Welcome to Nitro’s July edition of our brand new monthly Publisher Showcase; uncovering valuable insights and stories from the incredible website owners on our platform.
This month, we spoke to Abe Train, the mastermind behind the awesome trivia game website Trainwreck Labs. In the interview below, Abe reveals how the cultural phenomenon of Wordle inspired him to create a web-based geography game and how promoting it on Reddit unlocked his first viral hit.
Read on to discover the journey and insights of this daily trivia game mastermind 👇
First off, tell us about your career background that led you to start Trainwreck Labs?
I used to work in manufacturing and process engineering at HelloFresh, which I studied at the University of Waterloo. While there, I slowly transitioned to more and more technical roles and after almost 4 years at HelloFresh, I decided to quit so I could focus more on improving my technical skills and eventually get a job in the tech industry. As fate would have it, I wouldn’t need to end up looking for a new job.
What drove you to create Trainwreck Labs? Did you see a specific gap in the market? Was there a particular insight that motivated you to launch it?
At the same time that I was working on my web development skills, Wordle was becoming an international sensation. I thought “this isn’t so complicated!” and set about creating my own version of a daily, web-based trivia game.
I decided on the geography niche, and after just over a month of working on it full time, the first iteration of Globle was created! I posted about Globle on 2 subreddits: r/webdev and r/geography. It got 0 interest in the former, but blew up in the latter, and has been a global (pun intended) hit ever since!
How long have you been running your website(s) and how long did it take from development until it was live?
Globle was the first of the many games now under the Trainwreck Labs (TWL) banner. It launched in early 2022, and I have been releasing new games every couple of months since.
How did you decide on the specific games you currently have across the Trainwreck Labs network?
As the popularity of Globle was peaking, I had to decide what to do next. I explored making apps and different varieties of games, and eventually I settled specifically on daily, Wordle-style, educational games. In October 2022, I founded the Trainwreck Labs with that sole purpose.
How were you able to build a strong online presence for your daily web games? (e.g. SEO, forums, PPC, influencers etc)
I primarily use my existing games to promote new ones. This is an obvious way to reach the daily educational gamer audience and at the best time (right after they finished a game).
I have worked with influencers in the past, and although that strategy hasn’t been consistently successful for me, I intend to go all-in on influencer marketing for a few campaigns this fall.
What are you most proud of in regards to the success of Trainwreck Labs so far? Any major highlights
My biggest source of pride for TWL is actually my second most-successful game, Metazooa. When Globle blew up, I felt amazing of course, but I spent over a year following that with the nagging sense that I’m a one-hit-wonder.
When Metazooa went viral on Tumblr last fall, bringing in a whole new crowd of players, it really strengthened my identity as a game creator and was an enormous confidence boost.
What advice do you have for new and existing website owners that you wish you knew before you started?
One of the best pieces of advice that I’ve received as an indie hacker, and that I would like to share with others, is that design is never an afterthought. You could have the greatest product or game on the market, but it has to look the part or else no one will even try it.
What do you like best about being a part of Nitro’s network of premium gaming/entertainment websites?
Nitro’s customizable dashboard is an invaluable resource for insights into my ad performance. I am also a big fan of the subscription service, which I have integrated into TWL as the Trainwreck Club.
Although it is already gaining traction as is, I plan to expand what the Trainwreck Club offers players in the very near future, and having NitroPay manage the payments and subscriptions lets me focus more on improving my games and talking to players.
What’s next for Trainwreck Labs?
I am excited to announce that, before the end of Summer 2024, Globle fans will be able to create their own customized Globles and invite their friends to compete with them. Globle: Leagues is coming very soon!
A big thank you to Abe and Trainwreck Labs. Keep your eyes peeled for more insightful interviews like this in next month's edition of our Publisher Showcase, where we’ll continue to spotlight one of the 500+ stand out websites on Nitro, diving deep into their unique success!
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