Get ready for an infusion of love on the road, just in time for Valentine’s Day! From February 8-14, we’re dropping holiday-themed ‘road goodies’ all over the map as a way for you to pick up something sweet while you’re on your way to wherever you’re going. Valentine’s-themed ‘road goodies’ include Cupid’s Arrows (worth 15 points) and Love Balloons (worth 10 points). Much some ’road goodies’ as a way to  amp up your point total in  prep for our next version which will feature a scoreboard, allowing you to see how you stack up against others in your local driving community.

For users in the US and Canada, we’ll also be having a ‘Valentine’s Treasure Hunt,’ featuring virtual treasure chests that, when driven over, have the potential to reward users with real-world prizes.  Should you be the person to drive over a treasure chest that contains a prize, you’ll receive a pop-up notification, plus an email with more information within the following 24 hours – 48 hours.

Unfortunately, due to the logistical nightmare of fulfilling prizes internationally, this time we have to limit the ‘Valentine’s Treasure Hunt’ to the US and Canada only. We’re actively searching for creative solutions that will allow us to run international promotions.

Have fun out there!

The Fine Print:

ELIGIBILITY:You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Waze Inc. (Hereby “Waze”) treasure hunt.  TREASURE HUNT PERIOD: Waze treasure hunt begins at 09:00 EST on February 8, 2010 and ends on February 14, 2010 23:59 EST PRIZE RESTRICTIONS: Each winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prizes listed are subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, Wase will provide a similar or equal compensation. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating, participants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless Waze and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this treasure hunt or any treasure hunt related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of the treasure hunt, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tempering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the treasure hunt.  CONDITIONS: This treasure hunt is subject to federal, state, provincial, territorial and local laws and regulations. Certain restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited. Waze makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, directly or indirectly, regarding the prize delivery and Waze is not responsible for prize delivery being late, lost, stolen, damaged, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, or postage-due. Participants also agree (a) to be bound by these Official Rules; (b) that the decisions of the judges are final on all matters relating to the treasure hunt; and (c) In the event that the selected winner(s) of any prize are/is ineligible or refuses the prize, the prize will be forfeited and Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may choose whether to award the prize to another winner.GOVERNING LAW/DISPUTE RESOLUTION: This treasure hunt shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of New York without regard to the conflict of laws doctrine of any jurisdiction; and any disputes, claims or causes of action shall be resolved only in a state or federal court located in the County of New York, State of New York. Any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of pocket costs incurred and under no circumstances will participants be permitted to obtain awards for and participants hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages other than for actual out-of-pocket costs and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.

As we move into 2010 it’s getting pretty exciting over here at waze. A number of influencers are starting to take note of what we’re bringing to the table and we’ve got some really committed users who just seem to love the app. In fact, we’re happy to report that the holiday treasure hunt came to a successful end on January 1 and we received tons of positive feedback from our contest winners.

Here’s just a bit of what the folks who participated in the contest had to say:

• Thanks for the cool (and fun) gps software. I see great things in its future!
• I’m so stoked to have won. I heard about this app from a friend and tried it out on a trip into town and OMG it was so fun chasing down snow flakes and even a candy cane. It made our errand running a heck of a lot of fun.
• I was surprised when I drove over a chest and got the message that I had one something. That is very cool.
• I read an overview of the Waze and am quite excited. I would like to be part of the Waze community and contribute to the map corrections , place identification etc..
• Just have to say my gf not only won a prize too, but since she is wazing around so much now she has gone from 6 K points to 36K +. Her goal is to beat me!!!
• Thank You! And thanks for a great app, Waze is awesome!
• Am enjoying the play built into Waze. Keep up the good work!
• By the way, I’m loving using Waze. It is not only really useful due to the traffic updates from other users, but it is also a lot of fun.
• Thank you very much for what you guys at Waze are doing. It is a great service and it is wonderful you could figure out a way to make it free. Best of Luck!
• Thanks, and I LOVE Waze and I’m telling all my friends to try it.
• Thanks! I think Waze has a lot of potential and I’m trying to do my part.
• Thank you so much! The treasure hunt made our trip to KC so much more fun!
• Thanks guys, that was a fun little promo, I actually almost raced another waze user to that chest, haha, they were about .5 mile away from it heading right at it.

