Everything you need to know about the new foursquare points and leaderboard
One of the reasons foursquare took off in the first place was because it turned real life into a game. It attracted gamers who loved earning the points and comparing them against their friends on the leaderboard. The limited nature of the points, though, meant interest in the leaderboard faded quickly for the vast majority of users. Foursquare’s new point system is meant to change that by introducing more than 20 new things for which users can earn points.
Just as before, you’ll see your point total for each checkin shown on the checkin confirmation screen. Those points can now come for all sorts of things. Here are a few we’ve seen so far:
- You’re the Mayor! (+3 points)
- VIP! You’re hanging out with the mayor! (+3 points)
- You just became the mayor! (+5 points)
- BFF Bonus: 3 days with Dan this week! (+4 points)
- Every checkin counts! (+1 point)
- You’re creeping on a friend’s mayorship turf! (+2 points)
- You checked in to a place none of your friends have been before! (+2 points)
- First time at New Farm Park! (+3 points)
- Welcome back! You haven’t been here in 3 months! (+2 points)
- That’s 3 days here this week! (+2 points)
- It’s your birthday! (+5 points)
- Your first Korean Restaurant (+1 point)
- Wow, the last time you saw Ted was at The Scratcher 3 months ago! (+4 points)
- 587 miles since your last checkin (+3 points; varies by distance)
- New state (+4 points)
- The Mayor is in the house! (+2 points)
- Welcome! It’s your first checkin in China! (+5 points)
After each checkin you’ll also see a quick rundown of the leaderboard and what this checkin did for your standings. If you’re closing in on a friends’ total or approaching your best week ever foursquare will let you know.
While foursquare 3.0 is only available for iPhone and Android today, it appears that the new points system is available on other platforms. Blackberry users have reported receiving points for new things and mobile web checkins show both your old points and your new points separately.
The leaderboard has been moved out of the hidden spot where foursquare tried to bury it almost a year ago. It’s now front and center on the “Me” tab of the app. You’ll see a scale that shows your current point total over the past seven days, as compared to your highest point total over that period.
Below that you’ll see a snippet of the leaderboard showing how you compare to your closest friends (point-wise). Clicking that opens the full leaderboard, which is now a bona fide part of the app instead of an awkward web page. It now compares you just to your friends, not your city. You can see how many points each of your friends has and what their highest score has been over the past seven days.
The “Me” tab and friends’ profiles have two new sections as well — most explored categories and top places. You’ll be able to quickly see which categories your friends are experts on and the places they’ve visited most. I’m a little depressed to see that I’m apparently an expert on gas stations and fast food restaurants.
The updates to points are very welcome and should make the game part of foursquare much more fun to play. I can’t wait to see what other point bonuses are hiding and waiting to be unlocked.
What do you think about new point system? Will you miss the city leaderboards?
No related posts.
Was there a city leaderboard in the old app? Never seen it.
If you were in one of the original cities that foursquare launched in, instead of your “all friends” leaderboard, it showed one for that city.
Actually, even once “Foursquare Everywhere” was launched, you could still switch to a city leaderboard, which would simply show you your ranking among users within a certain distance of your location.
I won’t miss the overall city leaderboard. But I will sort of miss the leaderboard of only local friends. I’m never going to be able to top my overall leaderboard unless I unfriend Ching Yu.
Though it is sort of cool that even though I check-in less than some of my friends, my unique check-ins have put me 4th on my leaderboard.
I wonder how it’s going to effect check-in behavior. Will people stop checking in to train stations because they want to see their top restaurant type (mine’s Mexican) because it’s not showing up, etc.
How does foursquare know when a user has their birthday?
It’s a required part of the signup process (“to ensure that you only receive age appropriate content”).
Ah, must have forgot that this happened when I had signed up… Too long ago + bad memory. Thanks!
Good question by Natalia. I was just wondering the same thing re: Foursquare knowing about a user’s birthday.
I can only imagine the different directions that checkin trends will go after this. I’ve always been a fan of the leaderboard, but none of my other Foursquare friends even knew how to access it before. I think this is a great change.
Interesting to see that the old-style leaderboard is still in place; still looks as it always did, but it’s using the new point system.
http://foursquare.com/mobile/leaderboard
(Also, it erroneously says at the bottom that it resets on Sunday nights at 11:59 p.m.)
Yeah, I saw that. Funny they kept that in place. Not sure what the purpose of showing both point values on the mobile web checkins is.
Meh, mi BD was in January!! Man! now wait one year!
I got extra points for checkin-in to a post office for the first time in six months. Maybe if its your first time checking-in to a certain category in a long time it’ll reward you with extra stuff?
i know this is complained about many times, but if there is going to be a greater emphasis on points, 4sq has to do a better job at ensuring venues are accurately located (Strict GPS is back!) and catergorized properly. It really makes no sense to try to play this when venues are inaccurate. They need to open up Super Users again as those that are currently serving are not keeping up with duplicates and cleanups.
