AN ENTREPRENEUR whose summer plans were destroyed by lockdown has made a mobile game to fight the virus which hit his business.

Nic Charrington, from Harwell near Didcot, normally runs gradsnaps.com, taking photos of university students on their graduation day, but this took a massive hit when the coronavirus put graduations this summer in doubt.

Instead of panicking, he decided to dedicate his time to thinking of ways to help defeat the coronavirus which has spoilt his business.

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The entrepreneur invented the mobile game Bio Blast, which he says is very similar to the popular and notoriously addictive mobile game Candy Crush.

The 28-year-old will donate 100 per cent of the profits from the game to charities and the NHS in hope of defeating the coronavirus or at least lessening the impact of the virus on the most vulnerable.

Mr Charrington said he got the idea after reading a story last year about Candy Crush making £2m every day.

He said: “If we can raise just a fraction of this, we can have a massive positive impact”.

Spurred on by concerns for his grandparents who are 90 and 96, he said: “It would be such a shame for them to have survived the Second World War but be caused to suffer by this horrible illness.”

The app is free to play and is available for download on both Android and Apple devices.

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Bio Blast relies on advertising to fund the donations, but players can also purchase virtual coins on the game that help them to get through difficult levels which also contribute towards donations.

However, players do not have to spend any money on Bio Blast to contribute, just playing the game will get money to the NHS.

Mr Charrington suggests the game will help boredom in lockdown and said: “At the very least it will be a welcome distraction for those bored of self-isolation and you can even compete with your friends.”

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He added: “I wanted to bring people together for a shared cause, bring some fun to people’s days and help things go back to normal at the same time.”

Mr Charington is a law graduate from Bristol University and is part of a graduate entrepreneur support scheme at the University of the West of England where he founded his graduation photography company that offers graduates photos of their special day for up to 80 per cent less than the competition.

He used his business initiative to make Bio Blast during coronavirus lockdown.

It took Mr Charington just two weeks to get the Bio Blast app up and running, something which would usually take years of development.

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He said: “As soon as lockdown was announced I started work on bringing this to life, I’ve worked day and night to get it into people’s hands as quickly as possible.”

Now the entrepreneur is hoping his app will spread faster than the virus itself so he can donate the money.

The Harwell businessman has estimated that, with one million downloads, £100,000 can be raised every day to help curb the virus.

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He also estimated that just five minutes a day could raise £1 per user.

Mr Charington’s Bio Blast game is similar to Candy Crush, but this game instead of having sweets to match on this puzzle game the entrepreneur has designed cartoon viruses, medicine, face masks and hand sanitiser.

The Harwell businessman will donate the profits from Bio Blast to charities including UNICEF, Relief International and also the NHS.

Download the game at bioblast.me