And that’s just a fraction of the feedback we got! Really nice stuff…

Anyway, below you’ll find a list of all the contest winners, and what they won. Big ups to you guys and thanks to everyone for your active participation in the holiday treasure hunt.

Looking forward, all of us at waze want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful 2010. We’re looking forward with a lot of optimism and hope you are, too…

Once you download the new holiday version and get out there on the road, you’ll see yet another cool feature – treasure chests scattered here and there around the map. What’re those treasure chests all about? Well, they’re part of the waze Holiday Treasure Hunt, silly!

From December 17, 2009 to January 1, 2010, keep your eyes peeled for treasure chests along your daily commute for your chance to win!

Driving over these chests opens them, revealing anything from bonus points and waze goodiebags to Amazon giftcards! You’ll get a pop-up after you drive over them, telling you if you’ve won anything, or if the chest has been emptied by another wazer already. If you’re a winner, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to claim your prize shortly thereafter…

Happy treasure hunting, wazers, and happy holidays, too, from all of us at waze!

The fine print:

ELIGIBILITY:You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Waze Inc. (Hereby “Waze”) treasure hunt.  TREASURE HUNT PERIOD: Waze treasure hunt begins at Thursday 17th December 2009 00:00 EST and ends on Friday January 1, 2010 23:59 EST PRIZE RESTRICTIONS: Each winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prizes listed are subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, Wase will provide a similar or equal compensation. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating, participants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless Waze and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this treasure hunt or any treasure hunt related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of the treasure hunt, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tempering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the treasure hunt.  CONDITIONS: This treasure hunt is subject to federal, state, provincial, territorial and local laws and regulations. Certain restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited. Waze makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, directly or indirectly, regarding the prize delivery and Waze is not responsible for prize delivery being late, lost, stolen, damaged, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, or postage-due. Participants also agree (a) to be bound by these Official Rules; (b) that the decisions of the judges are final on all matters relating to the treasure hunt; and (c) In the event that the selected winner(s) of any prize are/is ineligible or refuses the prize, the prize will be forfeited and Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may choose whether to award the prize to another winner.GOVERNING LAW/DISPUTE RESOLUTION: This treasure hunt shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of New York without regard to the conflict of laws doctrine of any jurisdiction; and any disputes, claims or causes of action shall be resolved only in a state or federal court located in the County of New York, State of New York. Any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of pocket costs incurred and under no circumstances will participants be permitted to obtain awards for and participants hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages other than for actual out-of-pocket costs and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.

For all those of you who wanna know how you stacked up against the competition, take a look at the chart below with the US/Canada Holiday High Point Challenge winners, plus the next top ten high point accumulators (who’ll be getting waze goodie bags…). Remember, ‘road goodie’ points are the only points we were counting for the contest. Congrats to all the winners!  Those who didn’t win – no worries, there’s always another fun contest to look forward to…

The blog post below announces a ‘Holiday High Points Challenge’ for our users in the US and Canada, but we didn’t want to leave out all our new international friends! So…announcing our ‘International High Points Challenge’ between November 25-December 9, for all of you outside of the US, Canada and Israel. Israeli friends, fear not, we have a contest coming your way soon…

Here’s the deal: the top three users who rack up the most points from ‘road goodies’ during this timeframe will receive Amazon gift cards in the amounts of $500, $300 and $200, respectively, to help out with their holiday shopping. Wishing you guys luck, too…now get out there and get munchin’!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

*  Find ‘road goodies ’in areas where the map needs improvement. (Make sure you’ve downloaded the newest waze version from the iPhone Appstore/Android Market or waze.com/download)

*  Munch (drive over) as many goodies as you can between November 25-December 9.

*  3 users who rack up the most goodie-related points during this time win!

