Kawaii Lab Games

What Kawaii Lab Games does

Kawaii Lab Games is a privately held, family-owned publisher of physical family card games headquartered in Ocala, Florida. The company operates with a three-person core team—co-founder/illustrator Daniel López de Medrano III, graphic designer and 3D artist Juan Carlos Santana, and designer/social media lead Daniel López de Medrano Jr.—and has built a six-SKU product portfolio (Carrot Boom, Screaming Billy, Tic-Tac Twist Burger Vs Pizza, 1-2-3 Monkey Flip, Cruising Duck Mystery, and BattleMatch). Each game is designed for 2–6 players, ages 6+, with playtimes of 5–30 minutes, and is differentiated by hand-drawn kawaii illustrations explicitly created by human artists rather than AI.

The business model is a one-time-purchase physical goods model. Games retail at approximately $9.99–$15.99 and are sold through three concurrent channels: an owned e-commerce storefront (kawaiilabgames.store), a dedicated Amazon storefront, and a growing network of US specialty toy and game retailers accessed via a wholesale catalog and retailer application. Marketing combines organic social (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn), a blog ("Family Card Game Journal"), an email newsletter, trade show presence (Toy Fair NY, GAMA Expo, Origins, GenCon, Ocala Comic Con), paid placements in Casual Game magazine, and earned media across Fox, CBS, and ABC affiliates. The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed institutional funding, parent company, or M&A activity. No revenue figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Kawaii Lab Games

Legal name

Kawaii Lab Games

Website

https://kawaiilabgames.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Kawaii Lab Games is a family-owned, Ocala-based publisher of hand-drawn kawaii family card games, selling six titles at $9.99–$15.99 through its own store, Amazon, and US specialty retailers, targeting families seeking screen-free entertainment.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Card Games

NAICS

Hobby, Toy, and Game Retailers (45912), Doll, Toy, and Game Manufacturing (339930)

SIC

Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945), Games, Toys & Children's Vehicles (No Dolls & Bicycles) (3944)

akta.pro primary industry

Family/Party Board Games Retail (CRALALAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Board Game & Puzzle Specialty Retailers (CRALALAA), Physical Game Retailers (Online/Brick-and-Mortar) (MPAFACAI)

Keywords

• Family card games
• Physical card games
• Screen-free entertainment
• Kawaii illustrated games
• Family game night

Headquarters

HQ city

Ocala

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Physical Card Game Sales: One-time purchase of physical family card games sold through their own store, Amazon, and retail locations. Games are sold at approximately $9.99-$15.99 price points.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Kawaii Lab Games designs, illustrates, and publishes six physical family card games — Carrot BOOM!, Screaming Billy, Tic-Tac Twist (Burger Vs Pizza), 1-2-3 Monkey Flip, Cruising Duck Mystery, and BattleMatch — featuring proprietary hand-drawn kawaii artwork. Games are priced at approximately $9.99–$15.99 and sold direct-to-consumer via the company's own online store, through Amazon, and via a growing US network of specialty toy and game retailers.

Product overview

Kawaii Lab Games is a family card game company that creates a portfolio of six distinct card games featuring hand-drawn kawaii illustrations. The product lineup includes Carrot BOOM! (an explosive carrot-collecting game), Screaming Billy (a chaotic veggie-harvesting game with goats), Tic-Tac Twist Burger Vs Pizza (a strategic Tic-Tac-Toe reimagining), 1-2-3 Monkey Flip (a jungle-themed reaction game), Cruising Duck Mystery (a deduction game), and BattleMatch (a matching card game with slap battles). All games are designed for families, feature quick playtimes (5-30 minutes), support 2-6 players, and emphasize screen-free, human-created art with a distinctive kawaii visual style.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Carrot BOOM!

Quantifiable outcome

• Games are simple to learn, quick to play (5-30 minutes depending on game)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Exploding Kittens: Publishes illustrated, family-friendly party card games sold through Amazon, retail, and DTC. Closest comparable in product type, price band, distribution model, and irreverent visual identity.
• Big Potato Games: UK-based publisher of party and family card games distributed in the US through Amazon and specialty retail. Comparable in mechanics, audience, and impulse-purchase pricing.
• Unstable Games: Independent card game studio shipping quirky, character-driven family titles. Overlaps in aesthetic positioning, illustrated branding, and indie retail/wholesale distribution.
• Gamewright: Specialty publisher of family card and board games sold through toy and game retailers. Directly comparable in target demographic, product format, and retail channel strategy.

Emerging players

• CMON Games: Independent game publisher active at GenCon and Origins with themed card and board games. Comparable in indie publishing scale and trade show-driven retail strategy.
• Cryptozoic Entertainment: Independent publisher of hobby and family card games with strong convention presence at GenCon and Origins. Comparable in indie publishing model and trade-show-led retail pipeline.

Broad incumbents

• Hasbro Gaming: Mass-market incumbent publishing family card games (Uno, Monopoly Deal, etc.) with dominant shelf presence in big-box and specialty retail. Represents the scaled competitive ceiling for the category.
• Mattel: Major toy and games publisher with extensive family card game portfolio and global retail distribution. Indirect competitor that captures the same screen-free family entertainment budget.
• Asmodee: Global games publisher and distributor with deep specialty retail relationships across the US. Relevant as the dominant wholesale partner for independent card game studios.

Others

• Ultra Pro International: Supplier of sleeves, playmats, and accessories distributed through the same hobby and specialty game retail channels. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@KawaiiLabGames
• Facebookfacebook.com/KawaiiLabGames
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kawaii-lab-games/about/?viewAsMember=true
• Instagraminstagram.com/kawaiilabgames
• TikToktiktok.com/@kawaiilabgames

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kawaii Lab Games