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Rapid City Teams Up With SCVNGR to Launch High-Tech Mobile Tourism Experience

RAPID CITY, S.D. (7/14/10) -- Starting July 12th, visitors to Rapid City and the Black Hills will be able to explore all the highlights of the city by playing a high-tech mobile game called SCVNGR. Playing SCVNGR is simple: Go places. Do challenges. Earn points! Visitors get to interact with the sites and people of Rapid City in a new and interactive way, all through their mobile phones.

The Rapid City Convention & Visitors Bureau has built three "treks" on SCVNGR: The Rapid City Trek, which highlights 11 of the top locations throughout the city, The Reptile Gardens Trek, which leads visitors through the park with more species of reptiles than any other zoo or park in the world, and The City of Presidents Trek, which leads visitors through a series of life-size bronze statues of our nation's past presidents all located downtown.

All the Treks showcase quick, fun challenges to do at each location. For example, players heading to Dinosaur Park will see a three point challenge to find their dinosaur "alter-ego." Once found, players snap a picture with their new pal while giving their best fierce face and nab their three points.

Players earn points for completing challenges like this all across town and can choose to share their activity out to their friends via Facebook and Twitter and, of course, to other players on SCVNGR.

Michelle Thomson, Tourism Director for the Rapid City Convention & Visitors Bureau said, "This is an exciting, interactive way for visitors and residents to experience and explore our city. We are excited to be one of the first cities to use this cutting-edge form of location-based social media."

To play, grab the free SCVNGR app from the Android Market or Apple App Store, Once in the app, tap the treks tab and select the Rapid City, Reptile Gardens, or Presidents trek. Treks can also be played via txt message by sending the trek's keyword to 728647. Then start playing!

Through the SCVNGR app, these treks can be accessed by anyone, for free, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.

"We are offering our visitors a way to not just tour the city, but actually play their way through the city," Thomson said. "Players are saying it's a lot of fun!"
For more information on the Rapid City treks, click on www.visitrapidcity.com/scvngr.

About SCVNGR:
SCVNGR is a game. Playing is simple: Go places. Do challenges. Earn points! SCVNGR is played via a free iPhone/Android app. Any individual or enterprise can also build on SCVNGR by adding challenges at their favorite locations. SCVNGR is funded by Google Ventures and Highland Capital Partners. Visit www.scvngr.com to learn more.

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CONTACT:
Stacie Granum, Marketing Director
Rapid City Convention & Visitors Bureau
605-718-8484