Global entertainment development company Mycotoo is known for master planning theme parks (including Dubai’s Motiongate and Bollywood Parks), live events, and immersive brand experiences, such as HBO’s Westworld Experience for South by Southwest (SXSW), and Stranger Things: The Experience with Netflix and Fever. What made Mycotoo want to open North America’s first Dig It family entertainment center (FEC) at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, California?
Dig It, a construction site-themed creative play space—which opened on Labor Day weekend 2022—realizes a long-held dream for Mycotoo co-owners Fri Forjindam, Clifford Warner, David Wally, and Seth Cover.
“Owning and operating our own entertainment product is what we’ve wanted to do as a company since we started out of a garage 11 years ago,” says Forjindam, chief development officer at Mycotoo in Pasadena, California.
Dig It is also personal. According to Forjindam, “it’s a thank you for the safe space I had 10 years ago with baby number two in tow and a preschooler not far off. Dig It represents that pay-it-forward manifesto in the form of an indoor playground and co-working space for other entrepreneurs, multitaskers, dreamers, and doers who also have kids in their lives.” She says, “It’s a full-circle moment to provide that for the community.”
Dig It Torrance has 15 distinct play areas, including a two-story play structure. A popular attraction is a conveyor belt that children use to send rubber bricks to a holding pen on the second level before dropping them back down a chute.
“It’s fun to watch kids who didn’t know each other playing together to move the bricks more efficiently,” Warner says.
The Dig It concept emerged from a conversation with Mark Pyrah at IAAPA Expo 2019. “Mark, who along with Tim North founded It-Attractions, now TC-IT Group, knew we were interested in developing as an entertainment owner/operator. He approached us about licensing Dig It for North America,” explains Warner.
TC-IT Group owned the Dig It brand after initially developing it for Emaar Entertainment in Dubai. “It was a solid play experience, and we loved the theme. We knew we could massage it to fit into the U.S. market,” Warner says. Mycotoo and TC-IT Group worked together to turn the California dream into reality.
“It was a very reasonable capital investment to get the first one open—around US$2 million,” Warner says. “We basically bootstrapped it. Our bank gave us a commercial loan. Our landlord, Simon Property Group, gave us a generous tenant improvement package, and we took money out of our pocket to get it the rest of the way.”
Mycotoo hopes to roll out Dig It across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. TC-IT Group is developing other sites globally.
“In Southern California, families want something that creatively challenges them and their kids,” says Forjindam. Dig It was a “fantastic IP with all the ingredients for physical play.” Mycotoo homed in on STEM and maker-based activities, encouraging guests to experiment, create, learn, and collaborate.
Children can let their imaginations run wild in an open-play section filled with wooden shapes, gears, ropes, and tools.
“We don’t tell them what to build; we prompt them with questions, like ‘How can you build something to get you to school?’” explains Forjindam. “One girl built a rolling throne and had her dad push her around,” Warner says.
Mycotoo had expected Dig It to appeal to 4-to-10-year-olds but saw at a pre-opening event for influencers how much their toddlers enjoyed the space. “So, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., we created a toddler time, which has been successful for the shopping mall and us. Although we’ll be in trouble when a toddler’s first word is ‘Dig It,’ not ‘Dadda,’” Warner jokes.
Dig It provides “meaningful play because that’s what every parent wants,” Forjindam says. It’s accessible to families whose parents work more than the traditional 9-5, with a closing time of 9 p.m. And it’s affordable. “This needed to be something that you could repeatedly come back to,” says Forjindam. Guests are returning multiple times a month and sometimes several times a week. Dig It is becoming part of families’ routines, providing “a home away from home,” she says. “Having a space that caters to people’s schedules, with a crew that are as enthusiastic at 10 a.m. as they are at 7 p.m., is a game changer.” Dig It will continue to change and evolve as it engages with the community at the shopping mall and in Torrance.
Mycotoo’s focus remains on creating places where people want to hang out. “Entertainment destinations must cater to those that want to gather,” Warner says. He sees opportunities in midsize cities, and Mycotoo’s experience with current clients will translate into more “go-to entertainment centers” in the future.
