By which I mean a guide BY an idiot.
I’ve become quite a heavy user of Foursquare and, being the achievement-whore that I am in video games, this has transferred to real life and Foursquare badges too. Here’s my attempt to construct a list of badges, and what objectives must be completed to be rewarded with them:
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Newbie: Congrats on your first check-in!
This is awarded after you first check in to any venue. |
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Adventurer: You’ve checked into 10 different venues!
This is awarded after you’ve checked in to 10 distinct venues (i.e. the same venue multiple times doesn’t count). |
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Explorer: You’ve checked into 25 different venues!
As Adventurer, but for 25 unique venues. |
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Superstar: You’ve checked into 50 different venues!
As Adventurer, but for 50 unique venues. |
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Superuser: That’s 30 checkins in a month for you!
This is awarded after you check in 30 times within a month. (Edit: Confirmed. This badge is for any 30-day timespan, not a particular calendar month.) Also, this badge has nothing to do with being given superuser status to edit venues. Also also, due to the bronze colour of this badge, and the fact that the Adventurer, Explorer, Superstar badges follow a bronze, silver, gold sequence, I suspect there may be more in this theme for even more check-ins in a month, but I wasn’t able to find any. Any confirmation would be great! |
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Bender: That’s 4+ nights in a row for you!
Check in on four consecutive nights. (No need for sexual deviation, or becoming an alcoholic robot, thankfully!) |
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Crunked: That’s 4+ stops in one night for you!
Check in to four venues in one night. |
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Local: You’ve been at the same place 3x in one week!
Check in to the same venue three times in one week (again, I assume this means any 7-day span, rather than a calendar week). This badge made more sense when the badges were awarded for specific cities (so you would get duplicate badges when in other cities), but now that Foursquare has become unrestrained by location, it’s a lot less significant. |
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School Night: Checking-in after 3am on a school night? Well done!
Check in after 3am on any weekday morning. Obviously, you can also get this by checking in very early, but I don’t know what kind of time. I’d guess before around 6am. Again, any confirmation would be great. |
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Overshare: 10+ checkins in 12 hours! Next up: tweeting that you unlocked this Overshare badge?
Check in ten times in a 12-hour span. Also: do us all a favour and don’t auto-tweet those check-ins. Cheers. |
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Super Mayor: A special shoutout for holding down 10 mayorships at once!
To be a mayor, you have to have checked in to a venue more than any other person (and have to have checked in at least twice). This badge is awarded when you are mayor of ten different venues at once. |
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Player Please: Look at you, checking-in with 3 members of the opposite sex! Player, please!
Check in to a venue that has had recent check-ins from three other Foursquare users of the opposite sex. |
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Entourage: Look at you, checking-in with 10 of your friends in tow! You so popular!
Check in to a venue that 10 of your Foursquare friends are checked in to. |
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Swarm: 50+ people are also checked-in here – it’s a foursquare flashmob!
Check in to a venue that another 50 people are checked in to. |
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Super Swarm: Know what you call a 50 person swarm at SXSW? The Hilton Lobby. So we upped the ante to 250 and you still nailed it. Well played!
Check in to a venue that another 250 people are checked in to. The description I’ve given here implies you’re at SXSW, where it was first rolled out. It might have a more generic message now that you can get it anywhere. |
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16 Candles: Treat yourself to another cupcake – that’s 5 birthday shoutouts from you!
(Updated 13/08/10) I recently got this one, so I can tell you how. I got it by shouting “Happy Birthday <name>!” while checking in 5 times. I understand that only the last shout actually has to be with a check-in, but apart from that, normal shouts count too. I don’t know if it works when there isn’t a name, or without an exclamation mark etc. |
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4SQ Day: Happy foursquare day! (four squared = 4/16, get it?) Here’s a toast to all of you for making foursquare so amazing and to the 150+ #4sqDay parties going on around the world!
Shout “Happy Foursquare Day” on April 16th. |
All the above badges are achieved by the simple act of checking in to pretty much any place. The following badges all require you to check in to more specific places. Most require you to check in to venues with a particular tag.
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Douchebag: Double pop that collar, son!
