A timeless and deceptively simple video game and a global communication platform. These subjects might not seem related, but by playing one, we can empower the other. Listen as we discuss the reasons why Tetris might be the most elegant game design ever and how emojis are just the beginning to making online chat more engaging.

Topics covered: Why Tetris is endlessly replayable, how users “level up” without levels, the effect of the exponential difficulty curve, how Tetris hooks users despite having no onboarding phase, the difference between a function-focused app and a human-focused app, why you can’t copy and paste game mechanics to make an app fun, how to prioritize the right business metrics, the power of the network effect, why you don’t want an app to immediately prompt a user to invite their friends and what to do instead, the importance of creating a wow moment in your experience, how to tell the difference between features that are effective and those that just seem cool.

Follow us on our Socials on:

Random Rewards Twitter: @randomreward

Chris’ Twitter: @chris_tomasso

Sabrina’s Twitter: @useradventure

Octalysis Group Website: octalysisgroup.com

Octalysis Explorers Facebook: facebook.com/groups/octalysis/

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

A board game of deceit and empowering local tourism. These subjects might not seem related, but by playing one, we can learn valuable lessons about the other. Listen as we discuss the hidden reasons this game genre is widely known even among non gamers, and how you can apply this learning to drastically improve a tourism-based business.

Topics covered: What Secret Hitler has in common with Werewolf, what kind of motivations makes people want to replay games, how a board game can have rising tension and an emotional arc, what your top business metric tells you about your product, how to apply core drives to a specific business case, why you need to know Desired Actions before you can improve your business, how to motivate people to come back to your app monthly, how to determine what powers to give your users, what kind of features to have in the Endgame Phase of an app, how do you decide what type of rewards your business should give, what to do with cheaters, etc.

Follow us on our Socials on:

Random Rewards Twitter: @randomreward

Chris’ Twitter: @chris_tomasso

Sabrina’s Twitter: @useradventure

Octalysis Group Website: octalysisgroup.com

Octalysis Explorers Facebook: facebook.com/groups/octalysis/

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

One of the most innovative puzzle games ever made and selling shoes. They might not seem related, but playing one can empower the other. Listen as we discuss the hidden reasons Chris spent hours playing as a virtual rabbit moving blocks across a screen and how these reasons can apply to designing an e-commerce app.

Topics covered: Deconstructing game rules, creating moments of epiphany, why solving puzzles is addictive, how NOT to gamify an e-commerce app, why a designer would want to motivate people with a rolling reward, how to motivate users to interact with an app every day even if they aren’t buying every day, why it’s harder to facilitate intrinsic motivation (but you totally should), how to create highly scarce rewards without demotivating users, and how to create an army of amatuer shoe designers.

Follow us on our Socials on:

Random Rewards Twitter: @randomreward

Chris’ Twitter: @chris_tomasso

Sabrina’s Twitter: @useradventure

Octalysis Group Website: octalysisgroup.com

Octalysis Explorers Facebook: facebook.com/groups/octalysis/

The Sims and driving apps. They might not seem related, but playing one can empower the other. Listen as we discuss the hidden reasons we can’t stop playing the Sims and how they can apply to non-game context of a virtual driving app.

Topics covered: Your ideal virtual self vs. the worst case scenario, consistent and random rules, how scarcity powers addictive behavior, the impact of connecting your real life to your virtual life, how to gamify driving while being safe, using avatars to promote feelings of creativity and ownership, motivating different types of drivers, how to employ rewards and social gifting to drive more engagement.

Follow us on our Socials on:

Random Rewards Twitter: @randomreward

Chris’ Twitter: @chris_tomasso

Sabrina’s Twitter: @useradventure

Octalysis Group Website: octalysisgroup.com

Octalysis Explorers Facebook: facebook.com/groups/octalysis/

Welcome to our brand new podcast RANDOM REWARDS, the podcast where we discuss how to make business more fun with Gamification hosted by Octalysis Masters Chris Tomasso and Sabrina Bruehwiler.