Saudi school principal gets into Guinness for largest mural using water bottle caps
Saudi school principal gets into Guinness for largest mural using water bottle caps/node/1904471/saudi-arabia
Saudi school principal gets into Guinness for largest mural using water bottle caps
The Green Leaves Playgroup principal broke last year’s record with a 250 sq. meter map of the world. The previous record belonged to Caroline Chaptini, who created a 196.94 sq. meter crescent mosaic. Inset: (Khulood Al-Fadli Supplied)
Saudi school principal gets into Guinness for largest mural using water bottle caps
With determination and consistency, Khulood Al-Fadli continued her work ‘and never gave up’
Updated 03 August 2021
DEEMA AL-KHUDAIR
JEDDAH: Khulood Al-Fadli, a school principal in Jeddah, has joined the ranks of Guinness World Records holders by creating the planet’s largest mosaic using plastic bottle caps.
The Green Leaves Playgroup principal broke last year’s record with a 250-square-meter map of the world using 350,000 plastic bottle caps. The previous record belonged to Caroline Chaptini, who created a 196.94-square- meter crescent mosaic in Miziara, Lebanon.
“I feel beyond the moon. I really felt my work had paid off,” Al-Fadli told Arab News.
“The image doesn’t matter as the size determines if I’m breaking a record and Guinness World Records had so many requirements to break a record or set a new record,” she said.
Meeting the requirements to break the record proved especially difficult due to turbulent weather conditions affecting her outdoor mosaic.
“I went through difficult days of the wind blowing all my water caps away, which delayed the project for a week. But with determination, consistency and with the help of my volunteers and most of all my family and husband, I continued my work and never gave up,” she said.
The project was aimed at shedding light on three events; World Environment Day — collecting plastic and recycling — World Oceans Day — not throwing plastics into oceans or the sea because of its negative effects on the environment — and United Nations Public Service Day — the importance of community volunteering. Al-Fadli said that all three world days met Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its sustainable goals.
HIGHLIGHT
The project was aimed at shedding light on three events; World Environment Day — collecting plastic and recycling — World Oceans Day — not throwing plastics into oceans or the sea because of its negative effects on the environment — and United Nations Public Service Day — the importance of community volunteering.
She said that her target volunteers were children, “since they are the future generation.” Al-Fadli was first inspired by student responses after she introduced the topic of global warming and recycling to children at the school.
Al-Fadli said that one pupil had asked: “’Does that mean our earth will die?’ She continued: “He questioned angrily, almost saying how dare people do this to our only planet.”
She told him that people could start change with themselves and a simple step to save the earth was to “collect plastics and make a humane project out of it.”
With the help of her students, family and friends, and the growing number of plastic bottle cap donors, “within 40 days of work, the news kept spreading and people from all over Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah and Taif came to donate.”
She said that the donors were eager to see the outcome, with even the youngest of volunteers excited to see the end result. “They were amazed by how lovely and huge the map is, they promised to save plastics and reuse them or donate it to me for the sake of the Earth.”
Al-Fadli said that creating art out of recyclables was a fulfilling experience — and that she had always had an affinity for maps while growing up.
“Since I was a child, I used to love drawing maps. I don’t know why but it feels like I’m flying. Seeing a huge map was like a dream,” she said.
How AI is powering Saudi Arabia’s video games industry
Technology is boosting efficiency and supporting local content development
Updated 13 March 2026
Rahaf Jambi
RIYADH: Artificial intelligence is becoming a central force in Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding gaming and esports sector, shaping everything from game development and publishing to player analytics and competitive tournaments.
As the Kingdom accelerates its ambitions under Vision 2030, AI is increasingly being deployed not only as a technical tool but also as a strategic driver for industry growth and global competitiveness.
Saudi Arabia is integrating AI across studios, publishing platforms and esports operations to improve efficiency, expand local content creation, attract international investment and streamline tournament management. The broader goal is to position the Kingdom not only as one of the world’s largest gaming markets but also as a global hub for game development and esports infrastructure.
For Saudi studios seeking international audiences, understanding how AI systems generate results is also critical to maintaining cultural accuracy and relevance in game content. (Unsplash.com photo)
According to Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy, the Kingdom is home to more than 23.5 million gamers — around 67 percent of the population. Market revenues are projected to reach $1.36 billion by 2026. By 2030, the sector aims to contribute more than SR50 billion to the national GDP and create about 39,000 jobs.
Women represent 42 percent of gamers and 18 percent of esports players, among the highest participation rates in the region.
The Public Investment Fund, through its gaming arm Savvy Games Group, has invested billions of dollars in game studios, publishers and esports platforms worldwide. The investments are designed to strengthen local content creation while attracting global developers and investors to Saudi Arabia.