***

The fine print:

1. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate in this campaign.
2. Must not be a resident of the US, Canada or Israel for this particular contest. See below blog posting for US/Canada contest and stay tuned to blog for upcoming Israeli contest.
   
3. The campaign begins on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 6am GMT and ends on Wednesday, December 9, 2009, midnight GMT. Only ‘road goodie’ points munched  during such period shall be eligible.
4. Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prize listed is subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, waze will provide a similar or equal compensation.
5. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of this campaign, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the campaign.

New Feature: ‘Road Goodies’

 Announcing waze’s brand new ‘road goodies’ – cherries, hammers and small gift packages worth extra bonus points!

You’ll find these ‘road goodies’  in locations where the waze has identified map problems, and as you drive around munching them, our system  automatically solve these issues. Here’s the breakdown:  Present – the most rare of the new ‘road goodies’, worth 500 extra points, Hammer – more common on the road and worth 250 bonus points & last but not least, Cherries – arguably the cutest ‘goodie’, pretty common and worth 100 extra points… (Hammer and Present points transposed in the video – oops!)

We think these ‘road goodies’ are a super fun way to help improve the map in your area, and hope you agree. Take a moment to watch the clip we prepared, annoucing ‘road goodies’, below…

Holiday High Points Challenge

In parallel to the launch of this new ‘road goodie’ version, we invite you to participate in a ‘Holiday High Points Challenge’ between November 25-30, just in time for your Thanksgiving driving.

The top three users in the US and Canada who rack up the most points from ‘road goodies’ during this timeframe will receive Amazon gift cards in the amounts of $500, $300 and $200, respectively, to help out with their holiday shopping. Wishing you luck…now get out there and get munchin’!

How to participate

*  Find ‘road goodies ’in areas where the map needs improvement. (Make sure you’ve downloaded the newest waze version from the iPhone Appstore/Android Market or waze.com/download)

*  Munch (drive over) as many goodies as you can between November 25-30.

*  3 users who rack up the most goodie-related points during this time win!

***

The fine print:

1. You must be 18 years of age or older to participate in this campaign.
2. Contest is open to residents of the US and Canada, only.
3. The campaign begins on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 8am EST and ends on Monday, November 30, 2009, midnight PST. Only ‘road goodie’ points munched  during such period shall be eligible.
4. Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prize listed is subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, waze will provide a similar or equal compensation.
5. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of this campaign, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the campaign.

Goblins and monsters and pumpkins, oh my! It’s Halloween time and what better way to celebrate than to offer something sweet to our favorite trick-or-treaters out there? How about a $100 iTunes giftcard and an awesome candy goodiebag? Interested? Well, read on…

How to Participate:

1 - Downloaded waze to your phone – you can do so on our download page.

2 – Enter your Twitter account info by visting waze’s ‘Profile’ section, under ‘Settings” in the app once it’s on your phone. Make sure that the feature is turned to ‘on’.

3 – Send a road report by clicking ‘Report’ on the bottom of the main waze screen and following directions from there. Road reports can be anything you’d like to report from the road – hazards, speed cams, police traps, etc.

4 – Done! Your report will be tweeted automatically to your followers, entering you one time in the contest.

The contest begins immediately and the first winner will be picked from road tweets happening from the time of posting until 4am PST on Thursday morning. Each additional winner will be chosen for the following 24 hour periods – 4am PST on Thursday, October 29 through 4am PST on Friday, October 30, and so on, through 4am PST on Sunday, November 2, 2009.

We will announce the winners on Twitter, so make sure you’re already a follower of @waze.

Things to be aware of:

* You must be 18 years of age or older to enter this contest.

* You can tweet via waze reporting more than once per day but these tweets waze-originated tweets will be eligible for that day only – make sure to tweet again after another 24 hour time period opens.

* Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prize listed is subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, waze will provide a similar or equal compensation.

* Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of this contest, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tempering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the contest. In short, bots or any other kind of automated tweets will be disqualified

*** Good luck and we wish you a fun, safe and spirited Halloween! ***