This less-than-desirable badge is awarded when you check in to venues tagged with “douchebags”. Beyond that, I have no details. Not sure how many, or how quickly, or whether they have to be unique venues or not. |
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Photogenic: You found 3 places with a photobooth!
Check in three times to venues tagged with “photobooth”. |
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JetSetter: Hopping around the world one airport at a time… congrats on your 5th airport checkin and safe travels!
Check in five times to venues tagged with “airport”. |
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Don’t Stop Believin’: ♫ Just a small town girl / Living in a lonely world / She took the midnight train going anywhere! ♫ That’s 3 karaoke field trips in a month! Treat yourself by slaying a lil’ Bon Jovi.
Check in to three venues tagged with “karaoke” in a month (presumably any 30-day timespan). |
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I’m on a boat!: ♫ This ain’t Seaworld, this is as real as it gets / I’m on a boat, MF’er, don’t you ever forget! ♫
Check in to a venue tagged with “boat”. |
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Gym Rat: 10x trips in 30 days? Go reward yourself to the nastiest double cheeseburger you can find (bonus points for cheesy fries and milkshakes). And ps: you look nice today!
Check in to venues tagged with “gym” ten times in a 30-day timespan. |
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Zoetrope: That brings you to 10 movie theater checkins! Now, can you pick us up a large popcorn while you’re up?
Check in ten times to venues tagged with “movies”. Might also allow “film” or “cinema” for those of us not from America? Maybe that’s just optimistic of me. |
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Babysitter: Forget those “Bender” and “Crunked” badges – you’ve conquered the playground circuit! (10 checkins!)
Check in ten times to venues tagged with “playground”. |
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Jobs: 3 Apple Store checkins! Hold onto this badge tightly. Maybe someday you’ll be able to trade it in for an iHoverboard!
Check in three times to venues tagged with “apple store” (or possibly just “apple”?). |
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Barista: Congrats – you’ve checked in at 5 different Starbucks! Be sure to pick up a double tall latte for your friend – I’m sure they’d do the same for you.
Check in to 5 Starbuck’s venues. (Not sure if they must be tagged “Starbuck’s” or called “Starbuck’s” or what.) |
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Warhol: That sure is a nice collection of art gallery checkins (10 different galleries!)
Check in to 10 venues tagged with “gallery”. |
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Pizzaiolo: This badge is reserved only for the true pizza connoisseur: slices from 20 different pizza places. Well done!
Check in to 20 (different?) venues tagged with “pizza”. |
There are many more, including ones that I found but chose not to put here either because they’re specific to the USA (like this one), specific to events you have to attend (for instance), or I just plain don’t understand them (WTH?).
Well, I hope you get some use out of this little guide. If you have any more badges you think I’d be interested* to know about, stick it in a comment, or tell us about it.
* Bear in mind that I’m British, so any badges specific to the US or elsewhere aren’t really of that much interest to me.
Update: I’ve added some more badges! (Entourage, Super Swarm, 4SQ Day, Barista and Warhol) – 23/07/2010
Update: I’ve added a badge (Pizzaiolo) and detailed another (16 Candles) – 13/08/2010
Thanks very much for this, it’s very useful!
ENTOURAGE BADGE, IT IS GIVEN WHEN CHECKED IN WITH 10 OF YOUR FOURSQUARE FRIENDS! CHEERS MATE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
BARISTA BADGE, CHECK IN AT 5 DIFFERENT STARBUCKS
SUPER SWARM, CHECK IN WITH 250+ PEOPLE (DONT HAVE TO BE FRIENDS)
WARHOL BADGE, CHECK INTO 10 LOCATIONS WITH THE TAG “GALLERY”
Thanks for the help, @JamesMHayden. I’ve added the extra badges (and another one I found) to the post.
Pizzaiolo another badge on offer to us UK lot!!
Historian Badge. Follow the “History Channel” user on Four Square http://foursquare.com/historychannel then there are a couple of places in London, such as Buckingham Palace, that if checked into will give you the badge.
You should get the Banksy badge! You earn it by checking in at a location that is showing Exit Through the Giftshop!
Thanks for taking the time to line this all out for people. This particular blog post ended up being incredibly helpful if you ask me.