Our Empowerment

A Powerful African-American Board Game
Available at NAACP Convention, Milwaukee Wisconsin.
By Norwood Professionals
July 2005
Norwood_professionals@hotmail.com


Prosperity is an attractive new board game with a commanding presence, over 23” wide and weighing in at almost 5 pounds. At first glance the game seems familiar, but almost instantly you say to yourself, like the owner of Black Arts Plus in Dayton, Ohio, “this game is for us!”-- Prosperity is an African American board game. “We acknowledge the positive contributions of those [African American board games] who came before us, focusing on Black history, then we took it to the next level.” said Mr. Amitenejah [pronounced amy-ten-jah], publisher of Prosperity. “We’re about inspiring action, building solutions, and motivating meaningful progress …” the publisher continued.

A community leader received Prosperity as a gift, she allowed her church’s singles association to experience the game during Game Night; then before the game was sent to her daughter attending college in Arizona, her 13 year old nephew was heard saying “I want to be like him (pointing to the man on the $10,000,000 bill)!” Undoubtedly, that’s exactly what the creator of Prosperity was looking for.

Unlike many games that glorify the destruction of opponents in order to win; Prosperity focuses on progressive principles such as: ‘cooperative economics,’ ‘increasing the pie,’ and ‘win-win negotiations.’ A mortgage consultant, pleasantly surprised at the mature level of the game, said (reading game rules) “hahaha, ‘comptroller’, ‘[purchase]options,’ … ‘condemnation,’ mannnnn, I gotta get one! …” The mortgage professional clearly felt Prosperity was an excellent product for his family, but also indicated that it was a suitable house-closing gift idea for many of his clients as well.

Some believe the board game industry is paying close attention to Prosperity; not to its laudable business principles in play, but instead to the Black faces on its high value currency ($1000. to $100,000,000. notes,) and to the multi-million dollar properties in African American communities. “Once you attach Blackness to success [some] people get nervous …” Mr. Amitenejah said, then concluded “… expect to see a big difference to old board game favorites real soon.” So don’t be too surprised if you see a brand new million dollar bill in Life, or a shiny billion dollar price tag on Monopoly’s Broadwalk.


Power, Purpose, and Problem

Prosperity has a multi-layered approach to Black empowerment in play, it starts with the Black nationalist color pattern (red, black, and green) on the box, and the property names, named for many US cities with high African American populations. For the board, the aim was to maximize visual stimulation with vibrant colors, i.e.: proud blues, happy yellows, jolly greens, and pretty purples; the goal for the currency was to collectively link Africa and America with wisdom and wealth; for the game pieces, the plan was to symbolically represent some of the virtues in the African American community: leadership (King), responsibility (Mother of Earth), family (Fertility Doll), intelligence (Pyramid), security (Pet), political power (Crown), and physical strength (Power Fist); and the power cards are designed to add surprise and intrigue to normal game play; (educators can editor cards to focus on particular themes i.e.: family, or education.)

A powerful lesson plan centered around Prosperity was recently adopted and featured on www.teachers.net and www.lessonsplanpage.com, the lesson plan is designed to be used by teachers and mentors of children age 8 to 18. It is particularly useful during Black History Month, week of Juneteenth, and/or week of Kwanzaa. "... Prosperity ... helps ... young entrepreneurs [mature their] consciousness through fun, history and inspiration" said the founder of African American Holiday Association and YEP (Youth Entrepreneur Project).

“Our goal is to inspire real life success everyday from generation to generation,” from a statement found at a Prosperity’s website: www.funwithwealth.com. “You could really learn how to negotiate real life deals just by playing the game, there is so much that people could learn just by playing the game.” Said the owner of Nefertiti’s Books & Gifts in Jacksonville Florida.

The publishers of Prosperity found themselves humbled by the fact that they were unable to find Black contractors to produce their Black empowerment product. Normally after the electronic files are finished, a project such as this takes about three months to complete with a single contractor. After many production delays, and a few contractor changes the project was finished two long and very hard years later.


The Product, The Creator, and The Company

Ever since a life-affirming and life-focusing experience that occurred on October 15, 1995 on the mall of our nation’s capitol; Mr. Amitenejah, a native New Yorker, with over 10 years of professional real estate experience, aggressively sought a national product of cultural substance and financial worth.

During a spirited conversation between Mr. Amitenejah and a doctoral-candidate client of his, at his Florida home, the client asked him if he had authored any books. The client inquired because she felt Mr. Amitenejah’s strong opinions on Black empowerment needed to be published. That conversation directly motivated Mr. Amitenejah to write the manuscript, Building Black Wealth In America -- Prosperity is based on that manuscript. Clearly, both projects fulfilled the national product criteria.

