We did it. bonuz has officially submitted GamifyDubai.com to the Dubai-it Award 2026.
Let me be precise, because it matters. Submitted. Not nominated, not shortlisted, not won. Our official application is in and under review. For us that is already a big step, and today we are sharing it, with a video that shows the idea better than any text can.
From a dream to the real world Grand Theft Auto
What started as an idea became an inspiration, then a vision, then a dream I carried for years. Today it is real: the real-world Grand Theft Auto. An open city you play by walking through it.
The loop is simple. Find a quest. Go there. Complete it. Prove it. Get rewarded.
Maybe it is an art experience hidden in the city. A fragrance experience you never knew existed. Or a place you would never have found otherwise. You discover more. Businesses get more people through the door. And what you collect is yours, in your own wallet, on your own device.
A gamer who was too early
I was a gamer long before I was a founder. From Diablo to World of Warcraft. From GTA 1 to GTA 5. Each of those games taught me one piece of this. Diablo taught me that what you find should feel valuable. World of Warcraft taught me that a quest gives a day a shape. GTA taught me that an open city is more fun than a script.
In 2010 and 2011 I was already experimenting with augmented reality. The idea was there. The phones, the networks and the infrastructure were not. It was simply too early for its time.
Why now
Now all the pieces exist. Phones can place a venue in the air exactly where it stands. Wallets can live on a person's own device. Maps, cameras and location finally work together. bonuz merges them into one experience, and it took 2.1 million lines of code to get there.
Since August 2026, LIFE mode is live in the public bonuz app. You raise your phone and the venues around you hang in the air where they really are, with their real name and real distance. A radar shows what is around you, behind you included. A beam of light rises from anything waiting to be picked up. Point your phone. The world answers.
More than 10,000 users have registered in bonuz so far, and every one of them can stand on a Dubai street today and try it.
New use cases for the economy
This is not only a game. It opens economic use cases that did not exist before. Brands can build real relationships with people instead of buying another ad. Venues, restaurants and places can offer modern, immersive activities that were never possible before. A visit becomes an adventure, and an adventure brings people back.
We Dubai-it
I have lived in Dubai since 2007. Dubai allowed us to think big, and the mindset of this city inspired everything we built. So we did what Dubai does. We Dubai-it.
The Dubai-it Award exists to celebrate ideas that move the city forward. Our target is the same: to boost the economy and help place Dubai at the very top of the world's innovation map. If we are chosen as a winner, we hope GamifyDubai.com becomes part of that story. If not, it stays our plan and our vision, and we keep building it.
Four applications
GamifyDubai.com is the heart of our submission. On 10 September we filed four applications in total: GamifyDubai.com as a project in technology, Bonuz Technology DMCC as an organisation in economy, myself as an individual in technology, and uae971 as a project in society and technology. All four are under review.
Try it
bonuz is on iOS and Android, and it also works on the web with no download. Start your journey at app.bonuz.xyz and switch on LIFE mode. The full idea, with what is live and what is not, is at GamifyDubai.com.
The city is the game. Let's play.
Matthias Mende, creator of bonuz and co-founder of Dubai Blockchain Center
