foursquare sent out notice today of adding 15 cities.  One of those was mine, St. Louis.

Hey all -

If you got this email, you signed up to learn when foursquare launched in your city. Well, we launched 15 new cities today and you’re name was on our list! Want to play?

http://foursquare.com

(In case you forgot what foursquare is – Hey, it’s been a while, we know!
- foursquare is an app for your mobile phone that can help you find where
your friends are hanging out, recommends new places to explore and rewards
you for your adventures with points and badges!)

Now available in:

Baltimore, MD
Cleveland, OH
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, MO
Milwaukee, WI
New Orleans, LA
Omaha, NE
Pittsburgh, PA
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Richmond, VA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Antonio, TX
St. Louis, MO

Montreal, Canada
Toronto, Canada

Anyway, we look forward to seeing you on the site! Be sure to let us know
if you have any questions or run into any bugs!

Thanks!

-d

New Orleans is another favorite of mine. Lived there three years.  Canada also gets some love with Montreal and Toronto.

Cheers foursquare.

Akoha – it’s about missions and being social, but it’s also about cards, a game, and an online component. It’s not like other games though, and it’s not one you play by dealing the cards setting around the table. Unlike Pokemon, it’s not a video game either.

Akoha, www.akoha.com, is guided by a few simple rules.

1. Do the action on the card and claim your karma points.

2. Share photos, recordings, and videos about the action.

3. Pass on or forward the card to someone else.

Cards I recevied included a good mix of actions such as buying someone coffee and making someone smile.  None of the actions is extravagant, requires lots of money, nor an excessive amount of effort.  Likewise none of the actions needs to be done online.

The focus is on practical and in person time with another human being.

I’m quite pleased with the action cards I received. Many of these things are ones I do routinely, have done recently, or would love to do.  Just reading them made me smile.

Heck, as recent as last week I gave flowers, gave a book and made someone smile. Woot! I’m on my way.

Another aspect to this game is the part I’m not sure I care about, leveling up.   As you complete actions and register them on the site you receive karma points.  Accumulating certain amounts of karma points causes your level to go up.

From the site:

Levels

There are 15 levels in all and you’ll need to earn a increasing level of karma to reach the next higher level. As you reach higher levels you’ll also need confirmations from others before you’ll be able to level-up.

You get a card, take the action, register it on the site. Now what? Now you give the card to someone unsuspecting victim, um, friend, and get them involved.  Heck, give one to a perfect stranger.

Each card has it’s own unique identifier and is tracked on the site. Once I pass a card on, I’ll be able to see when it gets completed again.  Now this is a bigger reward for me than seeing myself level up like a wizard in a role playing game.

What are your thoughts on this sort of game? Would you play?  Would you feel comfortable telling someone you were playing? Would you pass on a card or horde them for yourself?

Be warned; you might be receiving one of these goodies in the mail.