Created by designer Chacha Sikes and programmer Anselm Hook during the Creative Currency hackathon in San Francisco recently, the game places local residents into three teams based on city – San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. The cities are already home to lemon trees located in homeowners’ gardens, urban farms and public spaces. Users score points for their team when they add a tree to the map, add a tree that produces edible fruit, share lemons from a tree they own, offer to teach others how to aid lemon distribution and team up with a grocery willing to sell local fruit.

Those who don’t have access to lemon trees can still win points by offering their services in the form of fruit-picking or by turning the fruit into preserves and marmalades. The more users get involved with their local lemon growing projects, the more points they will earn throughout the two-month long game. There is no prize for the winner other than civic pride and the chance to get involved in local projects. Although the game doesn’t officially get started until July 4th, teams can prepare by listing lemon trees on the map in advance.

Lemonopoly aims to bring communities together with a shared goal, and at the same time highlights the availability of a natural local resource as a sustainable way to feed the population. Is your neighborhood host to natural goods or resources that could be gamified in a similar way, drawing attention to the wealth of local produce on offer?

Website: www.lemonopoly.org
Contact: anselm@hook.org

DeAngelo struck upon the idea when his favorite 1980s video game – in which users had to safely guide a frog across a busy road – was omitted from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s The Art of Video Games exhibition. The developer decided to create an updated version of the game, hacked to receive input from a webcam located above 5th Avenue, which translates real traffic into digital obstacles for the game’s character. Using similar technology to the Pimkie Color Forecast recently featured on Springwise, cars on the road are isolated from the background and their position mapped in real time. The game’s difficulty level depends on the time of day – nighttime is the easiest, while the morning rush hour might be best left to experts. In a twist that brings the real and virtual worlds even closer, DeAngelo has presented the game in its original arcade console format on the sidewalk of 5th Avenue for passersby to play. The game was also demonstrated at the NYC FUNHAUS 2012 event in Brooklyn at the end of April, but there is no word yet if there will be further outings. The video below shows the game in action, as well as the technology behind it:

5th Avenue Frogger merges real life and video games in a simple, but entertaining way. Developers: could you take this concept to the next level?

Website: www.5thavefrogger.com
Contact: tylerdeangelo@gmail.com

Developed by the University of Auckland, players can choose an avatar which they must guide through seven ‘provinces’ related to problems they may come across while experiencing mental health issues. For instance, the Volcano Province contains tasks which can help teens deal with disruptive emotions, while on another level users have to fight GNATS (Gloomy Negative Automatic Thoughts). Each level takes around 30 minutes to complete and it is recommended that players attempt one or two provinces each week. SPARX, which stands for Smart, Positive, Active, Realistic, X-factor thoughts, has already been tested among 187 young people with varying symptoms of depression, with the results appearing in the British Medical Journal. According to PsychCentral, one group was given typical treatment while the other played the game. Both groups experienced an average reduced anxiety of around one-third and remission rates were actually higher in the group given the game. Gameplay from SPARX is demonstrated in the video below:

Depression can be a difficult subject to broach, especially when it comes to teenagers, but the developers have found a way to integrate therapy into a form already popular with the younger demographic. Medical professionals: could this programme form part of your treatment?

Website: www.sparx.org.nz
Contact: s.merry@auckland.ac.nz

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Accepting that online gaming is one of the most popular forms of procrastination among those in college, the platform aims to turn timewasting pursuits into more worthwhile opportunities for profit. Featuring games such as poker and quizzes, brands can sponsor tournaments by providing funds that will go towards educational grants, or donations to charities, for students who win. The idea is to give young people a better reason for playing, while enabling businesses to show off their benevolence and gain favor with the youth demographic. Grantoo says that a Cone study has shown 83 percent of Americans want brands to support a cause, and the new gaming platform hopes to offer a way for them to do this.

The site will be going into beta testing from 25 March with its first tournament launching fully soon after that. Brands: one to partner with to increase your exposure and boost public perception?

