Imagine being able to point your phone’s camera down a normal city street and see a video game type environment complete with puzzle boxes and coins up for grabs. That’s the reality that a San Diego based start-up, called Cachetown, hopes to bring to fruition.

The positive spin here is that once you’ve created interactive games for people to play, you can add in an advertising angle and use this “augmented reality” to offer deals and promotions for stores on the other side of a user’s lens. Maybe you point your phone at a restaraunt and see an opportunity to get half off your next meal.

Tom Cheredar has more at this story at VentureBeat, including a commercial produced by Cachetown. The most interesting thing about the video is that it even seems to realize the one, looming drawback to this technology. No one wants to walk around the streets looking at their phone. Whether it’s a reluctance to look like a tourist, holding up your phone in your own town or a fear of walking into a bevy of obstacles, most people would likely be reluctant to fully embrace Cachetown’s current model.

The idea is sound, however, and could have some interesting implementations coming very soon.