A friend of mine just alerted me to a new, fun way to spend your cash at participating venues. This application also forced me to end my long-term "following" with him on twitter. The application is called Four Square. Four Square is a new mobile application that allows people to “check-in” to restaurants, stores, and other venues while incorporating social networks to show others where that person went. Although nobody likes the idea of telling people where you are at all times, by “checking-in” to places, you gain points (or badges) for where and how many times you went to a given place. This eventually leads to winning discounts and other rewards. This application is going to be huge because people want to win, just like any game. In the same time, this application tweets where someone is "checking-in" at an extremely annoying pace. So be warned, you may lose followers due to excessive "tweetage" as well.
We can apply game-based systems to nearly any business, whether it is in the actual workplace for employees or to draw in the customers like Four Square does. Also, cards that certain coffee shops hand out serve as another example. You get ten hole punches and you win a free cup of coffee. Not a very complicated game, but there are rules, a general time frame, and goals to a simple hole punch coffee card. Promotions and advertising can also utilize a game-based system. The applications are endless. Here is a link to Four Square if you are interested in playing their new "game".