In 2012, a few years into the cultural frenzy that was Words with Friends, Carder Starr was playing the game app with a friend when he saw that the letters spelled out a perfect word he could use, palabra. Unfortunately, the word, Spanish for word itself, didn't work and Starr went on with his game.
But, weeks later, Starr couldn't shake the thought that something might be there. Almost 10 years later, he has released his two person, word game built in the same vein of Scrabble and Words with Friends, with the added and challenging twist of being played in multiple languages simultaneously.
Launched in 2021, Linguicity allows players to choose the languages in which they are willing to play. Players in each game must have at least one common language from their respective profiles. A player is required to play a word in the particular language that is in play (the LoP - Language of Play) for that particular turn.
Starr explained that The LoP can and does change during the game, to simulate how many people converse in a bilingual or multilingual conversation.
"I wanted to create a challenging and mentally stimulating game, a game that stretches and strengthens a person's mind," he said.
Presently, Linguicity has languages available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German. Starr said the game will eventually be including additional languages that use the western alphabet.
Starr said he's been an entrepreneur for most of his working career and spent his undergraduate years at Brown prior to earning a graduate degree at the University of Rhode Island. Currently, his "day job" is the CFO at a wholesale distributor company in Rhode Island.
At present, there are four shareholders in the company and no employees, Starr said. Starr said he personally funded 95% of the development and worked with outside contractors to develop the app.
"I am finishing up a Pitch Deck to raise about $1 million to really kick start the game into the international arena," he said. "I had a couple of starts and stops along the way.... and a lot of expense! Eventually, I did hire a graduate of New England Tech to write the program and launch it on the App Store and Google Play."
Linguicity is now finishing up its beta phase, and Starr said he's excited to see its impact in the App Store.
"The app is not "flashy", rather it is a straightforward, challenging game," he said. " I have ideas for additional playing options (an "expert level") that I look to include at some point to make it an even more challenging game."
