work/play

table of contents

preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

I ALWAYS FLOSS & OTHER TINY LIES:

a game for brushing teeth to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY:

a game for making the bed to . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

QUARANTINE:
a game for taking a shower to . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ALL IN THE TIMING:

a game for getting out of your car and
coming inside to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF TELLERIOUS IV:

a game for getting dressed to . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

ABOUT LAST NIGHT:

a game for getting out of bed to . . . . . . . . . . . 8

FOR YEARS I’VE WAITED:

a game for washing dishes to . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

THE FINALIST:
a game for eating to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

SYMBIOTE:
a game for hydrating to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

WITH REGARDS TO MOTHER JONES:

a game for folding laundry to . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
 ...2...

preface
I never consented to growing up. But, like very many people, I had
to do it. A lot of ridicule is assigned to people of my generation for
our seeming struggles with “adulting,” but it seems to me that
most people I know struggle far less with the knowledge
surrounding tasks—we are the Google generation, we’ll find
answers—than we do with the ability to convince ourselves these
tasks have meaning while staring down the barrel of fifty more
years of sameness.

Executive dysfunction is a pervasive and insidious condition, hard

to admit to and even harder to defeat. It’s couched in
embarrassment, guilt, shame, and resentment, and it feeds on
itself until a vicious cycle is born. I don’t pretend these 10 games
are a solution to that, any more than I think that essential oils are a
substitute for therapy. What I hope WORK/PLAY becomes for you
is not a cure but a tool: a device to recontextualize certain tasks in
a way that absolves the player of personal shame and offers stakes
and consequences in a more palatable package. Drinking water
might not ever be fun, but it doesn’t have to be miserable.

Each game in this collection is designed to be instantly playable,

inherently flexible, and infinitely repeatable. A highly informal twitter
forum identified these 10 tasks as the hardest to manage on a daily
basis, and I endeavored to find approaches to each one that felt
unique, engaging, and fresh while also fitting onto a phone screen.
I hope I succeeded on a level that’s helpful to you!

- alex flanigan
 ...3...

I ALWAYS FLOSS & OTHER

TINY LIES:
a game for brushing teeth to

You are in love with your dentist. And somehow you never
realized it until now, when you looked at the appointment
reminder card and then at the toothbrush you haven’t
touched in a shameful number of days. You can lie about
your feelings or you can lie about your teeth, but they’re not
going to believe both. Maybe there’s still time.

Put toothpaste on your toothbrush. Decide how long you’ve

known your dentist. What is their name? What do they look
like?

Pick a song at least 2 minutes in length. Press play the

moment you start brushing. The song informs your love
story. Brush til the very end, and find out what happens.

 ...4...

FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY:

a game for making the bed to

You are a secret agent with a license to kill. You’ve done

many sordid things in the name of national security. Last
night, in this bed, you did a few more. Was it murder?
Adultery? Have you booby trapped the mattress? Did you
counterfeit large sums of foreign currency?

Whatever it was, you have twenty minutes to restore order

and escape. If you can make the bed pristine again, no
one will know the difference. Anything less could have dire
consequences.

 ...5...

QUARANTINE:
a game for taking a shower to

You are the sole survivor of a deep space biohazard.

Somehow, against all odds, you’ve been retrieved and
returned home to a stable quarantine chamber. But you
know something nobody else does. And before you can
tell them, you have to be decontaminated.

Thankfully, in this environment, the bioagent breaks

down with simple detergents, so a shower will suffice.
But time is running out.

The smell of your shampoo reminds you of what you

were doing just before disaster struck. What was it?

Your body was instrumental in your safe escape. Take a

moment to appreciate and thank it as you remember the
crisis.

The song stuck in your head is somehow related to the

secret you know about the biohazard. What is it?

As soon as you figure this out, the game is over and you
may exit the shower.

 ...6...

ALL IN THE TIMING:

a game for getting out of the car and coming
inside to

You’re an integral part of a highly intricate scheme relying on

a number of skilled individuals and extremely precise timing.
It could be a heist, a sting, a rescue mission—whatever it is,
you’re here because you’re the best at what you do.

And you’re five minutes early.

You cannot go inside yet. To do so would be to compromise

the mission entirely. But you must go inside in exactly five
minutes. Look at the clock. Make a mental note or set a timer
if you have to. You will not leave the car for five minutes, and
after five minutes you will have no choice.

Spend that five minutes preparing yourself. Run over the

scheme in your mind. Who’s waiting inside for you? What
part do you play? Where are you coming from? Are you
leaving the business after this mission? What’s at stake here?

Then wait. And go.



 ...7...



THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS OF
TELLERIOUS IV:
a game for getting dressed to

You have awakened in the year 3090, astonished to find

yourself the sole remnant of a bygone time. The people
of the future, many of them nonhuman, are delighted to
find a living link to history, and they have so many
questions, but not what you’d expect. Turns out that
tremendously detailed records have already been
discovered for nearly every aspect of millennial life, save
one: what did you wear?

