Alumni Spotlight: Danza Huey

Danza Huey’s love for card games releases a memory portal filled with family, friends, and food at his grandmother’s home, where every Sunday the card table was the center of activity.

Thus, when Huey had time to ponder during the pandemic, his mind wandered to his grandmother’s house and the games they played. Whatever happened to Old Maid, he wondered, remembering how much he loved that game. The thought lingered until Huey decided to act upon it. 

He made a test copy of his first card game, Party Card Mash Up, and introduced it to friends during Labor Day weekend, 2021. 

“I lied and told them it was something I found online,” he says. “I wanted to get their honest reaction. Their enthusiastic feedback told me I might be on to something.” 

Party Card Mash Up is a new spin on the classic Old Maid. You deal the cards and play pairs. Play “Party Cards” to give away cards and pick players to take a sip (of any beverage). Be the first person out of cards and pick a player to sip. The last person holding the MASH card loses.  

“It’s a sipping game, not a drinking game,” Huey qualifies. 

His latest edition, Party Card Mash Up LSU Tailgate Edition, debuts this fall. The 81-card deck, licensed by the university, is an homage to Huey’s days on campus, where he was an LSU Ambassador and on the LSU Homecoming Committee. He credits his experience at LSU for his entrepreneurial spirit.

“Not being afraid to give something a try is what I learned most at LSU. If you fail, take what you learned and try again.” 

After graduation in 2008, Huey joined AmeriCorps VISTA in New York City and was the only one in his class of 220 from Louisiana. In 2015, he earned his master’s in business from Georgia Tech and remained in Atlanta. Huey works in the “brand protection” area for Amazon. He participated in Target Forward Founders program, an accelerator program to help entrepreneurs break into mass retail. Then, he put his own creative background to work. 

“Everything you see on the website and the packaging, that’s all me,” he explains. “I have done art my whole life. I leaned into digital outlets of being creative. I bought a MacBook and taught myself Illustrator and Photoshop. You Tube was my best friend. I built a website using Square Space. And I learned Canva, my best tool for design.” 

Huey has been a speaker at SXSW in Austin and at Entrepreneur Week events in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where he noticed LSU and Southern University licensed products. That was the impetus for the LSU Tailgate Edition. His licensing application was approved on his birthday, May 10, of this year.

“The best birthday gift ever,” he says. 

With his Kickstarter campaign in full force, Huey hopes to start shipping Party Card Mash Up LSU Tailgate Edition in November. His other games, Party Card Mash Up – The Game and Party Card Mash Up – Parade are available on his website, www.partycardmashup.com. 

From the vantage point of his secondary schools, McKinley Middle Magnet and Baton Rouge High, Huey, a first-generation college graduate, felt like LSU was his “neighborhood college.” 

“Even though I was just ‘going up the street’ to college, my mind was blown. I met people from all over the country. I felt like LSU was a door to the world. It totally changed my perspective.” 

That home, in South Baton Rouge, was a short walk to the LSU campus, where, as Huey says, “a door to the world opened."