Feeling buried by email? Scared to wake up in the morning and see how much that unread email number has grown? Dreaming of the day you can reach INBOX ZERO? I can’t promise the solution to all of these things, but I’ve found a way to make email a bit more fun. It’s called The Email Game.

The Email Game is literally a game that syncs with your Gmail or Google Apps accounts (because why would you use any other type of email?) to turn that inbox mess into an enjoyable game. Through a process of action steps, The Email Game encourages action on your inbox instead of just mindless skips and ignores. By either replying, forwarding, deleting, or boomeranging (save for later) you are rewarded points on your inbox. If you simply skip an email, you lose points. 

Screenshot from emailga.me

The Email Game was created by a company called Baydin, who states on their website, “You should feel good about your inbox during the workday, using it as a tool to help you stay on top of things and remind you about what’s coming up. Email should be a way for you to keep up with people who are important to you and a way to exchange information you care about.”

Baydin’s website for The Email Game lists the following benefits:

Screenshot from emailga.me

I have to admit, my first few run throughs on my inbox with The Email Game have been great. I have to take the negative points on some more serious emails that require attention, but for moving through quick to do’s and forwarding emails to others on my team that are responsible has been a positive. Did I mention that you get a score every time you play The Email Game and can then see how your score fares on the scoreboard? 

So everyone go take a spin through The Email Game, thank me when you achieve INBOX ZERO (which will only last about seven minutes), and then post your score below in the comments. Let’s find out who is the best emailer on the Silicon Prairie.