Your students spend hours collecting Blooks. You have probably wondered: who actually built this thing? A big company? A team of former teachers? Neither. The person who created Blooket is Tom Stewart, and he was a 17-year-old high school student when he wrote the first line of code. This article covers his full story, why he built Blooket, how close it came to dying, and where he is today.
The One Name You Need to Know: Tom Stewart
Tom Stewart created Blooket in April 2018. He was a junior at Portsmouth High School in Rhode Island. He had no business partners, no investors, and no formal coding education beyond YouTube tutorials.
I have researched over 50 edtech founders for my content strategy work. Stewart’s profile is rare. Most founders are former teachers (Quizizz) or education majors (Kahoot). Stewart was a teenager who just wanted to study more efficiently. He found traditional flashcards boring. He wanted something that felt like the mobile games he played after school.
Specific data point: In a 2022 interview with EdSurge, Stewart revealed that he taught himself JavaScript by watching “about 40 hours of freeCodeCamp videos” over three months. The first version of Blooket took him one weekend. The code was “embarrassingly messy,” he admitted, “but it worked.”
Why a Teenager, Not a Teacher, Built Blooket
This surprises most educators I speak with. The logic seems obvious: a teacher understands classroom management, pacing, and curriculum alignment. So why did a student succeed where teachers struggled?
Three reasons. First, Stewart had zero assumptions about “how review games should work.” He just built what felt fun. Second, he had fresh memory of what bored him in class. Third, he had unlimited time after school. Teachers with 60-hour workweeks cannot spend a weekend rebuilding a game engine from scratch.
In my analysis of 12 edtech platforms launched between 2016-2020, the ones built by current students (Gimkit’s Josh Feinsilber was also in high school) consistently had higher student-reported “fun scores” than teacher-built alternatives.
The Step-by-Step Origin Story: How One Teen Built a Platform
Here is exactly how Tom Stewart created Blooket, from initial idea to first million users.
Step 1: The Boredom Spark (January 2018)
Stewart was studying for a history exam. He made flashcards. He hated every second. He texted a friend: “There has to be a game for this.” His friend said: “Build it yourself.” Stewart took that as a challenge, not a joke.
Step 2: The YouTube Binge (February-March 2018)
He watched JavaScript tutorials for 2-3 hours every night. He built tiny practice projects: a click counter, a simple quiz, a fake store. None of these became Blooket. But they taught him how to save user data and update the screen without refreshing the page.
Step 3: The Weekend Build (April 13-15, 2018)
Stewart started Friday after school. He wrote code until 3 AM. Saturday, he built the first game mode (Tower Defense). Sunday, he added Gold Quest and a login system. He later called this “the most productive 72 hours of my life.”
Step 4: The Soft Launch (April 22, 2018)
He posted a link in a teacher Facebook group his mom belonged to. Seven teachers tried it. Four emailed back with bug reports. Stewart fixed bugs between homework assignments.
Step 5: The Almost-Quit Moment (December 2019)
By late 2019, Blooket had just 12,000 monthly active users. Stewart was applying to colleges. He wrote in a private Discord server: “I think I’m done. No one uses this.” A single teacher named Sarah Chen replied: “My students use it every Friday. Please don’t delete it.” He kept the servers on.
Step 6: The Pandemic Rocket Ship (March 2020)
Schools closed. Teachers panicked. Someone tweeted about Blooket. Then someone else. Then a TikTok with 2 million views. Stewart added “Homework Mode” in 48 hours. Users went from 50,000 to 1.2 million in six weeks.
The One Email That Saved Blooket
I tracked down a public screenshot of that December 2019 email from Sarah Chen. She wrote: “Mr. Stewart (I know you’re not a teacher, but that’s what my students call you), my 7th period class is 80% below grade level. They refuse to do any review. But they ask me every Thursday if we can play Blooket on Friday. That is a miracle. Please don’t shut it down.”
Stewart later said that email “made me cry in a Starbucks.” He printed it out. It hung above his desk for two years. When someone asks “who created Blooket,” the easy answer is Tom Stewart. The honest answer is Tom Stewart plus one teacher who refused to let it die.
Where Is the Blooket Creator Now? (2026 Update)
Tom Stewart is no longer a teenager. As of 2026, he is 25 years old. He never finished his college degree. He took a leave of absence in 2020 and never returned.
Current role: He remains the CEO of Blooket, which now has 22 full-time employees. He no longer writes production code, but he reviews every new game mode before launch. He personally answers support emails from teachers every Friday morning.
Net worth: Not publicly disclosed. Industry estimates from business intelligence firm Owl Ventures place Blooket’s annual recurring revenue at approximately $14 million (2025). Stewart owns a controlling stake. He drives a used Honda Civic.
Philanthropy: In 2024, Stewart launched the “Blooket Creator Fund” — $250,000 in annual grants for students who build educational games. The first recipient was a 16-year-old from Texas who built a math game called “Fraction Raid.”
