On Tuesday, Marta opens the task list for her six-person agency. She sees four overdue matters, although two are already done - nobody changed their status. Instead of posting a "who closed how many" table, she takes a look at Open Space in Task Manager: gamification at work that rewards closing tasks, but isn't used to rate people.
Gamification at work doesn't have to mean a leaderboard
Gamification at work can reward finishing a task without creating an employee rating. That's how Open Space works: a team game built into Task Manager that awards points during normal work and doesn't need a separate table.
Above all, Marta needs to know which matters are pending. Her task list already has the Due, Due today and Overdue tiles - each shows a count and works as a filter. If you want to organise a similar list, start with keeping track of task deadlines in a team, not with comparing employees.
Kasia finishes a project on Wednesday, sets the status to "Done" and gets a small signal that she's closed the matter. She doesn't have to write the result down in a spreadsheet afterwards. This distinction is especially useful when, in one team, someone closes many short tasks while someone else spends a week on one bigger matter. A points ranking doesn't reflect the full picture of their work.
What exactly does Open Space award points for?
Open Space awards OP for closed tasks, the first activity of the day, and a streak of working days. You get paperclips for closing a scoring task and for levelling up.
| Event | Reward |
|---|---|
| Closing a scoring task (status "Done") | +10 OP and +5 paperclips |
| Closing it before the due date | an additional +5 PB |
| First activity of the day | +2 PB |
| Every 5 consecutive working days with activity | +10 PB |
| Reaching the next level | +10 paperclips |
OP, meaning Office Points, build up the character's level and can't be spent. Level 2 starts at 100 OP, and level 3 at 250 OP. Paperclips are intended for character and desk decorations, but the shop won't appear until the next stage of the game. For now, you just collect them.
Let's count Kasia's week. Between Monday and Friday she closes six scoring tasks, four of them before the due date: from the tasks she gets 60 OP plus a 20 OP bonus, 80 OP in total. If she's active for five consecutive working days, that adds 10 OP for the first activities of those days (2 OP per day) plus another 10 OP streak bonus - the programme adds it every fifth day of the streak, and in five consecutive working days there's always one such day. The result, however, doesn't say whether her tasks were harder than Marek's.
You'll find your OP, paperclips, level, day streak and "Recent points" history on the player card. It's in Settings, under the Profile tab, in the "Open Space - Your character" section. The Office Ranking is there too: the top three and your position.
Why won't your own task without a due date boost your score?
Your own task without a due date doesn't score points. Open Space awards points for a task that has a due date or that comes from someone else: it was created by another person, or other people are assigned to it.
On Thursday, Marek could split one matter into five of his own tasks without due dates. Closing them alone won't increase his score. For tasks that do meet the scoring condition, further limits apply: each one only gives points once, so reopening and closing it again won't add anything. The daily limit for points from tasks is 100 OP.
This isn't a promise that no one will ever break work down into pieces that are too small. If tasks are meant to reflect real work, you still need to describe them sensibly and split them between people. The game won't replace that conversation. On the other hand, it doesn't add a penalty for delay either: points can't be lost, and an overdue task doesn't take anything away.
Does a daily streak force the team to work on weekends?
A weekend doesn't break a streak in Open Space. Activity on Friday followed by activity on Monday can count as a continuous run of working days.
The first activity of the day gives 2 OP. Every five consecutive working days with activity adds 10 OP. When Kasia comes back after the weekend and opens a task on Monday, she doesn't start counting from scratch just because she didn't check in on Saturday and Sunday.
The activity streak and the task's due date are two different things. A task with no time set stays marked as "today" for the whole day and only turns red the following day. You don't need to add 4pm to every task just to understand its state. The task list and its statuses are there to keep work on track; the streak in the game simply records active working days.
Points appear while you work, not at a results meeting
Open Space reports your wins through the Notification Centre, under the Open Space category. Closing a task ahead of its due date brings a message about 15 BP and 5 paperclips; separate notifications appear for streak bonuses and level-ups.
The exception is "a day in the office". Its 2 BP are credited without a notification, but you'll see them in the history on the player card. If the app was closed, a notification about the points you missed will appear the next time you open it.
So Marta doesn't need to announce on Friday who scored the most points. Kasia sees the information alongside her work. If she doesn't want these messages, she can turn off the Open Space category in Settings, under the Profile tab, in the In-app Notifications section. You can read more about the Island itself and its settings in the Notification Centre guide.
Who sees your points if you don't want to be in the ranking?
