Case Study: Topps achieves rapid app development and a scalable digital trading‑card platform with MongoDB

Topps Modernizes Trading Cards With Apps Built On MongoDB

Topps, the classic American trading-card company, partnered with mobile developer Dog on a Horse to modernize its collectible cards into social mobile apps. Their original MySQL platform struggled to scale and support high-volume, unpredictable social interactions, making it difficult to deliver new features and handle peak usage.

Rebuilding on MongoDB’s flexible, scalable NoSQL database let teams deliver Topps BUNT in three months and Topps HUDDLE in under a week, with real-time data analysis for card valuation. The apps drove strong growth—more than five million digital packs sold in 2013, BUNT consistently ranked among the Top 5 grossing U.S. sports apps, KICK enabled global expansion, and users now acquire about two packs per second—while keeping development fast and costs marginal for new apps.

Topps

Michael Bramlage

Vice President and General Manager of Digital