If you’ve ever spent your morning commute wondering what it would be like to own Emirates Palace or the Aldar Headquarters building, a new augmented-reality game might allow you to indulge your inner real-estate mogul, on a budget.
A bit like Monopoly and Pokemon Go rolled into one, Landlord Go is a geo-location game that lets players buy, sell and rent buildings around the world (just not for real, obviously).
It launched less than a month ago, but is taking off in many cities, including Abu Dhabi, says its developer.
There are a reported 13,621 players in the UAE's capital already making deals for virtual ownership of 76,476 real properties in the city. Developed by UK-based Reality Games, Landlord Go has been downloaded more than a million times since its release on July 16.
You can start small by buying shares in your neighbourhood coffee shop, and when another player visits your property in real life, they’ll have to pay you rent in the game.
Your property's value increases as more people go to it. Soon, you’ll want to expand to take over hotels, residential buildings and landmarks.
You have to be at the actual real-life sites, or close to them, in order to buy them, though. After you zero in on a property you like, you select the number of shares you can afford to buy for it.
Before you know it, you’ll find yourself traversing the city to engage in furious bidding wars with other players.
Your virtual property empire could go international as well. Once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted and international travel picks up, you’ll be able to buy properties in the countries you visit. (If they haven’t already been bought, in which case you’ll have to pay rent.)
However, if you want to expand to other cities without visiting them, you can also activate the game’s property agent feature.
To ensure Landlord Go has the largest playing field possible, its developers have divided the entire world into 10 billion unique plots "with a little help from Nasa".
“By using our own property data set combined with Nasa satellite scans showing night-time light emissions, we’ve created one of the most realistic and data-driven property dealing games ever conceived,” the developers said. They believe the game’s level of realism is what sets it apart from other business and trading games.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Hani%20Abu%20Ghazaleh%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20with%20an%20office%20in%20Montreal%3Cbr%3EFounded%3A%202018%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Virtual%20Reality%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%241.2%20million%2C%20and%20nearing%20close%20of%20%245%20million%20new%20funding%20round%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
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15 years, 235 days old
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15 years, 271 days old
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
MAIN CARD
Bantamweight 56.4kg
Abrorbek Madiminbekov v Mehdi El Jamari
Super heavyweight 94 kg
Adnan Mohammad v Mohammed Ajaraam
Lightweight 60kg
Zakaria Eljamari v Faridoon Alik Zai
Light heavyweight 81.4kg
Mahmood Amin v Taha Marrouni
Light welterweight 64.5kg
Siyovush Gulmamadov v Nouredine Samir
Light heavyweight 81.4kg
Ilyass Habibali v Haroun Baka
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
