Every day it's the same thing. You wake up, you get dressed, and you go about your normal ritual. It's a regular routine that you sort of just fall into without ever realizing it. If only there was some way to make the daily grind a little more enjoyable... like in a video game. You know, something that would break things up a little and reward you for doing things you might already be doing anyway while adding that extra little incentive to occasionally go off the beaten path for an extra goodie or two.

One of the fun things in gaming these days is the sense of perpetual accomplishment they can offer. Achievements, trophies, and other various awards are like badges of honor for gamers. Not only do you get that feeling of having your efforts rewarded, but there's the added bonus of earning some good ol' fashioned bragging rights over your friends in the spirit of competition. So how do you bring that uniquely virtual experience out of the confines of the living room and out into the real world? Well folks, to quote a rather weathered phrase, "There's an app for that." In fact, there's more than one.

The biggest of these location-based social networking apps is Foursquare. Launched back in March of last year, Foursquare is based on a simple, but addictive premise. Using the GPS system on their mobile devices to pinpoint their location, you "check-in" to different nearby locations and post where you're at on your Facebook or Twitter accounts. You also earn points and unlock badges based on your activities, such as checking into multiple venues in a single day or just returning to one particular location time and time again. Plus, if you can manage to check in at a venue more often than anyone else over a sixty day period, you'll earn the title of "Mayor" for that location ... at least until someone else manages visit the place often enough to snatch the title away from you.

With the runaway success of Foursquare, it's no surprise that there are other apps working to replace it as Mayor of the social networking scene. One of the more interesting competitors is SCVNGR. Like Foursquare, SCVNGR awards players points and badges for checking in at nearby locations. Players can also earn extra points while at a venue but simply taking a picture of the place, leaving a shout out, or by "bumping" another other user's phone at the same location. What really makes SCVNGR stand out, though, is the extra gaming experience provided through the use of unique user-designed challenges. SCVNGR users can create challenges for other players, such as trivia questions or photo challenges. One example from the SCVNGR site is called "Tin-Foil Origami", which challengers players at a Mexican restaurant to take the tinfoil wrapper from their burrito, sculpt it into an animal shape, then take a picture and submit it to the SCVNGR service.

With people getting out of the house but still into the game thanks to apps like Foursquare and SCVNGR, it should come as no surprise that businesses are starting to take note. After all, if there something out there that's convincing people to come back to the same places over and over, why wouldn't you want to get in on the action? Now, something that started off as just a way to earn some virtual badges of honor and a little one-upmanship over your pals has started to earn players new and unique special rewards. Many special events offer one-of-a-kind badges to players who check in. Other businesses take things a step further by offering real world rewards to players, such as discounts for Foursquare's Mayors or first-time check ins. SCVNGR players can also score big with different rewards at venues after earning a set number of points at a given location. And hey, there's a lot of appeal to gamers, who very rarely benefit from their virtual adventuring with something real and tangible.

Apps like Foursquare and SCVNGR show that, given the right incentive, we're all eager to play our lives like video games. Earning our achievements, collecting our rewards, competing with our friends ... it's all a part of why we get sucked into the gaming experience and enjoy it so much. By bringing some of that feeling outside of the traditional virtual environment and into the real world, interacting with real people and places, it adds that little something extra to help break the monotony of your routine. And sometimes, that little break is all you need to squeeze just a bit more fun and laughs out of the day.