How points work
Every scoring rule in this product exists to answer one question: how do you get people to the thousands of places that are worth going to and that nobody has heard of?
Tiers, inverted against popularity
A destination's tier is set by the platform from annual footfall, review volume and state board input — and re-evaluated every quarter. A place that becomes popular drops in tier, so the incentive permanently chases the long tail rather than settling on a fixed list.
- T1MarqueeOver 1M visitors a year, nationally iconic · e.g. Khajuraho, Mahakaleshwar10
- T2Well known200k–1M visitors, regionally well known · e.g. Orchha, Pachmarhi30
- T3Lesser known20k–200k visitors, known locally but little outside footfall · e.g. Bhojpur, Chanderi75
- T4OffbeatUnder 20k visitors — remote, newly listed or undocumented · e.g. Minor forts, craft villages, unlisted waterfalls150
Everything that scores
- Verified check-in — Tier 1+10
- Verified check-in — Tier 2+30
- Verified check-in — Tier 3+75
- Verified check-in — Tier 4+150
- Photo accepted into the destination gallery+25
- First-ever check-in at a destination (Pioneer)+100
- Detailed review (100+ characters, with a photo)+15
- Completing a circuit or challenge200–1000
- Eco-pledge honoured / clean-up drive+50
Multipliers
These stack on the base points. Off-season and monsoon multipliers exist to spread footfall across the calendar, not just across the map.
- Off-season visit×1.5
- Monsoon-only site, in season×1.5
- State challenge active×2
- Newly listed destination (first 90 days)×2
Levels
- 1Explorer0+ points
- 2Wanderer500+ points
- 3Pathfinder2,000+ points
- 4Trailblazer5,000+ points
- 5Voyager12,000+ points
- 6Legend30,000+ points
Level 5 unlocks the Local Guide role — the ability to suggest new destinations and submit corrections, which enter a review queue.
How a check-in is verified
A leaderboard that can be faked is worth nothing, so every check-in goes through the same pipeline before any points are credited.
- In-app camera onlyGallery uploads cannot be used for a scoring check-in. Non-scoring gallery contributions are allowed and flagged as such.
- Inside the geofenceYour GPS must fall within the destination's fence — between 100 m and 5 km depending on the site. GPS accuracy is allowed for rather than ignored.
- Timestamp, duplicate and spoof checksServer time is authoritative. Perceptual hashing catches re-uploads and screenshots. Mock-location, rooted devices and impossible travel speeds are flagged.
- Human review where it mattersAnything the pipeline flags goes to a moderator with every signal laid out, plus a random audit of auto-approved submissions. Rejected check-ins can be appealed once.
There are no monetary rewards in v1. That removes the entire fraud incentive while the verification pipeline is still being proven. Partner offers and redeemable rewards arrive in Phase 2, once the measured fraud rate is under 2%.