INNUMBERS
23.5 million Number of gamers in Saudi Arabia, representing about 67% of the population
$1.36 billion Revenue the Kingdom’s gaming market is expected to reach by 2026
SR50 billion Amount the gaming and esports sector aims to add to GDP to create 39,000 jobs by 2030
A spokesperson for Savvy Games Group told Arab News that AI is already integrated across its portfolio, particularly within ESL FACEIT Group.
“AI is used across our businesses. At ESL FACEIT Group, AI is already embedded in operations, particularly around data analytics and fair play,” the spokesperson told Arab News. “For example, EFG uses Minerva, an AI-powered moderation system that identifies and reduces toxic or abusive behavior by analyzing player communications and behavior patterns at scale. This enables faster and more consistent decisions and helps create healthier competitive environments for players.”
However, the spokesperson said AI itself does not automatically create a competitive advantage.
“AI tools are increasingly accessible to studios everywhere, which means they are not a competitive advantage on their own,” the spokesperson told Arab News. “The advantage comes from how clearly studios define their use cases and how effectively they apply AI to support their goals.”
For Saudi studios seeking international audiences, understanding how AI systems generate results is also critical to maintaining cultural accuracy and relevance in game content.
Within development studios, AI is helping accelerate production while lowering costs. AI-powered tools assist with concept art, 3D modeling, animation and world design, while automated testing systems can simulate thousands of gameplay scenarios to identify bugs and balance issues before release.
Steer Studios, for example, is applying AI in asset production and testing workflows. Automating repetitive tasks allows creative teams to devote more time to storytelling, gameplay design and world-building — key elements that distinguish successful games.
AI is also playing an important role in localizing content for Arabic-speaking audiences. Studios including Fahy Studios, Starvania Studio and Lobah Game Studio use AI for dialogue generation, translation and other localization tasks, helping Saudi-developed games reach global markets more quickly without losing cultural context.
For live-service and mobile games, maintaining player engagement is crucial to long-term revenue. AI systems track player behavior in real time, adjust difficulty levels, refine matchmaking systems and personalize in-game experiences.
Publishing platforms such as Nine66 and Sandsoft also rely on AI-driven analytics to support developers. These tools help predict player lifetime value, optimize marketing campaigns and manage online gaming communities.
“Our approach aligns closely with KSA’s focus on digital transformation, innovation and long-term capability building under Vision 2030,” the Savvy Games Group spokesperson told Arab News. “We see AI as an enabler of productivity, operational efficiency and ecosystem sustainability.”
The spokesperson added that partnerships, including collaboration with Humain, allow Saudi companies to explore scalable and responsible applications of AI across studios.
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“We take a pragmatic approach,” the spokesperson told Arab News. “We focus on technologies that provide real benefits. Any AI solution we use must improve efficiency and make day-to-day work easier.”
Artificial intelligence is also transforming the esports ecosystem.
Esports Infra — a platform created by Singapore-based Samarium in partnership with Saudi AI firm Wakeb — is designed to streamline the management of players, teams and content creators.
“Esports suffers from fragmentation,” Jonas Moaz, Esports Infra founder, told Arab News. “Talented players often don’t have a clear path to professionalism. Organizations struggle to find players, and content creators lack tools to connect with audiences.”
The platform uses machine learning to classify player skill levels, computer vision to analyze gameplay and predictive analytics to forecast development potential.
“We expect to improve the efficiency of building esports organizations — particularly in talent discovery and time management — by up to 50 percent,” Moaz told Arab News.
In addition to player analytics, the platform assists with scheduling, contract management and sponsorship evaluation, giving teams and brands clearer insights into performance and commercial value.
Saudi Arabia’s gaming sector is steadily evolving from a consumer-driven market into a center for game creation and esports infrastructure. (Unsplash.com photo)
Despite AI’s growing role, its use in esports competition itself remains tightly regulated. Organizations such as the International Esports Federation prohibit AI from influencing live matches.
“We fully respect those regulations,” Moaz told Arab News. “Our tools support analysis but do not play on behalf of players. AI operates outside match time or as a statistical layer.”
Protecting player data and ensuring fairness remain key priorities for developers and platform providers.
“This is a top priority for us,” Moaz told Arab News. “Player data is encrypted and used only to improve the experience. To ensure fairness, we regularly audit our algorithms to prevent bias.”
Saudi Arabia’s gaming sector is steadily evolving from a consumer-driven market into a center for game creation and esports infrastructure. AI is embedded throughout this transformation — from accelerating game development and localization to analyzing player behavior and professionalizing competitive gaming.
If the targets outlined in Vision 2030 are achieved, AI will play a defining role not only in improving industry operations but also in helping Saudi Arabia compete globally in a sector increasingly driven by data, efficiency and advanced technology.