Prosperity was completed on 3/7/05, the company officially started 5/5/05, and the two year trademark registration process finalized on 6/14/05. Speaking to the creator of Prosperity, Ms. H. Hussey of Canada said "... Bless you for creating it!"


Let’s Play

According to the rules, ‘as a group: players set up game board, allot player pieces, determine player-turn order, and appoint a banker (comptroller); the banker distributes $700,000,000. [perhaps our reparations proceeds with interest] as follows: (5) $100,000,000. bills, (13) $10,000,000. bills, (10) $5,000,000. bills, (18) $1,000,000. bills, (19) $100,000. bills, (9) $10,000. bills, and (10) $1000. bills. All players start at the corner square labeled Port Success, also known as ‘Start Here,’ then ‘progress’ clockwise on the board.’

‘Set a goal, as a group you set a goal to signal the end of the game before it starts, i.e.: the first person with a billion dollars in cash, two hour time limit, or use of half of the power cards.’ Apparently, without a goal, the game could go on aimlessly for days. ‘The very first property purchased must be the Real Estate Development office,’ seems like they hold an exclusive-right-to-sell every property on the board, well at least for the first sale, sweet deal euh? See what can happen when you make the rules?

Players are encouraged to always have a deal in mind, and reminded to keep all negotiations open and limited to one minute. ‘When a player lands on an available property he/she can buy it, not buy it, or sell his/her “right or option” to buy it.’ This rule enables players to create wealth without actual property ownership, this is another real-life learning lesson. More traditional deals involve the purchase of property with a mortgage, in this game ‘the entire loan, plus interest must be paid on or before any of that property’s owners land on the property or foreclosure must take place;’ sorry, no refinancing in Prosperity! Watch out because in Prosperity the government can forcibly take your property when it chooses to do so, although it’s for public purposes not for private gain, unlike what occurred recently in New London, Connecticut.

Back to the game, Prosperity doesn’t mean perfection; at times big problems occur, for example: although the “No Justice No Peace” card indicates a willingness to be incarcerated for a just cause; the 'Arrested' card indicates involuntary restraint. The State and Federal political influence (cards) can turn any horrific jail experience into a mere inconvenience. For those without political influence, they must gamble with the justice system, which includes an appeals process if necessary. Another problem card to avoid is 'Ouch', if selected you must pay 65% of your cash-on-hand for alimony and child support. Ohhhh, what you really don’t want to do is get the 'Major Accident' card and then Action Roll an 11 or a 12; nope, you don’t want that.

An ‘Action Roll is a throw of the dice to determine an action’, action rolls are necessary when multiple options are present (on specific properties, and/or on some power cards). If a player lands on a property such as the Utility Company, he/she must perform an Action Roll to determine the service (cable, phone, gas, oil, electric, etc…) and fee ordered. If a player selects a special Power Card such as Trip to Africa, Charitable Contribution, or Entertainment Contract, the Action Roll in conjunction with the special power card rules will determine the specific action. For example, if a player selects the Entertainment Contract Power Card then Action Rolls a 12, the player will ‘receive $7,000,000. for his/her R&B/Gospel/or Rap contract’.


Cost and Availability

Presently the premiere edition only retails for $35.00, they can be purchased online at www.nandilove.com, and/or in person on:

1. Sat July 9th - CHOICES: Milwaukee's Black Festival of Books will take place in Milwaukee, WI. This is the 6th year of the annual festival, with the theme being "Reading Brings You the World". The festival is sponsored by ABC Academy, Inc. and hosted by The Reader's Choice Bookstore.

This year's festival is expecting to bring in an attendance that will include participants from the 2005 NAACP National Convention (hosted by the city of Milwaukee July 9-14). The festival is outdoors and is free, but has some very "choice" paid events such as the Children's Book Time Breakfast (featuring award-winning author and illustrator Jerry Butler, $5.00) and the Dine & Sign Luncheon (adults only; featuring authors Cheri Paris Edwards, Xenia Ruiz; Phyllis Dixon; Tony Lindsay and more, $20.00). There is a Public Forum on literacy (keynote speaker Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore); a presentation on marketing literary works; poetry and spoken word "roll call"; children's activities and vendors.

For more on purchasing tickets for the breakfast and luncheon, or becoming a vendor, please call 414-265-2003.

2. Sat July 9th - The Cultural Connection Bookstore will be at the NAACP 2005 Annual Convention, Greater Milwaukee Convention Center Milwaukee, WI, Contact Info: The Cultural Connection Bookstore, 3424 W. Villard Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53209, Ms. Frances Utsey 414.461.6160

For more information or for additional retail locations visit Prosperity online at www.africanamericanboardgame.com, or call 904-768-2626.