Rixty lets social gamers turn spare change into Facebook Credits

If you've been wondering what to do with that overflowing bucket of change in the corner of your bedroom --- here's an idea. Turn that change into Facebook Credits, which can be used to buy rare items in FarmVille and a slew of other social games.

Today, Rixty and Facebook announced a partnership that will allow you to do just that. Take your spare change to a Coinstar machine (click HERE to find one near you), and turn in your change. After you're done, you'll get a receipt with a special code, which can be redeemed on Facebook for Facebook Credits.

"Rixty is excited to be one of the few companies working with Facebook to give social network users new alternative ways to get Facebook Credits that don't require a credit card or bank account," Rixty CEO Ted Sorum says on the company's blog.

Rixty already has similar deals in place with companies that make free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, including Perfect World, Aria Games, Gameforge and Bigpoint. This also expands the Facebook Credits' reach, which we have seen growing over the past few months. This week, for instance, Crowdstar announced that its games -Happy Pets, Happy Island, etc -- would exclusively use Facebook Credits.

Sorum tells Games.com that there is 10 billion dollars in the US that's "idle," i.e. hanging out in drawers, jars, etc, and that Coinstar has sorted 3 billion dollars through its network. That's a whole lotta coins. "Rixty worked through Coinstar to take advantage of that... to take up the slack as credit usage has declined with the US economic crisis," he says.

The Rixty and Facebook partnership will be good news to teens and other non-credit card holders who want to use real-life coins (and cash) to enhance their social gaming experiences. Then again, it might be better to put that change to use in a savings account or as a downpayment on a summer vacation. Just sayin.'