Booyah Society: Level Up in Life! with your iPhone


Keith wasn’t as boisterous during our second filming of the app as he was the first time. Hopefully you guys get the idea.

So what is Booyah and what does it bring to the iPhone that no one else has done? Before we dive into that here’s a little background info on the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup. Founded by three former videogame industry vets from Blizzard, Activision and Insomniac Games, Booyah looks to shake things up with real-life achievements for the iPhone (and iPod Touch). Booyah CEO Keith Lee is an industry vet having worked on Ratchet and Clank, Diablo II, Resistance: Fall of Man before parting ways with Blizzard to launch Booyah with Brian Morrisroe and Sam Christiansen. Booyah’s main goal is “to motivate people to pursue their real-life passions while positively impacting themselves and the community around them. It’s the first achievement system for life.”

Achievements are earned by way of various real-life activities, like going to the gym, uploading photos to Flickr and whatever else we do on a daily basis. They can be shared via Twitter and Facebook if you’re into that sort of thing. Lee compares it to earning merit badges in the Boy Scouts. Booyah Society is more or less a twist on modern Social Networks. It encourages you to share what you’re doing with others in Booyah in an attempt to earn achievements and badges. Booyah Society isn’t so much a game as it as a new way of interacting with friends and strangers. What sets this app apart is the customizable 3D avatar that evolves with your daily habits and unlocked achievements. Your avatar can even interact with other Booyah Society member’s avatars. They’re surprisingly fully interactive. At launch there are 108 achievements scattered throughout various categories.

When asked how Booyah will make money since Booyah Society is free, Lee said they have various business models in the works. Whether they generate revenue through CPC remains to be seen. Booyah was recently awarded $4.5 million in Series A funding through Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers iFund.

It’ll be interesting to see how Booyah expands and what new features will be incorporated into the app. From what I saw it seems like a viable business and clever app. I encourage the iPhone and iPod Touch owners to give it a whirl. Who doesn’t want to brag about achievements earned and such?

Booyah Society [iTunes]