Female and minority owned businesses should seek to enter industries that are growing and offer a sustainable audience and customer base. LONDON (PRWEB) August 27, 2021
Sandra Harewood, a black, female inventor, has launched her digital game RAID, on the Apple App Store and on Google Play. RAID is an addictive game that users can play with family and friends at a table or on a mobile device.
When asked why she was entering this “non-traditional” area, Harewood stated: “Female and minority owned businesses should seek to enter industries that are growing and offer a sustainable audience and customer base. Google Stadia, Microsoft Games (owners of Xbox), Amazon Games and Apple Arcade are all heavily investing in the exploding social gaming industry. I believe my word/strategy game delivers compelling content for an underserved growing segment of people playing games on their mobile phone – women.”
To get the app developed she sent a prototype of the board game to Cartamundi, the largest manufacturer of cards and board games in the world. Cartamundi’s European Digital Team thought the game had potential and agreed to develop the app.
Harewood came up with the idea for RAID when she noticed she and other guests getting bored during a game night because they had to wait too long for their turn to play. She set out to create a fast-paced word game where all players are engaged 100% of the time, that also involved an element of strategy. When RAID was tested by Toys “R” Us executives, they described it as “having good play value, being simple to learn, easy to play and being cool and exciting.”
A fundamental element of the gameplay is that it’s always everyone’s turn to play all the time, keeping everyone involved, absorbed and intense. Players draw from the same pool of letters, which are constantly being replenished, and compete against each other to fill up their rows with words before opponents. A player can “RAID” or capture their opponents’ words by adding letters only if they are able to create a new word. It’s a fast-paced word game for players of all ages, especially adults who are uber-competitive, as well as more casual players and children.
“We’re really excited about our mobile launch as millions of people will have the opportunity to download and try this free, new App,” said Harewood. “If people have fun beating the artificial intelligence bots in the App they’ll also enjoy our board game version which will be available on Kickstarter starting September 8th. That way they can play face-to-face with friends and family.”
When asked if she faced any challenges in her journey as a black female entrepreneur Harewood said: “The publishers of the Harry Potter books did not think that boys would read an adventure book written by a female author – hence the name of the author JK Rowling rather than Joanne Rowling. Similarly, I was told that a significant number of people might not buy a board game or even download a free game app invented by a black woman and that I should consider “fronting” the business with a Caucasian male. My response was that I believe and trust that most people would judge the game, after playing it, on the quality of the gameplay not anything else. I never considered hiding my identity.”
“In these times when individuals and companies are embracing diversity and inclusion, our entry into these non-traditional areas will be welcomed. Indeed, we are approaching all the big tech companies to ask them to consider purchasing the board game as a gift for their employees as games like these really help people, who would not normally socialize with each other, to bond. We believe that playing games together will assist the retention and integration of valuable staff members.”
The RAID team intends to continuously upgrade the app and the next version will see numerous features being added including multiplayer play online, in-game chat and hundreds of levels of AI bot skills to make the game user friendly for an even wider audience.
For more information please visit: RAIDwordGAME.com.
About Us:
Creator, Sandra Harewood, was born in London, United Kingdom where she studied at the University of East London and worked in the City of London for Chartered Accountants Grant Thornton. She relocated to Barbados and studied at the University of the Indies earning an Executive MBA and worked for the British Government’s project management team building schools, libraries and hospitals in the Caribbean in collaboration with the British Council. She later worked for a billion-dollar North American company in Operations Management. She lives in London, UK and loves yoga. For more information: RAIDwordGAME.com
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