The first Denver-specific Foursquare badge is live with the Westword badge

Feels good, right?

Foursquare, the location-based check-in app for your smartphone that allows that guy down the hall to be the "Mayor" of his office (congrats, buddy), in addition to dozens of other geo-location-based bells and whistles, released today the first "Badge" for Denver.

Badges, of course, are what Foursquare's more than 10 million worldwide users earn when they check in at locations. More on that here.

But up until a few days ago, the Mile High City didn't have its own badge. The "Westword Badge" (hey, that's us!) experienced a soft launch late Wednesday night and it's officially on the books today. With this badge comes a local element to the app's game-like platform that so drives users to check-in often in an attempt to hit the top of the Foursquare leaderboard among their friends.

So, fellow Foursquare addicts: How do you earn this excellent (If we say so ourselves?) badge? Just check in at spots around Denver and it will pop up if you've checked in at places we dig. Here's the Westword on Foursquare profile to give you a head start.

[ Follow the author on Foursquare: foursquare.com/nicklucchesi ]