What is SCVNGR?

SCVNGR is a game. Playing is simple: Go places. Do challenges. Earn points! You'll unlock badges and rewards and share where you are and what you're up to with friends.

A challenge? What's that?

A challenge is a quick, fun, casual thing to do at a place. Things like checking-in (1 pt), snapping a picture (2 pts), scanning a QR code (2 pts), completing some activity (2-5 pts) or doing the social check-in by bumping phones with your friends (2 pts for each person you check-in with). Of course, the whole fun of challenges is that anyone can create them at their favorite places. Make fun things for your friends to do, for your patrons, or just for random strangers discovering the places you love.

How do I play SCVNGR?

Start by grabbing the free app for iPhone & Android. Then go to a place. Do challenges there. And earn points!.

Is SCVNGR a scavenger hunt?

No. SCVNGR is very different from a scavenger hunt. (Confusing, hey?) But it's a pretty easy distinction. SCVNGR is a short-form casual game. Scavenger hunts are long-form active games.

How is it different?

SCVNGR is all about doing easy six-second fun things (challenges) at your favorite places with your friends. You play it casually, as you go through your daily life. Quick, easy, interactions at your own pace, casually through your day to make daily life a bit more fun.

Scavenger hunts require you to stop your life, play a high octane game for 90 minutes, and then resume your life. Scavenger hunts rock! But... they're very different from SCVNGR. (Also, we've got no vowels... so there.)

So how should we talk about SCVNGR?

The terminology can be a little new the first time. Here's a super quick primer: SCVNGR is a game. There are these quick things called challenges at places. You won't find any hunts anywhere in SCVNGR, but will you find quick fun challenges and these things that list great themed sets of places to visit (over time) called treks. Please be sure to use the right terminology so people aren't confused when they download SCVNGR to their iPhone or Android.

So why are you called SCVNGR?

Cause we couldn't afford the vowels. (See what I did there... clever?) No, it's because scavenger hunts are the canonical location-based game, it's an homage, but SCVNGR is a radically different game dynamic. (See answer above.)

What are rewards?

Rewards are awesome! They're things like free ice-cream, free coffee, half off pizza, 10% off your dry-cleaning, free beer and more! Players unlock rewards by doing challenges and earning points at their favorite places. Rewards are built by the local businesses themselves and redeemed right from within the SCVNGR app. Businesses can add multiple rewards to their locations, but you can only earn points towards one at a time.

Go ahead, give it a try! Open up the SCVNGR app and head to your profile tab. Then click rewards and search for rewards nearby. Head to those places, do challenges, earn points and you'll start making progress on a reward at that place. Earn enough points and you'll unlock that reward. Then it's free food/ice-cream/dry-cleaning/whatever for you! Woot!