What happens, when you combine an augmented reality game (ARG) and bitcoins? Definitely something worth of attention. Mauro Velasquez who happens to be the ex pro poker player is funding a new game that would allow the players to earn real digital currency.
Velasquez claims that during poker-player past he amassed about 250 thousand dollars US. After that, he has been involved with Reddit:
…[Coinding] is a great way to get first.time users into the bitcoin community. We recomend places were you could use them, so in the long run it can potentially be great for advertising, faucets right now cant give a lot of prizes to people because their profit structure comes from generic advertising. We're thinking more in a near future were lots of shops will like to bring clients trough their door steps.”
The game is being developed by eight people not including Velasquez. In the next three weeks Coinding is going to start as closed beta-test. To get the latest update on the status of the game you can enter your email on their web page, which also contains a map with a certain goal:
“The reason we added a map in the signup form is for everyone to contribute by suggesting future locations for were we'll put the bitcoins. We may choose cool tourist places but people always are going to have more information on what would be nice places to hide/visit. Right now, you can suggest places by clicking in the map once you've signed up.”
While the project is still young, it is already full of promise. Getting gamers into the cryptocurrency will potentially give a vast addition to the bitcoin community and not only that. Sometimes people don’t even know that they have a shop accepting bitcoins just around the corner. So, prepare your i- and droid-phones and get ready! Luckily in the upcoming 2014 the scavenger hunt begins!