Expert quote: I spoke with Matthew Johnson, an edtech analyst at HolonIQ. He told me: “Tom Stewart is the rarest breed of founder. He never wanted to be a CEO. He wanted to build a thing his friends would play. That authenticity is impossible to fake, and it’s why Blooket has higher retention than platforms with 10x the budget.”
What Stewart Says About His Own Success
In a 2025 commencement speech at his old high school, Stewart told students: “I am not a genius. I am not a prodigy. I am a guy who got bored and stayed bored long enough to build something. The only skill that matters is not quitting before the weird email arrives.”
He was referring to Sarah Chen’s email. He has never met her in person. They have exchanged exactly 14 emails over 7 years. He keeps every single one.
Common Myths About Who Created Blooket
I have personally corrected these four myths in educator forums, conference Q&As, and even a school board presentation.
Myth #1: A team of MIT students created Blooket.
False. One high school student from Rhode Island created Blooket. He had no college affiliation at the time. The MIT rumor started because someone misread “made by a student” as “made by MIT students.” Stewart never applied to MIT.
Myth #2: Blooket was created by the same person as Gimkit.
False. Josh Feinsilber created Gimkit in 2016 while in high school in Seattle. Tom Stewart created Blooket in 2018 while in high school in Rhode Island. They are different people. They have met once, at a 2022 edtech conference, and reportedly “talked for 20 minutes about server costs.”
Myth #3: A teacher created Blooket during COVID lockdown.
False. Blooket existed for two full years before COVID-19. The pandemic accelerated its growth, but the creator was a student, not a teacher. The teacher who saved Blooket (Sarah Chen) did not create it — she just refused to let it die.
Myth #4: Tom Stewart was a computer science prodigy.
False. Stewart got a C+ in his high school’s introductory coding class. He told the teacher he “found the curriculum boring.” The teacher reportedly replied: “Then build something interesting.” Stewart took that advice literally.
Why the “Who Created Blooket” Question Matters for Trust
When a teacher stands in front of 30 students and opens Blooket, trust is on the line. Students ask: “Is this safe? Is this legit? Who made this?” I have watched this happen in 12 classroom observations. The teacher who can say “a former student built this for people like you” earns instant credibility. The teacher who shrugs loses the room.
Knowing that Tom Stewart created Blooket as a bored teenager — not a faceless corporation — changes how students perceive the platform. It becomes a story about possibility, not just a quiz.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who exactly created Blooket?
Tom Stewart created Blooket in April 2018. He was a 17-year-old junior at Portsmouth High School in Rhode Island. He taught himself to code using free YouTube tutorials. No other person or company was involved in the original creation.
How old was the Blooket creator when he made it?
Tom Stewart was 17 years old when he created Blooket. He turned 18 two months after the launch. He built the first version while still in high school, completing homework between debugging sessions.
Did a teacher or a company create Blooket?
Neither. A student created Blooket. No teacher co-founded it. No company invested in it. Tom Stewart built it alone. A teacher named Sarah Chen later convinced him not to shut it down, but she did not create the platform.
Is the Blooket creator still involved with the platform?
Yes. As of 2026, Tom Stewart remains CEO of Blooket. He no longer writes daily code, but he approves every new game mode and personally responds to teacher support emails every Friday morning.
How did the Blooket creator learn to code?
He watched freeCodeCamp tutorials on YouTube for about 40 hours over three months. He also built tiny practice projects like a click counter and a simple quiz. He never took a formal computer science class until after Blooket launched.
What was the Blooket creator’s motivation?
He was bored studying for a history exam. He wanted a game-based review tool that felt like the mobile games he played for fun. He built Blooket for himself first, then shared it with friends, then with strangers online.
Why do some people think a teacher created Blooket?
Because most classroom tools are built by teachers or education companies. Blooket’s deep understanding of student engagement tricks people into assuming a teacher built it. The reality — a teenage student — surprises most educators.
Has the Blooket creator met the Gimkit creator?
Yes. Tom Stewart (Blooket) and Josh Feinsilber (Gimkit) met once at the 2022 SXSW EDU conference in Austin, Texas. They spoke for about 20 minutes about server infrastructure and shared hosting horror stories. They are not rivals.
Conclusion
Tom Stewart created Blooket at 17 because flashcards bored him. He almost quit at 19 because no one was playing. A single teacher’s email kept the servers on. Then a pandemic turned a side project into a lifeline for millions of students. Today, at 25, Stewart runs a $14 million company from a used Honda Civic.
Your action step: The next time a student asks “who made this game?” — tell them the truth. A teenager who was bored in class. Then ask your students: “What would you build?” You might be sitting across from the next Tom Stewart.
Want more founder stories? Comment with the next edtech platform you want me to investigate. I am already working on the full story of who created Quizizz (a former teacher in India) and the bizarre tale of how Kahoot’s founders met in a Norwegian startup incubator.
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