Dozens of gaming computers light up with League of Legends, Fortnite, Final Fantasy and countless others. Gamers shout into headsets, type furiously at their keyboards and shout across to friends. It’s midnight at Gee Gee café.
Ramadan is the busiest time of the year for Gee Gee and it opens 24 hours a day, seven days a week over the month. There are 100 computers, separate VIP rooms and even food service to each console. Soft green lights hang from the ceilings, while Anime posters crowd the walls. The upstairs room gets so mobbed during Ramadan that gamers sometimes have to wait two hours for a machine. Business peaks from 8pm to about 4am and an hour costs Dh10.
Malath Alzubi is manager at Gee Gee (in gaming talk, you type GG after a win which means good game).
“It’s the high season,” he said. “Most people are free at night so it’s a kind of gathering,” said Mr Alzubi as he walks the floor of the cafe located close to the Holiday Inn off Sultan bin Zayed the First Street (Muroor Road).
Most of the gamers are aged between 16 and 35 and about 70 per cent on a typical night are Emirati. Pasta is the most popular food and cans of Red Bull appear on many desks.
Jawad Al Blooshi, 27, takes a break from playing Battleground to tell us why he loves coming here, especially during Ramadan. “It’s open 24 hours and it’s the only time of the year when it’s open 24 hours. You meet other gamers - people who have common interests, people who can play with you,” said Mr Al Blooshi, who is from Abu Dhabi, and played until 6am the previous day. “I’m not kidding. I left because I had to.”
Another gamer, Mohammed Al Hammadi, is about to leave after playing since breaking his fast. “My friends and I, we are all close to each other - if you want to make plans, you can make them from here,” said Mr Al Hammadi, 23, who is from Abu Dhabi.
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Read more:
How Fortnite and League of Legends have revitalised Abu Dhabi's fading internet cafes
Grimy no more: why Abu Dhabi street gyms are drawing in the crowds
Midnight in Ramadan: The radio station that comes alive at night
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The gaming scene is fast developing in the city. Many of the older internet cafes where people once quaintly checked their emails have been revitalised as gaming centres. Scores of newer cafes have also opened across the city in recent years - they sponsor tournaments, host events and are a social outlet. The UAE community is particularly noted for its community flair.
“The scene in the UAE is totally different from the UK,” said Conrad Lesselles, team leader at Gee Gee for Final Fantasy. Mr Lesselles moved here from the UK six weeks ago for the role and he’s also IT manager. Through Ramadan he’s up later, making sure each Dh10,000-computer is operating to a high standard.
“Cafes aren’t particularly a thing in the UK as people don’t want to admit they like games. The culture is you want to be alpha male or macho male – you play football, rugby and are one of the lads,” he said.
“But I think that’s dying down and will go away eventually,” said Mr Lesselles, 29.
For Mr Lesselles, the social aspect of the Abu Dhabi scene has been the biggest surprise.
“It was a shock that it was so popular here. Everyone loves playing games together which is great and I love it. People are happy just having fun which I think is a bit different. It’s like 5-a-side football, only with Fortnite.”
However, the scene still tends to be male dominated. Gee Gee attracts some female players including Emiratis but on a regular night that accounts for just 1 per cent of the customers. But business is growing, mirroring the international rise of esports – a terms loosely describing these types of games - as a professional sport.
Competitions in front of live audiences for huge cash prizes have packed arenas such as Madison Square Garden. The industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and Dubai has even announced plans to build its own esports arena. According to Mr Alzubi, business at Gee Gee is growing by 20 per cent a year and expansion plans are in the pipeline. But for now, he has to get through another hectic Ramadan.
“Outside of Ramadan, people are busy but during Ramadan they meet on a daily basis,” he said.
“The atmosphere is one of friendship. People have free time and enjoy being together.”
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
WORLD RECORD FEES FOR GOALKEEPERS
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
3) Ederson, Benfica to Manchester City (£35m)
4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The biog
Name: James Mullan
Nationality: Irish
Family: Wife, Pom; and daughters Kate, 18, and Ciara, 13, who attend Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)
Favourite book or author: “That’s a really difficult question. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt, The Secret History. I’d recommend that, go and have a read of that.”
Dream: “It would be to continue to have fun and to work with really interesting people, which I have been very fortunate to do for a lot of my life. I just enjoy working with very smart, fun people.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
