Video games have LONG been known to deal with gold. They use it to reward players, and they use it to drive in game economies. Now a video game has taken the next step- giving real life gold to players.
No, this isn’t clickbait. Mobile game, Planet Gold Rush, is partnering with a real life gold miner.
Todd Hoffman is the star of the Discovery Channels very popular reality show, Gold Rush. As the name states, it is a show about the gold mining that is still going on in this country. Hoffman has amassed several million dollars worth of the precious metal, and is using some of it to promote this game.
In a 90-day partnership with Truly Social Games that began July 9, Hoffman will be parsing out two ounces of gold each week, equaling about $2500, to players of the iPhone and Android app Planet Gold Rush. The prize will be mailed to each winner along with a T-shirt and letter of authenticity.
This is a mobile game that has been out for a little over a year. Is has a lot of the city building mechanic that is very popular in the app store these days. Combining that with precious metal mining, makes it stand out just a little bit from the heavily oversaturated market.
It is a pretty intriguing proposition that in a game where you mine gold, you can win actual specimens that has been mined in real life. There will be weekly competitions to get the highest score, and Hoffman will apparently just mail you some yellow stuff no questions asked. I’m wondering how much this game paid Hoffman, for him to be cool with giving away so much of the gold he has apparently been working so hard to accumulate.
So what do you think? Will this promotion make you check the game out? Let us know in the comments!