Canadian Startup Launches at 500 Startups Demo Day

500 Startups Demo Day(s) was this week and the latest class of companies incubated by Dave McClure includes a Canadian startup - HighScore House.

HighScore House is an online game that is powered by the real-world. You and your children decide on a set of tasks, like walking the dog or mowing the lawn, and rewards, like an extra hour of TV time or a new game. Then as your children complete the tasks, they earn points that they can redeem for the rewards.

Co-founded by Kyle Seaman and Theo Ephraim HighScore House is a product of Montreal's Year One Labs. Since leaving the labs they have raised an angel round that includes Canadians Jason Bailey (check out his thoughts on angel investing) and Clarity.fm's Dan Martell.

TechCrunch's Anthony Ha attended Demo Day this week and had this to report:

So what’s the company doing? Games and rewards. HighScore House offers a website and an iPad app where children can track and earn points for their chores. Those points, in turn, can be redeemed for rewards — Seaman says the most popular rewards involve something that makes the child feel special, like ice cream for breakfast or riding shotgun in the car.

Of course, you don’t need a website to reward your kids for chores. But HighScore High should make it a lot easier. Even though the families set up the chores and rewards, the site makes suggestions so you don’t have to think of things from scratch or wonder, “Should this be worth 100 points or 1,000 points?” It also makes it easier for kids to understand the expectations and to track their progress. Ultimately, Seaman says he wants to do for families what Zynga did for social networks and gaming.