Foursquare’s gonna have to step its game up.

Unwisely-spelled geo-tagging doodad SCVNGR (I was pronouncing it ‘sick vinegar’ in my head all morning before realizing I’m an idiot, and that this isn’t a catchy name for a service) is looking to bust into the big leagues, and with four million dollars and Google’s blessing, it’s really not a question anymore of how, but when.

SCVNGR is kind of neat, because it takes Foursquare’s ambitious ‘get out of your living room’ concept and makes it more legit. Upon posting about Foursquare last month, a Techi reader pointed out to me that it actually isn’t necessary to leave your home to ‘check in’ to locations, allowing you to cheat comfortably, and continue to be a lazy ne’er-do-well. SCVNGR is different in that it actually requires that a user participate in location-based, user-created challenges for points upon checking into a location – say, for instance, snapping particular photographic proof. Actually, all things considered, photographic proof is probably the crux of every challenge. Still, you get the picture (so to speak), and it’s a great, innovative idea, perhaps even innovative enough to ascend the ever-crowding geo-tagging market as crowned king.

No word yet on the inevitable abuse of creating R-rated 18+ challenges.