I’m a little sad/confused at how my page says I’m an expert of department stores… But I know for a fact that my piggie self goes to WAY more restaurants than stores!
So, i went far far far away from my city on january AND NOW they put point for distance!!!!
I’m a little confused as to how the points work still ONLY for the fact that yesterday evening a friend of mine had 200 points and was in 2nd place. This morning he is still in 2nd place but has 181 points. Do you lose points for any reasons??? I know for a fact he had more than that last night -he was closing in on stealing first place back
I’m a little confused as to how the points work still ONLY for the fact that yesterday evening a friend of mine had 200 points and was in 2nd place. This morning he is still in 2nd place but has 181 points. Do you lose points for any reasons??? I know for a fact he had more than that last night -he was closing in on stealing first place back
Just wondering if that’s something new that I’m not understanding.
It’s a rolling 7 day period. It’s no longer an absolute 7 day period like before.
Oh, sweet! Much fun!
I got +5 after a flight for checking in “504 miles from last checkin”
I love this new points system! I get rewarded for going back to places I haven’t been to in a while and for checking in at places where I’m the mayor.
Definitely an improvement. Can’t wait until foursquare3.0 is available for my BlackBerry.
Got a +4 for checking into my first BBQ joint. Also got one for returning to a category for awhile (ex. +3 points for checking into your first Dive Bar since __ in September 2010!)
It’s kinda fun, but it’s frustrating that it seems to have no rhyme or reason some time. For instance, if you check in for the 6th time in a day, it should be 6 points. …but if you’re they mayor, you only get 3 points. Shouldn’t that be 3 on TOP of your 6?
…and it’s HIGHLY annoying that the foursquare website doesn’t explain points in detail anywhere (that I can find, at least).
You’re thinking of the old points rules. There’s no longer an increasing scale for the number of “stops” you make each day. Foursquare doesn’t explain the points because they want them to be similar to the badges — a serendipitous experience when you get each of the bonuses. Myself and lots of others disagree with that philosophy, hence the reason I’ve explained it here as best I can.
I got a little confoozled cuz the first post google brought me to was your post on the old points. I re-read this one, and thought that might be the cae. Thanks!!
Yesterday a friend and I were tied on the leaderboard and today I was 12 points lower, while his points did not decrease. Are points taken away for any reason? All of my check-ins were still listed too.
Points aren’t taken away, but the leaderboard is based on the last 7 days — to the minute. So it’s possible you had some points that were more than 7 days old and your friend didn’t.
A few others I “unlocked” over the weekend:
~First time at a Men’s/Women’s Store
~First time at a lingerie store
Got a new point code today, “First time at a Hospital in 7 months” +2
[...] ã¨ãªã£ã¦ã„ãŸã€‚ 今回ã“ã‚Œã«å¤‰æ›´ãŒåŠ ã‚ã‚Šã€ãƒã‚¤ãƒ³ãƒˆã®åŠ 算方法ãŒç´°åˆ†åŒ–ã•ã‚ŒãŸã€‚ 具体的ã«ã¯ã€About Foursquareã«ã‚ˆã‚‹ã¨ä»¥ä¸‹ã®é€šã‚Šã¨ãªã‚‹ã€‚ [...]
For some reason, my point total stays at 0 even though I’ve checked in tons Of times. Anyone know why this is happening?
[...] Check-In Points Lastly, points! With the new leaderboard came new points. Although the leaderboard has been around since day one it never really made a difference and [...]
Just got a 4+ points for “first time at a bakery!”
Its nice to have new ways to score points although one of the nice things about 4sq was that it was very simple and easy to understand. I’m not sure its that way anymore.
[...] es gibt anscheinend auch punkte für das einchecken in einem neuen land (5 punkte) oder wenn man eine bestimmte strecke zurück gelegt hat (punktezahl variiert nach distanz) – das konnte ich aber bis jetzt noch nicht mit eigenen augen [...]
@Jenfp: it doesn’t increase the love but you should be in love with the ring. It’s an heirloom. I just found out I can have my Grandmas engagement ring from the 40′s. Amazing. But think about it in that way. That ring could be passed down.
But in all seriousness I think you should shop around so you can gain mayorship of a jeweler.
I really like the new leaderboard system!
[...] aboutfoursquare.com har några fler exempel på vad som ger poäng. Denna incheckning gav totalt sju poäng. [...]
How can one score 40-50 points in one afternoon? A friend of mine has got from 100 to 147 in just a couple of hours.
It’s relatively easy to gain 25-30 points in a single checkin, so 40-50 points could be just two or three checkins at the right spot. Those kinds of points are most easily available when someone is traveling. The distance, swarm, new state/country, new venue, and new category bonuses add up quickly.
[...] EMail Email from Michael Weberberger from Austria – Did Foursquare change its point system? FourSquare Point System Info [...]