Today a new social game called VinPass launched. It’s an application for wine lovers to “share wine reviews, win badges and earn real rewards.” VinPass uses the ‘check-in’ paradigm popularized by location-based social network Foursquare and extended into other areas by the likes of GetGlue (entertainment) and Foodspotting (food). In a nutshell, you check-in to tasting a certain type of wine. If you write a review, you earn points and eventually unlock badges. VinPass promises that these badges have “tangible value” – including coupons on e-commerce stores, MP3s, ringtones, event tickets and more.
Foursquare is still a relatively geeky app, offering little in the way of tangible value in its badges. But focusing on wine should open up plenty of possibilities to offer value for VinPass.
VinPass has smartly partnered with the French wine industry to launch its social game. The lead sponsor is Wines of France/French Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, which has sponsored 10 badges representing different regions and wines of France – for example “Life Gets Better with Bordeaux” and “Burgundy: 1000 Years of Heritage.”
You can ‘play’ VinPass using any one of five web apps (WineLog, Adegga) and mobile apps (Drync, Hello Vino, iRhône). I tested out WineLog and Drync, adding a wine tasting to both. Only Drync gave me a VinPass badge, the ‘Welcome to VinPass!’ pass. I couldn’t see any sign of VinPass on WineLog.
Both however had good Twitter and Facebook integration, an essential component of any new app these days.
It remains to be seen how many “tangible” rewards I earn from VinPass, but I love the idea that I can do this. I am a fan of specialist communities, such as Goodreads for books and FoodSpotting for food. So adding a specialist wine tasting and check-in app suits me to a tee.
Plus I discovered a great new mobile phone app in the form of Drync (also the best app name I’ve come across lately!).
