Bonuz Announces GamifyDubai.com’s Dubai AI Award 2026 Submission and Launches Brand Pilot Initiative

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 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 was submitted on 10 September 2026 and is under review.

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.

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

It is a win-win. 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.

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. What users collect is held in their own wallet on their own device. 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.

“I 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. The customer wins, the brand wins. 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 non-custodial: users hold what they collect in their own wallet. 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.