Launching viral campaigns at San Diego Comic-Con is no longer a surprise, and has become almost expected. Some campaigns have even managed to incorporate participation from those not at Comic-Con, allowing players at home to provide assistance to those on the ground. Showtime, however, has upped the ante with its viral campaign for the hit series Dexter by giving non-Con goers the ability to participate in their own towns. There is a caveat, however. Your town must be one of five major metropolitan areas chosen to participate: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Atlanta.

Whether or not you will be attending Comic-Con, participation requires downloading the SCVNGR application, available for iPhone and Android, in order to view the Dexter-themed Treks challenge. The purpose of the game is to record “kills” by completing the challenges located both at the Convention Center and at nearby locations, and earning limited edition SCVNGR badges that can be redeemed for Dexter merchandise. For players in the other five participating cities, the same game-play applies but with SCVNGR Treks designed for their area.

The six locations are not just independently gathering badges for merchandise, they are also working as a “hive mind” – each completed challenge completed at Comic-Con and the five other cities is recorded as a “kill” on the Dexter Game On website. Once the counter reaches 100,000 kills, exclusive Dexter Season 5 content will be unlocked for all fans to enjoy. Comic-Con attendees can apply “cheek-slash” tattoos handed out at the Showtime booth (#4129) and take pictures of themselves at the various locations on the Trek: each picture uploaded counts as a kill.

Even if you’re not in one of the six locations, you can still play along to some extent if you have a Facebook account. Showtime has created a “Cheek-Slash Yourself” application where a face-slash tattoo can be placed on your Facebook profile photo. Each face-slash uploaded counts as a kill on the counter.

For more details on how to play, visit the Dexter Game On site. The game runs from Wednesday, July 21st to Sunday, July 25th.