The Magazine

Foursquare wishes everyone a happy Halloween with two new badges

38

on October 29th, 2010

If you’re looking for information on the 2011 Halloween badges, please see this post.

Foursquare has launched two new badges to celebrate Halloween this weekend: Halloween 2010 and Spooky Swarm.

Halloween 2010 is easy to unlock, just include “Halloween” in your shout when you check in. The unlock text reads:

Happy Halloween from foursquare! Here’s to hoping you came up with a better costume than The Jersey Shore.

Spooky Swarm is a little tougher. We’re not clear exactly which swarming venues will unlock this badge. We’ll update this post as we learn more. UPDATE: Spooky Swarm is only for swarms that happen at night, presumably through October 31. The unlock text reads:

You have forged a community to protect yourself from the dark ghouls trolling the overworld to steal your soul. Arm yourself with this badge as an amulet to ward off these wretched demons. Or just trade it for some Skittles!

  • http://www.last.fm/user/Tecfan Tecfan

    Speculation says that the Spooky Swarm badge can only be unlocked in the night.. Not confirmed

    • Judy

      Tecfan, you are correct. It is at a place where at least 50 people are checked in from foursquare, then you should get it. BUT THE KEY TO IT IS THAT THE CHECK IN IS AT NIGHT 8 P.M. OR AFTER, IN THE TIME ZONE YOU ARE IN. HOPE this helps you. No specific venues, it can be a club, halloween party, malls, etc. I know you can get it at Madison Square Garden, if you are in NY.

  • Gordon Werner

    The Spooky Swarm will unlock at any swarm of 50+ people after 8 or 9pm (your local time) judging from what’s happening in Indonesia and Malaysia

  • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

    Guess I won’t be getting the second one. Even if I were to go to a Halloween party or something, there is absolutely zero chance of a swarm near me.

    • Judy

      ack154 – don’t know where you live, but isn’t there a large club or party place that might be throwing a huge halloween contest? Or, to a large mall , etc you could visit? Never say never. Rack that brain and then go at least try to get it. As mentioned below, you also have large crowds at airports, bus and train stations & perhaps subway terminals.

  • Ching Yu

    Large airports can easily have swarms of 50+, or sporting venues.

  • PK

    Ugh, and of course the Texans are playing on Monday Night Football.

    • Chris (FoursquareHelp)

      If you are in Indy for Monday Night Football… then may I suggest going to the Pacers game Saturday night. I would imagine that has a good chance of swarming.

  • http://foursquare-infos.de Markus Sekulla

    In Indonesia each minute 5 ppl unlock the Spooky swarm badge :)

    • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

      Many already have the Super Duper Swarm (500) and Epic Swarm (1000).

      So sad.

      • bule tolol

        Envy?
        Or maybe depressed already?

      • Mercedes S

        I want those badges when they exist O__O First I need the super swarm v_v

  • PantsParty

    Every time someone in Indonesia checks into 4sq, an angel gets their wings.

  • 4sqNY

    Maybe NYC users will be able to unlock it on Sunday at the Halloween Parade in the Village.

    • Judy

      I doubt it. I thought it was only active through midnight tonight, October 31st.

    • Michael

      I got it at Chicago’s similar Halsted Street Parade. Good call!

  • Nova Ranti

    in Indonesia also unlocked the super duper swarm badge!!

  • alex

    i unlock the spooky swarm badges when i check in at a venue with 1331 others people in the night…
    maybe you can unlock it only for check in above 9PM with 50+ person at the same place..

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  • http://www.jgoodedesigns.com jgoode

    To unlock the Halloween badge, you need to be checking into a real location… I just tried to check in as “off the grid” without adding the place and no Halloween badge, but as soon as I selected a valid location all was happy.

