🐱 Meowdoku case study: Minesweeper + Cats + Sudoku. Take a 40-Year-Old Game, Add Cats, Make Millions
two & a half gamersShow Notes
Take Minesweeper. Add Sudoku logic. Put cats on it. Congratulations, you've just made $200,000 a day..
We break down Meow Doku by Oakever, the cat-puzzle that came out of nowhere to shake up a category that hadn't changed in a decade. They walk the game (it's Minesweeper crossed with Sudoku — one cat per color, per row, per column, cats can't touch — simpler than Minesweeper and endlessly satisfying), the pure ad monetization (100% ads, no IAP, ~80%+ from interstitials, a clever cooldown timer that tightens the longer you play), and the numbers (~400K downloads/day, 2M+ DAU with huge US and Japan share, an estimated ~$200K/day and climbing). Then the portfolio: Oakever (real name Learnings / Beijing Lexing) is a fully bootstrapped, Singapore-based Chinese giant with a ~200-300 person R&D team, 70M MAU, a billion cumulative downloads, five straight years of 100%+ revenue growth, and a claim to being the #1 Chinese game company by ad revenue on Meta and Google. And the twist that makes the whole thing a masterclass: MeowDoku isn't original — it's a cats reskin of "Queens Master Sudoku," a game that sat dormant making almost nothing for a year and a half until Oakever found it, added cats, and out-executed everyone on UA. Plus, this game is a LINKEDIN GAME!!
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The game we've wanted to cover for 3 years 03:30 Minesweeper meets Sudoku — the core rules 06:30 Why it's simpler than Minesweeper (and better) 10:20 100% ads — the cooldown timer trick 14:30 The numbers — 2M DAU, ~$200K/day 22:50 Inside Oakever's monster portfolio 27:30 The bootstrapped Chinese ad-revenue king 36:40 The twist — it's a reskin of Queens Master Sudoku
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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
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--------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
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