Imagine a real world game (played in the open world, not your computer) where the prime goal is to do good things for others. Now, imagine that the game doesn’t stop when you perform your good deed, because in handing over the card that started the mission to the person you’ve helped, you encourage them to “play it forward” to do something good for someone else. That’s the game in a nutshell, at this stage.

Essentially: do good things for other people, share, play it forward, and earn great karma points for doing it. Make sense?

There’s an online component to the game that will show you where the cards have gone. When I told Seth Godin about it last Monday, he said, “like the dollar bill game, Where’s George?” Yes, that seems like a reasonable comparison the way I understand it.

Akoha has lots of ideas for how the game will work over time, and how it might be expanded. It’s all very participatory. There are lots of ways that you will have an opportunity to impact and change and shape the course of this game.

But for now, look how simple it is. Go do something helpful. Be a good person. Share something. Play it forward. Easy, right?

Check out Akoha.com, but also, if you see me at a conference in the coming weeks, like the New Marketing Summit, ask me about the game. I might just have your deck of Akoha cards with me, waiting to hand them out and get you into the game.

Photo credit, Austin Hill, used without permission.

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A year or so ago, in the company of Jeff Pulver (who also loves play), I met an amazing group of people for dinner. The dinner was part of Hubert Burda’s DLD Conference experience. I was there by chance, and because Jeff is that kind of guy.

At this event, besides running into Jeff Jarvis again (I love what Jeff does), I also met Kevin Slavin of Area Code, creator of “big games.” Fascinating. I could have talked with him for hours (and I kinda did). You might know his company. He did things like organize a giant Pac Man game in Manhattan.

In this space, someone I’ve yet to meet is Jane McGonigal, who has a body of work that’s drool-worthy, it’s so full of fun and inspiration.

And most recently, by way of turning this story all over the place, I met Austin Hill. He’s one of the guys behind Akoha. Austin and a team including Mr. Alex Eberts are doing something really interesting up there in Canada. And he shared a bit with me.

Now, the nail biter. I can’t share a single thing about what I saw. Yet.

Well, I can share a bit, if you don’t tell anyone.

It’s about play. And it’s the kind of thing that you’ll read about all over the place in not too long. And after that, you’ll see it on TV or in a magazine or something. And after that, you’re going to be one of the wink wink nod nod people playing.

Innovating requires play. Some of us know this, embrace it, and find ways to sneak the play into our otherwise grown up life.

One last thing. I will have parts of the story WITH me at the next few events I attend. I will not just hand them out. There will not be a contest. The right caller won’t get the prize. But I will be handing certain people parts of the story.

And when I’m done delivering those, I will also dispense with 50 very special gifts.

I’m not trying to be secretive to be coy. I’m actually under a FrieNDA for a while more.

But in all my not-exactly-related-to-my-job work, this is one of those things that excites me. And if I share it with you, it should get your mind turning in neat ways, too.

In the mean time, do you find ways to play?

Photo credit, Meagen’s Photos