Website: www.grantoo.org
Contact: www.twitter.com/grantooorg

Situated on the first floor of the Pasela Resort in Shinjuku, the Capcom Bar’s playful menu features a range of dishes inspired by the company’s famous releases. On offer is a meat dish recreating the stamina-boosting drumstick from the game Monster Hunter, black-and-white seafood pasta reminiscent of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and a Resident Evil-inspired ‘brain cake’. Keiji Maeda, of action title Sengoku Basara, now has a floral octopus carpaccio recipe in his honor, joining the many other characters on the bar’s colorful food and drinks menu. Even popular cocktails have had a makeover, re-imagined as vaccines with a syringe replacing the traditional umbrella. The restaurant has already opened and Capcom hopes to entice games fans with prices per dish of around JPY 680. Alongside the gaming kiosks already in place, future plans include a merchandise stall and in-house events — from live shows and talks to competitions — to engage diners.

While themed restaurants are nothing new, the Capcom Bar is an interesting example of a company expanding tangentially from their usual line of work. Plenty of inspiration here for publishers in other sectors.

Website: www.paselabo.tv/capcombar
Contact: info@capcom.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Leap — unlike Onefeat which is accessed via Facebook, Twitter or email — will be launched for iOS this spring. Users will be able to create their own challenges and invite friends via Facebook, or join existing competitions in the Leap community. Points are scored by sharing photos with fellow challengers as proof of achieving specific tasks. While Leap haven’t yet revealed exact details of how the app will work, their website contains inspiration for potential challenges, for example, the “Breakfast Champion” challenge would require participants to eat healthily in the morning, photographing their meal as proof.

We’ve seen countless examples of apps and platforms helping users add a little fun to their day-to-day lives by taking part in small challenges, and it seems the trend is still going strong. Letting users create the challenges for themselves and their friends, however, makes the experience both more personal and adds an extra social dimension. What other games, services, or apps could be opened up to let users create their own variations?

Website: www.leapfor.it
Contact: founders@leapfor.it

Players begin by entering basic information about the startup they’re working on. The game, in turn, gives them a set of various goals they must work towards to build their startup or idea further; examples include product milestones, investments, turning a profit, taking the company public or earning press mentions. Besides helping to build the business, achieving these goals also earns players badges and points that get published on their startup’s profile. For those who want to keep their business idea private on the site, LaunchNow also lets players remain in stealth mode before playing for real.

More than 450 public startups are currently participating on LaunchNow, which is working to add a raft of new features to the site, including widgets, CrunchBase integration and automatic profiles. One to try out on your next big idea?

Website: www.launchnow.co
Contact: hello@LaunchNow.co

Spotted by: Murtaza Patel

Launched last month, WeTopia — the first in a series of social-good games by Sojo Studios — is free to play via Facebook. Within the game, players create and manage their own villages, making a real-world donation for any virtual purchase — for example, when trees or vitamins are bought in the game, a partner charity will donate the same item to a community they work with. Currently WeTopia are partnered with over 12 non-profit organizations, such as Save the Children and Children’s Health Fund. Throughout the game, “joy” points can also be earned through various actions, including viewing ads from sponsors who then make a charitable donation. WeTopia have pledged to donate at least 20 percent of their revenue or 50 percent of their profit to its partnered charities. Players are able to view the impact of their gaming online via videos, blogs and pictures.

The goal of WeTopia is to encourage donations by making charitable-giving fun and demonstrating tangible results. Could gaming engage supporters or attract additional funding for your cause or business?

Website: www.wetopia.com
Contact: info@sojostudios.com

Spotted by: Katharina Kieck

Users of Onefeat begin by signing up via Facebook, Twitter or their email account. They then browse the site for a “mission,” or challenge. Thousands are currently listed — “ride a roller coaster,” “visit your grandma” or “find the best Happy Birthday cake,” for example — or users can create their own. Either way, to win the points assigned to the challenge, they perform the task in question and take a photo to prove it — a free iPhone app is available to facilitate that. Once the photo is uploaded, users earn points and trophies based upon the number of users who like their photo, allowing them eventually to progress on to the next level of the game.

Paris-based Onefeat has already attracted users from Brazil, France and the US, it says, and it’s on the verge of launching internationally. Game mechanics have already shown their potential to motivate users when it comes to exercise, money saving and healthy eating. How could they work for you?

