It was while sitting on the couch last July watching The Da Vinci Code that Asim Bashir turned to his business partner, Sherleen Ali, and said: "Wouldn't it be cool to do something like that?"
Ms Ali agreed. "We are both geeks like that - we love the Dan Brown books and the problem solving," she says.
And that is how the idea of launching a weekly treasure hunt around Dubai was born. The pair already ran a business called Memotech, which makes mobile phone applications, so it seemed natural to make Urban Hunt Dubai a mobile game. Wanting a local flavour, they invented Azeem the Great Genie as the guide and created a Facebook page for him. Through social media the Genie attracted a following, which was all set for the first hunt when it launched on November 18.
To participate, players must first download the app, which is free. Every Friday a cryptic message is sent out providing a clue to a location in Dubai. Players figure out the clue and head to the site. GPS tracking verifies whether treasure hunters are at the correct location. The first people to arrive win a prize. (The number of prize winners changes weekly as does the booty.) Everyone who makes it to the site gets a virtual Urban Coin, which they can accumulate over a season of games. Already the app has been downloaded 2,000 times and the Facebook page has 5,500 followers.
Prizes typically are tickets for a concert or show such as Cirque du Soleil. The February 15 clue read: "Come watch the ball being served back and forth, As they try to win on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th!"
The answer was, of course, the tennis stadium. And the prize was tickets to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
"That was a very easy one - we practically told people where to go," Ms Ali says.
It's clear the pair are having great fun rediscovering Dubai. Both grew up in Abu Dhabi and went abroad for university: Ms Ali to McGill University in the Canadian city of Montreal, and Mr Bashir to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in the United States. They returned to the UAE for work.
"We would just park our cars and walk around Dubai," Ms Ali says. "We didn't just want distinctive landmarks but a mixed bag."
They now have a large database filled with locations, some quite obscure, that they draw from every week.
The prizes are there to give people incentives but the main goal is to get them out and about and appreciate what's going on.
Urban Hunt Dubai is a first for the Middle East - the inventors believe it is a genuinely new idea rather than an 'Arabised' or 'Emiratised' version of an existing game.
"We thought hard about this," in the early stages, Mr Bashir says. "And we did lots of research and [we realised] no one has done this before."
Now, of course, the aim is to make money from the game. One way is to get companies to sponsor the game each week. They have also had enquiries from large multinationals about using Urban Hunt as part of a product launch. And now they have developed the technology, they can easily tailor the app. So, for example, they could organise a treasure hunt on Sir Bani Yas island for corporate team-building day.
There is also the possibility of taking the app to other cities around the world - where it can be played year-round. Once the weather heats up in Dubai, players are unlikely to traipse around in the searing heat.
But, as Mr Bashir says, Urban Hunt is just getting started. They are, for example, thinking about introducing multiple clues for each game so there is more of a trail to follow.
"It's going to get a lot more fun," he says. "There will be a lot more surprises. I am on edge waiting for the next version to come out. There will be more ways to play the game, more interaction and cool new features."
lgutcher@thenational.ae
THE%20SPECS
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The five pillars of Islam
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Torque: 859Nm
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How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
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When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
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