AMEX and Zynga team up for themed card, replace cash back with FarmVille rewards

Have you ever judged a friend's financial savvy based on the rewards yield of the cards in their wallet? Now you won't have a choice. For those of you that abhor free flights, detest comped hotel rooms and net severe displeasure from earning cash back, AMEX may finally have your plastic match. It's called the Zynga Serve Rewards card -- yes, the same Zynga that's behind time-sink cash cows like FarmVille, CityVille and CastleVille (?!) -- and it enables you to accrue "Zynga Farm Cash," which as you might imagine provides no financial gratification in the physical world.

"FarmVille players now have the ability to plant an interactive Serve Money Tree in their Farms which will give them the ability to level up in game and earn Zynga Farm Cash for virtual awards redemption." We can't make this stuff up. The co-branded prepaid card is tied to a US currency-filled bank account, debit or credit card, and rewards will be assigned for your first five purchases of $25 -- at launch, with further incentives to come later this year. On top of that limitation, there's also a fairly outrageous fee structure (which effectively translates to 2.9 percent of each transaction), detailed in full at the source link. Well, at least the card is colorful. Go tell that "Serve Money Tree" that water's on the way!

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AMEX and Zynga team up for themed card, replace cash back with FarmVille rewards originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.