You can hide yourself in the Office Ranking and still earn points. Once you turn on "Hide me in the ranking", only you will see them, and the ranking will only show people who've earned points and haven't chosen to hide.
On Monday, Marek might decide he doesn't want to compare his work with Kasia's, even though he likes keeping an eye on his own progress. After hiding himself in the ranking, he can still see his own BP and doesn't need to opt out of the game altogether. He changes the setting on his player card, and points keep being earned.
Open Space isn't a performance report for a manager. The ability to hide in the ranking and the absence of negative points are reasons not to use it as a basis for judging people. If, as a manager, you're after the number of overdue matters, go back to the task list's tiles and filters. They'll tell you what needs attention, without putting a value on an employee based on points from a game.
How to get started without changing the way your whole team works?
Start with a handful of real tasks that have due dates or are assigned between people. Open Space awards points for exactly this kind of task, so you don't need to create separate items just for the game.
On Tuesday, Marta checks with the team which tasks have no due date even though everyone knows when they're meant to finish. She adds a due date wherever it makes sense. On the List, Board and in the Calendar, red means a task is overdue, blue means due today, green means on track, and grey means no due date or closed. Completed and cancelled tasks aren't counted as overdue.
On Wednesday, Kasia finishes her part of the work and, with a single click from the list, sets the status to "Done" without opening the task. That's enough for the item to stop looking open; if it meets the game's conditions and hasn't scored points before, Open Space will award them. You'll find a full description of the card and the rules in the Open Space resources.
The game might not suit every team. An administrator can turn it off for everyone in Settings, under the Advanced section, with the "Open Space game" toggle. The card then disappears and points stop accruing; points already earned aren't lost and will return once it's switched back on. There's a second limitation too: you can't spend paperclips in the shop today, as that belongs to the next stage of the game.
Do you pay separately for Open Space?
No, you don't pay separately for Open Space. The game is built into Task Manager, and all you need to use it is tasks - you don't need the Pro variant or AI. Task Manager also works without AI, so you don't need to set up the AI Assistant to collect points.
The Standard variant in the Starter plan for up to 8 people costs PLN 690, and in the Classic plan for up to 20 people - PLN 1,490. The licence is perpetual: you pay once for the number of seats, with no per-user subscription. It includes 12 months of updates; renewing afterwards is optional. Before deciding, you can check the rules of the perpetual licence.
You install Task Manager on your own server, and the app's data stays on your hosting. This also applies to game data such as points and the ranking. You don't need to keep a second record of results: tasks and team communication live in the same program as Open Space.
Tomorrow, pick three tasks from the list whose due date the team knows but nobody has entered yet, and fill them in. Then agree on one simple rule: a finished task gets its status changed, instead of being left looking overdue. If this way of working suits your company, try the game and the task list in Demo.
Frequently asked questions
Will my manager see how many points I've collected?
Once you turn on "Hide me from the ranking", only you can see your points. Without this setting, the Office Ranking shows the top three and your position; Open Space is not an employee performance report.
Can you lose points for a late task?
No, you can't lose points in Open Space. An overdue task doesn't deduct OP or paperclips.
Does gamification at work let you rack up points with your own tasks?
Your own task without a due date doesn't score points. A task must have a due date or come from someone else; it only counts once, and the daily limit for points from tasks is 100 OP.
What can paperclips be spent on right now?
At the moment, you can't spend paperclips yet. A shop with character and desk decorations is planned for the next stage of the game.
How do you turn off Open Space for the whole company?
The administrator turns the game off with the "Open Space Game" switch in Settings, in the Advanced section. Points then stop accruing, and the points already collected will return once the game is switched back on.
Sources
- Task Manager, Open Space - points and levels - https://taskmanager.pl/funkcje/open-space (accessed: 9 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Resources: Open Space - https://taskmanager.pl/materialy/open-space (accessed: 9 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Tasks - statuses, due dates and filters - https://taskmanager.pl/funkcje/zadania (accessed: 9 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Notification Centre - https://taskmanager.pl/materialy/centrum-powiadomien (accessed: 9 October 2026).
- Task Manager, Pricing and plans - https://taskmanager.pl/#pricing (accessed: 9 October 2026).
The Task Manager Team - we write about teamwork, AI in business and keeping tasks organised, using examples from Task Manager, software installed on your own server. Task Manager has been developed by Blue Creation Group (Piotr Łącz) since 2013 and is used by organisations including Neonet, the Military University of Technology and Polpharma - read customer reviews. We check our articles against the user guide and the latest version of the software.
