20+ Best Time Management Games & Activities for 2024

Stumbling upon this text means one thing — you’re done with online gurus and time management guides on how to be more productive.

To be fair, there are a number of time management techniques that can help you master your schedule and become the most efficient version of yourself. But they’re not always fun, aren’t they?

Introducing time management games — a quick, fun, and effective way to bond with colleagues and master the skill of finishing work on time.

Let’s dig in and find out more about:

• Online Windows games, 
• Nintendo Switch games, and
• Offline time management activities.

• SciTechDaily research shows that gamers have enhanced brain activity and better decision-making skills compared to non-gamers.
• Playing time management games improves reflexes and reaction time, which are some of the crucial factors of managing time in real life.
• Time management games let you strategize, plan, and develop problem-solving skills that you can apply in real life situations.
• Playing slow-paced and building games helps you improve resource and time management skills in real life.

Online Windows games

Now it is time to stop talking about having fun and learn more about the exact games you can try.

There are various time management games you can download and play online on your PC. 

You can play them in single-player or multiplayer mode — depending on the game and game type. 

The following list contains some classic games in the time management genre whose popularity grew in the PC community. Stick around and find out more about them! 

Diner Dash Adventures

Game overview:

Diner Dash Adventures may not have started the time management genre, but it remains one of the more popular examples.

In this game, you play Flo, the main character from the previous installment Diner Dash. Flo returns to DinerTown, her hometown, to make delicious food, serve her customers, and stop Mr. Big and bring back DinerTown’s former glory.

Diner Dash Gameplay:

Essentially, you’ll be performing tasks around your restaurant:

• As customers arrive at the restaurant, you drag and drop them to their tables.
• You guide Flo to take their orders, put the orders to the “service hatch,” and once the chef is done preparing the meal, you deliver the food to the table.
• Once the customers are finished eating, you prepare and give them the check, and you have to clear the tables before new customers arrive.
• You’ll see that the customers have a series of hearts that show their mood — the longer they wait the more hearts they lose, and when they’re out of hearts, they leave the restaurant and you lose points.

In all tasks, accuracy and speed are key — you earn points for all successful tasks, and if you perform the same set of tasks fast, you get combo bonuses. 

You also get color bonuses if you manage to match customers and seats by color.

If you earn enough money from checks and tips in one level, you progress to the next, and once you progress enough, you’ll be able to open up new restaurants and expand the game setting.

You can choose between two game modes:

• Career mode — you follow and help Flo’s career, and
• Endless shift — you must last as long as possible on a single frantic level.

BlueStacks rating: ★★★★ 3.9/5

Platforms: Web, PC, MacOS, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, Android, Xbox 360

Player Mode: Single-player

Elvenar

Game overview:

The Elvenar game involves the following mechanics:

• Choose a faction (Humans or Elves), 
• Build and manage a city, and 
• Discover the mythical fantasy world you’re in.

Elvenar Gameplay:

You’ll play as the ruler of your new city, so you’ll need to make sure your citizens prosper through strong leadership and effective resource management. This is how you will accomplish that:

• You start with a small village and later upgrade its factories, worker huts, other buildings, and facilities until you make a kingdom, and
• You research new technologies and go on quests to find new relics and materials that will help you boost production and productivity.

Apart from that, you’ll also have the chance to test out and improve your organizational and problem-solving skills on the battlefield, once enemy factions attack.

MMOs rating: ★★★★★★★★ 8.4/10

Platforms: Web, PC, Android, iOS

Player mode: Single-player, Multiplayer

Cities: Skylines II

Game overview:

The terms “project management” and “resource allocation” don’t sound intriguing on their own, but when you add interesting gameplay and stunning visuals to them, you get Cities: Skylines II.

Cities: Skylines II Gameplay:

Cities: Skylines II is a city simulation game that lets the player build a city and practice their time and project management skills in the process.

Similar to the original game, the player gets a starting space made up of tiles to build their city on. 

