Play while you work

Oct 9, 2007

Here we've gathered together the very best examples of passive gaming. Some are designed as motivators, turning thankless tasks into contests. Others are designed to turn your monotonous daily work routine into something beautiful. Some are simply designed to take something boring and make it fun. All of them are designed to inject a little more play into your life.

Chore Wars www.chorewars.com

You form a game with your fellow housemates, or your spouse or your kids, and then you keep track of the household jobs everyone performs. A dungeon master decides how much each chore is worth: washing the dishes, 20xp; taking the bins out, 15xp; ordering take-out, 100xp. Everyone records the chores they've completed, and their current score. Players level-up every 200xp, while a weekly score table lets everyone see who isn't pulling their weight.