1. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Aligning Forces Games to Generate Data Challenge
Submission by: Eric Heis Arlington, VA 419-297-5586
7th Annual Games for Change Festival “Most Likely to Succeed” Winner • International Game Developer Association 2009-Present • Millennial
Return on Investment Leadership Conference Winner and Grant Recipient 2009 for economic gamification ideas
BetterDay – a mobile app that guides and rewards daily healthy choices
Goal: Fun, rewarding mobile game to improve both physical and mental activity while generating data
on best methods for engagement and health improvement
Premise: Using 2012 County Health Rankings, there is a strong correlation between % of physically
inactive and mentally unhealthy days. This correlation bleeds over into other categories including
smoking, teen birth rate, preventable hospital stays, and general poor health. By educating and
encouraging physical and mental activity with a lure of real-world rewards provided by health and
corporate sponsors, a good game can increase good health across entire communities while recording
which stimuli garner the best results. Data generation will increase as the game is easily adaptable and
updatable to include new challenges or data requirements.
Design: Using an adaptable mobile game platform combining elements of strategy/quiz genres with
increasing levels and real world rewards, gamification elements will only further engagement and
interaction with players of all calibers.
The basic story is adaptable (to age, community, and target user comfort level), but follows the user
through a process of bettering themselves in order to upgrade/promote/better their game level and
opportunities for real world rewards. On screen characters and community screens are all upgradeable,
with the ability to share with friends, or, more substantially, to attain better rewards with higher
upgrades. In game trinkets (hats) are just one of many options for improving the game experience the
way you want to play it. Real go-getters can increase the points that a 20 minute walk will give, for
example, by investing all of their in game coins into that “skill tree” or “talent.”
In game actions include quests or missions, which can include trivia (education) or puzzles (mental
stimulation). Points are rewarded as well as extra bonus quests that users can partake in that include
either real world action or further puzzle solving. Coins to use in the game are bonuses to keep users
invested, especially once real-world points are maxed.

2. In game quests can involve multiple mini-games, or games within games, such as playing two rounds of
Sudoku or answering five health trivia questions. Bonus points are awarded if you excel at these games,
go well past the goal, or integrate the health advice into your game/life. For example, if you read that
eating food after 7pm increases sedentary activity and weight gain, you can choose to pin that fact as a
personal goal on your main game page, giving it a permanent place and/or reminder.
Points are also rewarded real world actions such as going on a walk or bike ride, checking in at the gym
for at least 30 minutes, downloading a low-fat recipe for dinner, posting a picture of your healthy dinner
to your personal game page, etc etc. If there is real world interaction already linked to technology or an
app, it can be capitalized on for this game. RunKeeper tracks movement, which would give points for
walking two miles at a pace of 15 minutes per mile. Foursquare checks you in at a gym using similar GPS
technology and listed places. AllRecipes saves which recipes you use, and also can suggest healthy
recipes based on what food is in your pantry. Instagram has groups of people who post pictures of
meals they cook and show off to make themselves feel good and encourage others.
The point of this game is not to gloat with gym check-ins or fill your friend’s news feeds with pictures of
vegetables. All of these actions are unique to the user unless they want to publish accomplishments,
such as walking each day for a week or month, not individual actions. Those actions are used for points,
both for in game and real world rewards. There is also a limit for points, meaning you cannot sit all day
and play Sudoku and gather points, not can you fall asleep at the gym for four hours and rake in the
rewards.
Draft daily point scale example:
20 minute walk = 10 points and 2 game coins
2 mental puzzle games beaten = 2 points and 2 game coins
Bonus for playing 2 extra puzzle games = 1 point and 2 game coins
Download low-fat recipe = 2 points (and chance for coupon for groceries)
Picture of healthy food uploaded = 2 points (and entered to win ipad if your picture is chosen as daily
winner)
1.5 hour walk = 15 points (as maximum physical points per day is 25, extra walk gives less points on
degrading scale) BUT going over gives more game coins for purchase of tickets for ipad lotteries, game
coins for upgrading your game screen, and other rewards
Reward ideas:
Gift cards (Target, local shops, Groupon, in-game sponsor sites)
Coupons ($ off movie tickets, gym memberships, food purchases)
Extra entries into game giveaways

