A Recommendation From Home, Three Wins in the UAE

One of the more interesting things we’ve seen at Exscape is how the product has started travelling through community.

Recently, we spoke to Bilenk, a winner in the UAE who is originally from Ethiopia. She found Exscape through a friend back home, started playing after hearing it was available in the UAE, and has now won three prizes. On paper, that’s a simple winner story. In reality, it says something bigger about how trust, relevance, and word of mouth move across borders.

What makes Bilenk's story land is how familiar it feels. A friend in Ethiopia tells her about the app. She mentions that Exscape is available in the UAE too. Curiosity does the rest. There is nothing complicated about that path, and that is why this story feels so real. The best product stories often begin in ordinary, human ways, through friendship, through recommendation, through someone saying, “You should try this.”

In the interview, Bilenk talks about the games she enjoys most: Dominoes, Checkers, Spider Solitaire, Crowd Rush. She describes playing again and again, getting closer each time, feeling that mix of fun and anticipation that keeps people coming back. You can hear the emotion in the way she tells it. She is not talking like someone repeating brand language. She is talking like someone who genuinely enjoyed the experience and kept following where it led.

Then came the moment that changed everything for her.

She explains that when she won her first prize a few months earlier, she could hardly believe it. She had been playing, collecting coins, redeeming them, and then suddenly she was holding an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Bilenk's reaction in the video says more than any campaign line could: “Oh my god, this is real. This is a game. This is a real game.” It is such an honest moment because you can feel the surprise turning into belief in real time.

That feeling is easy to understand. A lot of people are naturally doubtful when they hear about rewards in gaming. She says that herself. People might hesitate if you simply tell them about it. But that is why stories like hers are important. They make the experience tangible. They bring the idea out of the abstract and into real life. Three wins later, what began as a recommendation from a friend had turned into something she could speak about with complete confidence. YouTube

For us, there is something moving about the route this story took.

Exscape has been built as a connected platform, gaming, rewards, social experiences, virtual spaces, and challenges all in one place. Across its ecosystem, players can explore 120+ games, take on competitions, connect with others, and turn progress into rewards. In Ethiopia especially, Exscape has been positioned around local players, mobile-first play, and community-driven experiences. Exscape exscape.et

What this winner story shows is that community does not stay neatly inside one market. People carry what feels meaningful to them. They bring it with them when they move, when they study abroad, when they talk to friends and family. In this case, a product that felt relevant in Ethiopia made sense to someone living in the UAE because the recommendation came from a trusted relationship. By the time she downloaded the app, it already meant something.

That is part of what makes expatriate communities so powerful. They do more than keep culture close. They also carry discovery, trust, and momentum. They help ideas travel. They help products find new life in new places. And when that happens naturally, when it comes from people sharing something they truly believe is worth passing on, it has a different kind of weight.

It also says something important about how Exscape grows. Yes, platforms expand through launches, partnerships, and visibility. But some of the most meaningful growth happens through word of mouth. A friend in Ethiopia tells someone in the UAE. Someone tries the app, stays, wins, and becomes part of the story themselves. That kind of growth is harder to manufacture.

From hearing about Exscape through someone else to becoming someone who can vouch for it herself, is where community really starts to take shape.

A story like this is about how belief travels. It is about how a recommendation from home can open a door in a completely different country. And it is about the kind of platform Exscape is trying to build: one that people do not just use, but share.

When we talk about building community, this is what we mean. Real people, real connections, real stories, and sometimes, very real prizes too.