Inside Social Games

It was back in May that we first took a look into the buzz around Booyah. Back then, all that was known was that the company was working on “cause-oriented” applications and that they had raised $4.5 million from Kleiner Perkins’ $100 million iFund last year. Curiosities and speculations now aside, the Palo Alto company has finally revealed its first iPhone game, Booyah Society.

In Booyah Society, the object of the game is to “level up in life.” Players create a Booyah account, customize a rather odd looking avatar and proceed to unlock game achievements by doing real life activities.

Here’s how it works: Booyah Society is actually connected with both Twitter and Facebook, but doesn’t use them in the traditional fashion that other games do. Other titles often use connections to these major social platforms as an extension of their game. Make an accomplishment in 140 Mafia, the app automatically tweets what was done in game (if that option is selected). But in Booyah Society, the tweets and the status updates are the game.

Currently, Booyah has 108 different achievements across nine categories that range from fitness to travel (using the iPhone‘s GPS). Now, let’s say that you update your Facebook status regarding the latest movie you saw, or tweeted that you just ran five miles. If it’s significant enough, you press the “Booyah!” button and you get something along the lines of, “I just ran five miles. BOOYAH!!!” Suddenly the name makes sense, doesn’t it? Depending on what is written, various achievements, badges, and a currently unused virtual currency are earned.

The app is currently free, but CEO Keith Lee says the company intends to fully monetize the game through virtual goods.

In the past we have seen similar games for the iPhone platform that provided rewards for visiting places real life (Foursqure, Gowalla). However, while you can “check-in” from a location, without heavier integration into Facebook and Twitter, nobody can really see what achievements or badges you are earning. Furthermore, if you aren’t in a major city, there is almost no one to interact with, nor anywhere to visit that was actually connected to game play.

Neither of those problems exist with Booyah Society. Essentially, these former Blizzard Entertainment execs have taken the best part of two exceedingly popular social networks and added a game element to their core features, creating an experience everyone can enjoy.