3. Extra Funding: The game elements can include in game advertising. For example, going for a run can
produce a “Congratulations” screen sponsored by Pacers Running Store. Downloading a health recipe
can include a local grocery coupon at the bottom of the page.
Health community groups can use the application in classes to create a fun way to gather data on
participants, even going so far as to paying the developer to specialize a version of the game to their
community/goals.
Sponsors who provide real world rewards, the only real cost other than development and marketing,
will also be asked to be community backers, promoting the game in their respective cities and donating
resources to the game community.
Charity will also be affected, not only be bringing awareness to local causes, but giving the user the
option of giving their reward points to a charity, such as a local food bank or dog shelter. Charities can
receive matching funds from sponsors or community groups that also have a stake in the game.
Rewards: Virtual rewards are ineffective for promoting real world health change. This theory is backed
by the increasing interest in privacy on Facebook driving down “Share” button clicks, disdain over social
games that spam requests from friends, and the divide between those playing a game for the game
itself, looking for personal virtual progress, versus a casual user looking for real benefits.
Good games provide escape, empowerment, discovery, and heightened emotions. Pair these with real
world rewards from the health care world or corporate sponsors, and you have a winning formula for
data collection and impact.
Example: A user goes on a walk at 5 pm and cooks a low-fat dinner. Tracking the walk with run-keeper
and downloading a low-fat recipe to use for dinner from Allrecipes app will integrate and reward points.
Once enough points are collected, the user can trade them in for new walking shoes (promotion from
Pacers) or grocery coupons (promotion from local grocery store).
Also, the user is automatically entered for a chance to win bigger prizes as well, such as an ipad or a
large donation to their local food bank. Slickdeals.net has a great daily giveaway that you enter more
than once based on your activity and loyalty. This would be similar. Another example is the HGTV
Dream Home giveaway as you are allowed to enter once a day and millions do, knowing they have little
chance, but still take the time to do so.
At the user end, the calories saved translate into game points, allowing the user to progress in the game
if they choose, further earning reward points and learning about health education.

4. Cheating: Real world events are required to progress in this game and even if users figure out a way to
cheat the system, they still will be playing through the game, which integrates health care knowledge
with positive reinforcement. Real rewards will only be available to those who participate quite a few
times, so those wishing to spend minutes each day cheating the system will be less likely to continue.
Retention: Besides promising real-world rewards that go to the user or the community, signing up for
the game will sign them up for weekly email updates that will serve as a reminder to participate and also
advertise what new rewards may be offered.
This game will not automatically post to Facebook, but users can select to, especially if they hit
milestones such as “Ten miles walked this week” or “10 lbs lost this year.”
Push notices can pop up on the smartphone as well, reminding someone that they haven’t walked 20
minutes today and they are missing out on points and the chance to win an ipad.
Data: With users inputting weight and other personal data, knowing no one else will see it (except in
the aggregate, as Facebook does), the game can keep track of a variety of data, from what is collected in
the county health rankings to, most importantly, which mini-games and physical activity each user
prefers and continues to use the most.
This data will not only assist health professionals in developing integrated gamification into their own
programs, but also supply developers with ideas to improve the game as trends are seen in the user
base.
Community: Communities can adapt the game to their own uses, adding missions such as “go to ____
park for an afternoon stroll” or “visit the farmer’s market on Saturday morning for fresh produce and
upload a picture of your purchase.” These missions will, of course, sound more enticing in game, and
drive community action.
Additional mission goals can be added, in such a case that the community has high physical activity
levels already, like volunteering for an hour at a soup kitchen.
Rewards can be community based as well, with gift cards to Target or the local hardware store to be
available to those who qualify. This will involve more community leaders and members in the mission of
encouraging physical and mental activity. Other ideas includes medals for game leaderboard winners in
the community that can be handed out at receptions or other events, along with big rewards being
handed over not by mail, but by a community leader (ipad winner).