  • http://twitter.com/SpamSpam Spam

    Looks like they’ve changed the text users get when the “Spooky Swarm” badge is unlocked:

    This Monster Mash is now swarming! I’d watch out if I were you… ♫ cause this is Thriller! Thriller Night! And no one’s going to save you from the beast about to strike! ♫

    http://foursquare.com/armeliaresti/badges/4ccb10ed70abb713e1912a8f

    • http://www.therealjamesdean.com Dean T.

      I love that her first badges on the site include all the swarm badges. I still haven’t been in a Super Swarm, but her first week in she’s been somewhere with 1000 people? I’d love to know what venue the Indonesians picked to get that badge.

      I’d love it even more if everyone who gets the badge within the first 24 hours of it being available were booted from the site. :-p There is no legitimate place with 1000+ 4SQ users just happening to check-in. Super Swarms have to be massively organized to happen. lol

      • Judy

        Dean, Early this a.m. I happened to watch the running tally on main Foursquare page and noticed lots of people from Indonesia earning these 2 new swarm badges I’d never seen before. Anyway, interestingly enough I learned most earned them both from the “Grand Indonesia Shopping Town” (mall), which has been checked into by almost 38,000 foursquare users in Jakarta, Indonesia. Foursquare venue 1778581 if you want to take a look. I TOO FIND IT JUST UNBELIEVABLE HOW THEY GOT THOSE BADGES SO EASILY AND BRAG IN A COMMENT “1ST EPIC SWARM UNLOCKED HERE”. What amazing luck for them, right? Thought you might find this interesting.

      • mynameisstolen

        I am totally okay with peeps in Indonesia playing foursquare how they want, I mean realistically the majority of the badges are not available to them. 4sq, is primarily a US social networking game. You are lucky if you live in LA or NYC and can get the cool badges just by going around your town.

  • Chris (FoursquareHelp)

    Numerous Foursquare employees are checking-in to Haloweenapocalpyse venues, one in NYC the other in CA. So if you want your spooky swarm badge bad enough follow their lead.

    As for me, I’ll be at a NBA game tomorrow night trying to earn my Spooky Swarm badge the legit way.

  • Ivey

    I’ve thought of every creative way of putting the word “Halloween” into a shout and I still don’t have the dang badge! HELP!

    • Judy

      If you are speaking of the Halloween 2010 badge, you have to do a check-in somewhere, then when it gives you the option to add a shout, only type in “Halloween” (without quotes of course); click on checkin button and BAM – you will get that badge right away. Key is you must be checking in somewhere too, along with your shout. Hope this helps :-)

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  • http://www.srpodcast.com Carter

    I love it But I still want a world series badge set GO GIANTS!!!!!

  • Sean D.

    I’ve tried shouting Halloween but no badge. Does it have to be a check-in with a Halloween shout, or can it be a shout?

    • Judy

      see posting nbr 24 by me and it explains it. You do have to do a checkin and at same time shout Halloween. If you just do a shout, you get nothing.

      • Sean D.

        That answers my question. Thank you very much! :-)

  • http://www.market-my-life.com Arthur

    Thanks for keeping us in touch with new bages.
    And saying how to get them too.

    Glad to have Halloween ’10 bage thanks to you

  • http://twitter.com/michelletrent Michelle Trent

    I included Halloween in my shout, but the badge didn’t unlock. Same thing happened with the Lakers badge in the finals.

  • Michael

    Next time Foursquare adds a “night” badge, I hope they realize that many “night” activities start at 6:00 p.m.

    A lot of people here in Chicago were denied the badge because our Halloween Parade started at 6:00 (and was over by 7:00). Those of us who got the badge got it just milling around the street looking at each other’s costumes after.

  • http://foursquare.com/bauserdotcom Michael Bauser

    I think holiday badges are something Foursquare should be careful with. People are going to start expecting them for every holiday. (I’ll bet money that we’re going to start seeing “Is there a Christmas badge?” tweets and GetSatisfaction questions before the end of November.)

    If Foursquare actually decides to pander and do that, everybody’s badge list will look like a Hallmark store, and Foursquare gets known as a lame site for celebrating holidays without actually doing anything but shouting.

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