Kicking Ass and Taking Names in Foursquare

As of 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning, I was winning in my Foursquare battle against my work friend Jen P. (Photo by foleymo)

I started playing Foursquare on my iPhone almost two weeks ago and I’m totally addicted.

If you’re not familiar with Foursquare, it’s a Web and mobile app that turns real life into poin-accumulating game. Players are rewarded for being adventurous and outgoing in real life.

Here’s how it works:

When you go out to a favorite restaurant, attraction or venue, check in online or with a mobile app.

Foursquare will award points based on your check-ins — five points for adding a new venue, five points for checking in at a new place, one point for checking in where you have been before.

There are also other goals. You can become “mayor” of a venue by being the person who has checked in there the most over the last two months. You also can collect badges by accomplishing certain tasks. It’s also a good way to keep tabs on what your friends are up to. For example, when a friend of mine checks into a bar down the block from me I can easily drop in on them or text them to set up plans for later.

After explaining Foursquare to my friends and asking them to join, I usually get one of two responses — “Sounds like fun. How do I join?” or “What do the points get me? Nothing? Why would I want to do that?”

Their answer tells me a lot about them. If they are for it, I assume they are the kind of people who grew up accumulating points in Pac-Man, for no other reason than to have fun. If they are looking for the real-world personal payoff for this online game, I can gather that they are solidly grounded in the real world and don’t like to feel like they’re wasting their time.

Anyway, I think it’s fun. And I’m determined to beat Jen P. in this week’s game (it ends at midnight).