Lifting of curfew hits Egyptian board game industry

CAIRO: The recent lifting of Egypt’s three-month state of emergency and curfew has brought the country’s board game industry to its knees, according to the latest business figures.

Less than a week after the measures were removed, sales of titles including Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Mousetrap – which has seen record growth rates since August – have plummeted.

“From almost triple digit sales growth rates over the past three months, almost overnight the whole industry has fallen to never before seen lows,” said Ernesto Da Santa, North African director of home entertainment analytics at KPMG. “Guess Who, Cluedo, Battleship, Risk… even Scrabble, they’ve all taken a huge hit in Egypt by the government’s recent move.”

While figures are yet to be released, experts also predict that the recent growth experienced by the nice hot milky drink industry will have seen a dramatic reversal.