Website: www.onefeat.com
Contact: contact@onefeat.com

Just launched into beta, San Francisco-based SaveUp allows consumers who bank at any of more than 18,000 US financial institutions to earn credits for performing positive financial actions. For example, credits are awarded when a user contributes to their savings or retirement accounts; pays down their credit cards, mortgages or other loans; and engages with SaveUp’s financial education content on the site. Those credits, in turn, can be redeemed for chances to win instant prizes, or for entry into weekly and monthly draws. Underwritten by SaveUp’s sponsors and bank partners, prizes range from retail gift cards and consumer electronics, to luxury vacations, college tuition and even a USD 2 million jackpot. The video below explains SaveUp in more detail:

Consumer debt in the US alone is more than USD 2.4 trillion, according the US Federal Reserve. Could gaming prove the solution to help get rid of some of that?

Website: www.saveup.com
Contact: info@saveup.com

Spotted by: Alice Revel

Now available in the iTunes store, Nexercise rewards users for walking, running, aerobics, yardwork, dancing, or any physical activity that lasts at least 15 minutes. Users begin by telling Nexercise what activity they’re about to start, and with their phone somewhere on their body, they then go ahead and do it. When they’re done, they hit a button to notify Nexercise, which verifies the activity has taken place via the motion of the device. In return, users earn rewards such as points and medals — with bonus points awarded for exercising with a friend — as well as discounts on a variety of products and services. The more points a user amasses, the better the deals become, and at the end of every month there’s a grand prize. Users can also check into gyms, view their exercise history, and compete against friends added to the app’s friend list via a connection with Facebook and Twitter. The video below demonstrates Nexercise in action:

It’s long been known that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down; what better tool than gamification to provide that necessary sweetness? App-minded entrepreneurs: what other onerous tasks and chores could benefit from a little fun?

Spotted by: Katharina Kieck

Website: www.nexercise.com
Contact: general@nexercise.com

dabball bills itself as a mobile art gallery that showcases the work of artists from around the world. Users can not only browse the art digitally and buy museum-quality prints, they can also play dexterity games with more than 400 pieces of art. Specifically, by using the accelerometer and tilting their device, gamers can race against the clock and try to overcome hazards as they roll virtual steel balls into corresponding holes on the game-board art. There are 52 individual artists and compilation game packs available for in-app purchase, with pricing set at USD 0.99 or USD 2.99 per game. Alternatively, the whole package of more than 400 games and downloadable wallpapers is available for USD 5.99.

Launched just a few weeks ago, dabball is now available in the iTunes store. An innovative model to apply to the promotion of other art forms, industries or niches?

Website: www.dabball.com
Contact: dabball@ecopop.com

Spotted by: Chad Rea

Amsterdam-based Foodzy aims to help users keep track of what they eat during the day and then reward healthy and fun eating habits with badges. Users check into the site periodically to register what they’ve eaten — Foodzy maintains a list of food products specific to the country they live in — and those who regularly eat vegetables, fruit or fish win special badges for their healthy eating habits. Foodzy hastens to point out, however, that its primary goal is not only health or weight loss. Rather, in recognition of the belief that the best diet is a varied and enjoyable one, the site also rewards eating cake on one’s birthday, for instance, or barbecuing multiple meals over the course of the summer. In any case, badges are awarded to reflect participants’ healthful and enjoyable eating choices, and users can view detailed statistics of what they’ve eaten over time. They can also compete against friends on the site.

A mobile app is on the way, and in the future, Foodzy’s API may also offer the possibility of connecting the service to hardware devices like WIFI scales, Nike Plus or XBox Kinect for an even richer experience, the company says. In the meantime, using Foodzy is free with a Lite account, but the user’s food history is kept for only 30 days. Pro accounts, on the other hand, cost USD 15 per year in exchange for an unlimited food record, detailed insights into food statistics, more badges and the opportunity to start diet plans.

The motivational challenges that face dieters have been the subject of many innovations over the years, and using the latest technology to incorporate gaming mechanics seems like a logical next step. Where can you apply these mechanics to get consumers fired up?

Website: www.foodzy.com
Contact: business@foodzy.com

Spotted by: Katharina Kieck