The anthropologists of Tellerious IV have kindly

reconstructed a typical closet for your perusal, but they
are getting politely impatient. How do buttons work?,
they demand. Did you wear your pants like this...or like
this?

All you have to do is construct and model a rough

approximation of a human outfit. Colors, patterns,
materials do not matter, but it is imperative that they
document the process of implementation, so your
pajamas simply won’t do. History is counting on you.

 ...8...

ABOUT LAST NIGHT:

a game for getting out of bed to

You don’t remember anything about last night. Your clues lie in your
symptoms and your surroundings. Figuring it out is going to take some doing.

STEP 1: Close your eyes. Let your body feel how it’s feeling. Are you
exhausted? Restless? Achy? For every symptom you examine, assign one
detail.

Ex: My eyes are sore. I spent hours decoding vital documents.

I have a headache. I was slammed to the ground by a dinosaur.

STEP 2: Open your eyes. This is not your room. Where are you? Assign a
location.

Ex: I am in a dingy cell. I am in a well-appointed guest room. I am in a fancy

penthouse.

STEP 3: Sit up. You can’t stay here. Why? For every item at your bedside,
assign a threat.

Ex: A ring. This belongs to my arch nemesis.

A glass of water. This might be poisoned.

A crumpled up shirt. I have to find my friend.

STEP 4: Stand up. For every minute you spend out of bed, assign a tactical
advantage. Once you have enough advantages to overcome the threats, you
win!

Ex: I have the antidote in my pocket. I know nobody will be home for an hour. I
can call a getaway driver to get me out of here. I am trained in hand to hand
combat.



 ...9...



FOR YEARS I’VE WAITED:

a game for washing dishes to

Years ago, you were horribly wronged. Since then you

have dreamt of nothing but revenge, and today you shall
have it. An elaborate scheme has allowed you to toil for
six long years in the castle kitchens, washing dishes
while your nemesis resides in luxury and unearned
status.

And you have waited. With a pocket full of poison and a

heart full of anger. Today your chance draws near. As
soon as you finish this last round of dishes, you will
climb the back stairs and have your moment.

Your success is guaranteed. You don’t care what

happens after that moment, but first you have to get
there. And these dishes won’t wash themselves. You will,
one at a time, building up the story of your past as you
go.

 . . . 10 . . .



THE FINALIST:
a game for eating to

You are a fan-favorite contestant on KITCHEN QUEST,

the most popular culinary reality show of the Eta
Quadrant. And you’ve just been beamed into the surprise
challenge of the final episode: given nothing but the
meager offerings of a standard 21st century kitchen, you
must somehow construct something edible to present to
the judges, and consume your dish to prove its
palatability.

Victory is so very close. The eyes of a dozen colonies are

on you. And as an Etazed, you have no hangups about
combining any of the strange and unfamiliar ingredients
in this arena. You just have to come up with something—
anything—to present at the end of 45 minutes. Set a
timer and begin your kitchen quest!
 . . . 11 . . .



SYMBIOTE:
a game for hydrating to

You are an average joe. Or you were, until something strange

happened last night. The details are blurry--a dark alleyway, an
unusual material, an inexplicable encounter. Whatever
happened, and you’re not sure exactly what that is, you’re now
sharing your body with something--or someone--else.
Someone very, very thirsty.

The good news is, your new friend grants you remarkable
superpowers! The bad news is, they only work if you drink a
glass of water every hour. Miss an hour, and the symbiote stops
functioning. But if you get a few more glasses in, you’ll start to
notice remarkable changes. Heightened senses, increased
intelligence, faster reflexes--just to name a few.

Keep track of how many hours you get a drink in over the
course of the day. Try over subsequent days to make it to 10:

0 hours - your symbiote is dead. Start over tomorrow.

1-3 hours - Your symbiote is stable. No change.

4-6 hours - Your symbiote grows stronger! +1 level.

7+ hours - Your symbiote is thriving! +2 level.

| - - - - | - - - - |

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

 . . . 12 . . .

WITH REGARDS TO MOTHER

JONES:
a game for folding laundry to

You are a union instigator. You currently maintain careful

anonymity in your position at a piece goods garment
factory, while also secretly using certain orders to
communicate with your comrades in other labor centers
across the state. By concealing words in individual
garments, you’ve constructed a number of important
messages in the name of the working class. You’re not done
yet.

Think of a secret message. One sentence is best. Longer

sentences will encourage more laundry folded, while shorter
sentences will be easier to complete.

Ex. Tensions are high.

The supervisor is cracking down harder.
We have them right where we want them.

Begin folding laundry. As you do, visualize a spot on each

garment to conceal one word. When you have folded
enough garments to construct your entire sentence, put
them away to “ship” them to your comrades. Try to
complete as many messages as you can.