Blog

The winner of the 2021 Birmingham Start-Up Games, David Pettifer, talks with us about his start-up idea Board Wreckers Inc and how the games he has designed aim to bring something new into a traditional games market.

David’s story: Bored Wreckers Inc, designs
and develops board and card games, seeking to invigorate and disrupt the
traditional table-top games market by putting inclusion, representation and
diversity at the forefront.

After an evening of playing
games with friends, we realised that LGBTQ+ themes were enormously
under-represented in the games market. 

This led me to designing the company’s
first product, Drags 2 Riches, a 2-4 player deck-building card game centred on
the fabulous world of drag. Players build up their wardrobes of fierce looks
over several rounds and play the best combinations of Hair, Makeup, Outfits,
Heels and Accessories to win events and steal the show

Through the informal
start-up meetings, the B-Enterprising team gave me the advice and encouragement
that spurred me on to start my own business. They provided me with funding from
both the ideas fund and the start-up fund, and this money enabled me to hire a
graphic designer and produce the artwork, logo and promotional materials for
the game. Now I have a fully working, fully illustrated, digital prototype of
the game which is now ready to be printed
and tested physically.

Running my own business
gives me an opportunity to develop new skill sets and tackle a diverse array of
challenges, both of which I love. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being able to build
collaborations with the drag community, designers and playtesting communities,
working closely with them and seeing my product idea become reality. There’s no
part of the process I haven’t enjoyed yet, although that’s not to say there
aren’t lots of challenges.

Actually I wish I’d known
sooner about the ideas fund and start-up fund offered by B-Enterprising. I
would have started my business much sooner if I had. 

Also by joining in with
the informal meetups I felt fully prepared and supported in the process of
beginning a start-up, so I would encourage anyone even thinking about a venture
to join in and make the most of this resource! 

The biggest takeaway for me
has to be that beginning a business is not a difficult as I thought it might
be, and that anyone can do it with a little bit of funding and a bit of
ambition.

This year I took part in
the Birmingham Start-up Games pitching competition, hosted by the UoB Start-up Society,
and won the grand prize in the established business category. It was a
wonderful experience, and an amazing opportunity to network with other young
entrepreneurs, potential mentors, and business leaders. Based on my success at
the games, I have been put forward by the university to compete in the Santander X Entrepreneurship Awards, with a potential prize worth £75k to the business.