Location-based task and game functionality

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving, by one or more configured computing systems, information about a plurality of promotional offers made available by multiple vendors, each of the promotional offers having an associated reward corresponding to one or more items commercially available from an associated vendor and having one or more associated eligibility criteria for use in identifying users eligible to obtain the associated reward;
• receiving, by the one or more configured computing systems, an indication of completion of a task by a first user, wherein the completion of the task is performed by the first user as part of qualifying to obtain the reward associated with a first promotional offer of the plurality of promotional offers, and wherein the first user satisfies the eligibility criteria associated with the first promotional offer;
• and
• performing, by the one or more configured computing systems, one or more actions from a group of actions (A)-(I) including:
• (A) before the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, providing, by a location-based task-game server system executing on the one or more configured computing systems, information to a client device of the first user as part of a graphical user interface of the location-based task-game server system, the provided information identifying the task and identifying other information selected for the first user by the location-based task-game server system, and wherein the completion of the task by the first user is performed based on selection by the first user of information about the identified task via the graphical user interface;
• (B) before the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, the task to be performed by the first user for the first promotional offer in a manner specific to the first user, and providing information to the first user to enable the first user to perform the task for the first promotional offer;
• (C) after the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, providing, to the associated vendor for the first promotional offer by the one or more configured computing systems, information about task results that are generated by the completion of the task by the first user, and receiving information from the vendor to validate that the task results are acceptable, wherein the received information from the vendor qualifies the first user to obtain the reward associated with the first promotional offer;
• (D) after the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, providing, by the one or more configured computing systems, information to the associated vendor for the first promotional offer about one or more steps to be performed as part of a validation process to use for a later attempt by a person to redeem the reward associated with the first promotional offer, the provided information including two or more of a group including a photo of the first user and a name of the first user and a unique identifier that is associated with the first promotional offer and with the first user, the provided information further including instructions for the associated vendor to use other of the provided information as part of the validation process;
• (E) after the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, providing, by the one or more configured computing systems to the associated vendor for the first promotional offer, task results that are generated by the completion of the task by the first user, the provided information further including one or more types of information about performance of the task by the first user;
• (F) after the receiving of the indication of the completion of the task, analyzing, by the one or more configured computing systems, one or more types of information about performance of the task by the first user, to enable determining one or more preferences of the first user based at least in part on the one or more types of information;
• (G) identifying, by the one or more configured computing systems, a user group that includes multiple related users sharing at least one common attribute, and using information about one or more users in the user group to provide functionality that benefits one or more other additional users in the user group;
• (H) identifying, by the one or more configured computing systems, a vendor group that includes multiple related vendors sharing at least one common attribute, and using information about one or more vendors in the vendor group to provide functionality that benefits one or more other additional vendors in the vendor group;
• and
• (I) identifying, by the one or more configured computing systems, an offer group that includes multiple related offers sharing at least one common attribute, and using information about one or more offers in the offer group to provide functionality involving one or more other additional offers in the offer group.