game he invented after countless family game nights. With the help of his parents, Leslie Pierson and Mark Butler, Alex launched a GoFundMe-style campaign that raised $25,000 to cover production costs. The family even formed their own company, Hot Taco Inc., to bring the game to life and sell it on Amazon for $20 a deck.


The gamble paid off. By 2018, Taco vs. Burrito had become Amazon’s No. 1 bestselling game and earned the family nearly $1.1 million. The game’s runaway success recently caught the attention of toy and game maker PlayMonster, which bought the rights — though the sale price remains undisclosed.

"Alex loves games and decided to dream up his own. He put on his thinking cap and came up with TACO VS BURRITO, spending months coming up with ingredients, planning, tinkering with the gameplay and testing it thoroughly with people of all ages. When you buy TACO vs BURRITO, you’re not only getting an amazing game that you’ll love, but you are also helping a 7-year-old’s dream become a reality," reads the page of Taco vs Burrito game.

Now 15, Butler admits he’s not emotionally attached to his creation. “It’s not super important to me,” he told The Seattle Times. “I just kind of wanted to get the most money out of it.” As for how he’ll spend his windfall, there’s only one thing on his wish list: a Lamborghini.

Butler’s story reflects a growing trend among American teens — according to the New York Post, nearly 2 in 5 are finding ways to make money online. “In the past, you had to find somewhere to sell a product, set up a payment platform, network and build up a community of potential customers before you could even think about launching your own business,” Cameron Zoub, co-founder and chief growth officer at Whop, a Brooklyn-based online business platform, told the Post. “Now, all you need is a phone and an internet connection.”