bonuz officially submits GamifyDubai.com to the Dubai-it Award 2026 and opens 20 pilot places for brands
The plan to turn Dubai into a city people can play runs on bonuz LIFE mode, live since August 2026. Brands can now apply to run their own quests, punch cards and loyalty rewards in the first pilot group.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 27th 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Bonuz Technology DMCC, the Dubai company behind the bonuz apps, has officially submitted GamifyDubai.com to the Dubai-it Award 2026.
GamifyDubai.com is a plan to make Dubai the first city people can play: real streets, quests at real places, and rewards that belong to the person who earns them. The application is in and under review. bonuz has submitted, and it shares the plan now because the technology behind it is already live.
With the submission, bonuz opens its first brand pilot programme. Brands, restaurants, venues and event organisers can sign up at app.bonuz.market, create their account and apply to run gamified campaigns in bonuz. bonuz will approve no more than 20 brands in the first month. These brands become the pilots of GamifyDubai.com.
How it works
The idea follows one simple loop: find a quest, go there, complete it, prove it, get rewarded. A player might discover an art experience hidden in the city, a fragrance experience they never knew existed, or a place they would never have found otherwise.
Quests are more than check-ins. Visitors take part in actions that have real value for a brand: they try something new, share the story of their meal or their visit, bring a friend, or come back. The brand decides how to reward that action, for example with a voucher the visitor redeems on the next visit.
Pilot brands can run:
Digital punch cards and loyalty cards that live in the customer’s own bonuz app Quests during events, from the entrance to the last stage
Quests during restaurant and venue visits that reward people for coming, staying and coming back Rewards and redeemable vouchers for the next visit
It is a win-win ecosystem. Players discover more of Dubai and keep what they earn. Brands get more people through the door and build a real relationship with them, instead of buying another ad. The biggest goal of any brand is a happy customer who comes back, again and again. That is exactly what bonuz is built for: stronger brand and customer relationships, higher loyalty, and repeat customers.
Restaurants and events are only the start. The same system works for hundreds of uses over time, from cafés and retail to cultural sites and gym memberships.
What started as an idea, an inspiration and a dream has become what Mende calls the real-world Grand Theft Auto: an open city people play by walking through it, with modern, immersive activities that were never possible before.
Live today
GamifyDubai.com runs on technology that is already live, built on 2.1 million lines of code. bonuz LIFE mode has been in the public bonuz app since August 2026. Users raise their phone and nearby venues appear in place with their real name and distance, a radar shows what is around them, and items waiting to be collected are marked with a beam of light. bonuz has more than 10,000 registered users. The app is on iOS and Android and also works on the web with no download at app.bonuz.xyz.
The entire bonuz ecosystem is self-custodial. What users collect is held by the users themselves, on their own device, never by bonuz. With their bonuz ID, users can connect their social media accounts into one social graph, a single portable identity they own.
The bigger picture
Over the long term, bonuz plans large-scale campaigns with tourism departments, in the UAE and internationally, and with major festivals, events and concerts. These industries need new ways to engage visitors, and a city that people can play is one of them.
“Our team wrote GamifyDubai.com down for the first time in May 2023. The idea is simple. The city is the game,” said Matthias Mende, creator and CEO of bonuz and co-founder of Dubai Blockchain Center. “I have lived in Dubai since 2007. This city has always rewarded people who dream big and then do the work. A city that builds the first and the tallest should also be the first city you can play.”
“I grew up as a gamer, from Diablo to World of Warcraft, from GTA 1 to GTA 5,” Mende added. “In 2010 and 2011 I was already experimenting with augmented reality, but it was too early for its time. Only the new infrastructure made this possible, and we merged it into one experience. Dubai allowed us to think big, so we did what this city does. We Dubai-it.”
“Now we want the brands of this city to play with us,” Mende said. “We open 20 pilot places in the first month, so every pilot gets our full attention. Punch cards, loyalty, quests at events and in restaurants. Every brand wants customers who are happy and come back. We give them a way to earn that, and the customer wins too. Our target is the same as the Award’s: to boost the economy and help place Dubai at the top of the world’s innovation map. If we are chosen as a winner, we hope GamifyDubai.com becomes part of that. Either way, it is our plan and our vision.”
GamifyDubai.com is one of four applications bonuz submitted to the Dubai-it Award 2026. The others are Bonuz Technology DMCC (organisation, economy), Matthias Mende (individual, technology) and uae971 (project, society and technology).
For brands: sign up and apply at app.bonuz.market
For players: start your journey at app.bonuz.xyz (iOS, Android, and on the web with no download) The full idea: GamifyDubai.com
About bonuz
bonuz is a real-world gamification platform. Brands, venues, restaurants and places use it to run quests, events, punch cards and rewards that people play on the street through the bonuz app. bonuz is self-custodial: users hold what they collect themselves, and their bonuz ID connects their social accounts into one identity they own. The app is available on the App Store and Google Play, and it also works on the web with no download at app.bonuz.xyz. Website: bonuz.xyz
About Bonuz Technology DMCC
Bonuz Technology DMCC is a Dubai company licensed in the DMCC free zone. It builds and operates the bonuz consumer apps, including LIFE mode. Address: Unit UT-12-CO-80, DMCC Business Centre, Level 12, Uptown Tower, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
About Matthias Mende
Matthias Mende is the creator and CEO of bonuz and co-founder of Dubai Blockchain Center. He has lived and built in Dubai since 2007.
