Screens are placed above employees in a laundry facility in Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture. When workers load sheets and towels into the machines, a timed game session starts, according to Dexerto and Automation Media, citing a report from TBS News Dig.

During the session, the employee’s avatar helps develop the village in auto-mode: farming, constructing buildings, harvesting crops, and mining resources. Once the session ends, the character completes the current task. As a result, bonuses can drop — such as “golden houses” or “glowing objects.”

The game was developed by Real Focus Synergy, an Osaka-based firm specializing in enterprise automation. This is its first experiment of this kind, designed to make routine work less monotonous. For advice, the company reached out to Epic Games, which shared insights that were incorporated into the project.

According to the developer, employee productivity has increased by an average of 8%. For some, it jumped by 18% in the first week. Another benefit is that the game tracks the number of offline tasks completed. Workers themselves note that with the game, shifts feel like they pass much faster.