“Board games are a wonderful tool to bond with family, offering the kind of quality time around a table which simply doesn’t compare to phone games,” said Madhavan Menon, who is managing the participation of Back to Games, the second-largest board game retailer in the world, at the ongoing 13th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) in Expo Centre Sharjah.
The Dubai-based retailer has its own booth among hundreds of international publishing houses, distributors, and toy manufacturers who have brought the best of children’s literature and entertainment from 15 countries around the world to SCRF 2022.
A regular at SCRF and the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), the Back to Games produces localised versions of popular international games for the Gulf region and India. These include the local rendition of the renowned strategy game Kingdomino, and The World – an adaptation of the beautifully illustrated Okiya.
The games being featured at the Back to Games booth in Hall 4 target children aged 3 – 14 years, and have been designed to develop dexterity, visual perception and memory skills.
Recounting a heart-warming story of what inspired him to enter the world of board game production, Menon noted: “I wanted to get my son away from his tablet, so I bought him Pengaloo. I couldn’t find any other games of interest for children of his age group, so I decided to fill this gap.”
Announcing big news to young football fans, Menon said that his company is in talks with FIFA World Cup 2022 to launch two board games themed around the popular football championship – Fast Flip and Taco FIFA World Cup Pizza.