Dilly Dally Games offers players a free Mexican Train Dominoes game in browsers and on iOS, Android and Kindle apps and operates an Amazon-affiliate shop for domino products, while its founder reported $16K to $17K a month from ads as of 2023-05 in a Starter Story founder interview.
What it sells and how it charges
The official site presents Mexican Train Dominoes as free to play under official rules. Players can play against computer opponents and invite friends to join them. No paid plans or prices are listed on the site.
The game is available through a browser and native apps for iOS, Android and Kindle. Dilly Dally Games also offers an Amazon-affiliate shop for domino products.
How it started
According to the founder’s Starter Story interview dated 2023-05-07, the project began in 2006 while he was pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science and working full-time as a defense contractor. He programmed the game in Adobe Flash.
He first tried selling it on CD through eBay. After lackluster sales, he switched to an ad-supported web model. As the market moved toward mobile and Flash was unsupported on the iPhone, he rebuilt the game as a native iOS app and later developed an Android version.
In late 2019, he put a full month of revenue into Facebook ads, spending $78k. He reported that daily active users increased from roughly 2,000 to 15,000 over eight months.
He subsequently shifted to SEO and outsourced content writing. Within six months, the site reached the first page of results for some key search terms. He became a full-time self-employed person in early 2020 and later began releasing additional casual games such as PlayBunco.
The numbers
The Starter Story founder interview dated 2023-05-07 reported $16K to $17K a month from ads as of 2023-05. This is a historical, founder-reported figure and should not be read as a statement of current revenue.
The same interview identifies the business as one-person company because the founder explicitly says, “I’m a solopreneur.” The cited materials do not state the start cost.
What stands out
- Dilly Dally Games changed distribution formats several times: a CD sold through eBay, an ad-supported web game, native mobile apps and additional casual games.
- Its reported growth path combined paid promotion with organic discovery through Facebook ads, SEO and outsourced content.
- The founder said the monthly advertising range varied with seasonality and other market conditions.
- The one-person classification rests on the founder’s explicit self-description as a solopreneur.
Sources
Income figures are what the founder reported, or what a payment platform verified, on the date shown. They are not current income and not a prediction of what you will earn. Method & sources · Disclosure