Thomas Offinga

Back when Foursquare was released back in 2009, it made going to certain places (and especially commuting) fun again. It made you go back to places to protect your mayorship or to profit of a deal the owner had set up for you. 

All in all, Foursquare provided a pretty cool thing to do when you were in the road, but it was never more than that. What I personally felt that after a while it wasn’t fun anymore to just check in.  I needed a bit more.  

Well now there’s the Kickstarter funded iOS app Turf Geography Club, that adds a gaming element to checking in to places. This cute 8-bit looking game rewards you with Coins and Crystals for checking in to places. The coins can be spent on acquiring the location with a slot machine type game where you have around 50% to win. 

Winning the game makes you the owner of the place and allows you to collect rent and add extra floors to buildings, which in turn add to the rent as well. You also level up to unlock more upgrades for your property. 

The theme of the game, 8bit bear / scouting club, is really pretty and lends itself to some great artwork. For instance, every type of location albeit a bar or a train, they all have individual pixel art to go along with it. The game also awards you with trophies, which you can stash on a shelf on your wall for your friends to see.

Meanwhile you’re competing with your friends on the leaderboard, which makes it even more fun. The game only just launched today, so there aren’t a lot of people playing yet, but since the game is free to download I’d say its definitely worth a try. There are a few paid upgrades, like the Coin Doublr, which does exactly as it names states: It doubles the coins you get for checking in at locations.

Download Turf Geography Club for free from the iTunes App Store