As they progress, the player unlocks the ability to purchase additional tiles, materials, and features that let them advance their civilization and expand their city.

Also, Skylines II’s versatile gameplay expands upon the mechanics of the original game in terms of letting the player experience the advanced economic and transportation systems, as well as customization (modding) features.

Suffice to say, the world building experience is phenomenal and slow-tempo progression is what brings most players joy when playing this game.

Steam rating: ★★★★★★ 6/10

Platforms: Windows

Player mode: Single player

Planet Coaster

Game overview:

Similar to Cities: Skylines II, Planet Coaster tests the players when it comes to their construction and management skills. The goal is simple — build different theme park rides and roller-coasters.

Planet Coaster Classic Gameplay:

Within the game, you’ll get to:

• Create your personal avatar,
• Create new roller coasters based on pre-made designs or intuitive building tools,
• Design your park in such a way that you offer an array of different rides, as well as shops, meal and beverage stalls, in order to keep your customers happy, and
• Organize your resources and staff well, exercise new marketing strategies, and keep an eye on finances, to help your park survive and thrive in the rollercoaster business.

And, you’ll be able to do all that in a variety of different challenging environments and 95 classic park scenarios.

Steam Rating: ★★★★★★★★★ 9/10

Platforms: Playstation 5 and 4, Windows, MacOS, Xbox One

Player mode: Single-player

Sally’s Spa

Game overview:

You play Sally, whose job is to arrange saunas, manicures, baths, and massages for her clients in order to maintain and expand her business.

Sally’s Spa Gameplay:

This game promises a relaxing rush while you:

• Move customers to the right station (Spa, Sauna, Massage Table, etc.), once they arrive,
• Hire employees and choose between 65 items (such as body baths and massage oils) you can buy to help your business survive and grow, and
• Deal with various client personalities, such as fashionistas, brides, and couples, and make sure they’re all satisfied with your services.

The game offers 50 levels and 10 different locations, as well as many mini-games you can play to spice things up, such as mud masks, hot stones, bath bombs, and more.

App Store rating: ★★★★★ 4.5/5

Platforms: Web, PC, Android, iOS

Player mode: Single-player, Multiplayer

Hotel Dash: Suite Success

Game overview:

Hotel Dash: Suite Success has Flo (of Diner Dash fame) and her friend Quinn renovate 5 worn out hotels for their clients.

Hotel Dash: Suite Success Gameplay:

Within this game, you’ll need to handle a number of typical hotel management tasks:

• Help your customers settle in the hotel and make sure they get their requested meals and other unique services before they lose their patience,
• Tend to your customers to keep them happy — happy customers give higher tips, and
• Buy more upgrades and grow your business as you earn more money.

Just to make sure you don’t feel too comfortable within the game, you’ll also often need to deal with a mysterious woman who wants to sabotage all your efforts — and find out who she is.

Steam rating: ★★★★★★★ 7/10

Platforms: Web, PC, Android, iOS

Player Mode: Single-Player

Theme Hotel

Game overview:

Theme Hotel is another great hotel-themed time management game that expects you to act as a capable manager and run everyday operations to keep your customers happy and your staff productive.

Theme Hotel Gameplay:

Your main objective is to build and maintain a 5-star hotel from scratch, which is a gradual but rewarding process in this 2D game. In Theme Hotel, you can also:

• Scroll the build menu to choose rooms and organize them in your hotel,
• Unlock different types of rooms, as you level up,
• Hire people from the staff menu to acquire people who’ll provide various services,
• Add additional fun activities for your guests to enjoy, from gyms to bowling alleys, and
• Keep an eye on finances to plan the future of your hotel based on what your customers expect.

At any time, you’ll have useful information about your business and the tools you have at your disposal at the bottom of the screen, so consult them when needed.

SilverGames Rating: ★★★★ 4.1/5

Platforms: Web, PC 

Player mode: Single-player

Farm Frenzy 3

Game overview:

Farm Frenzy 3 is another installment in the farming simulation genre with a time management twist that puts you in the shoes of a real farmer who has to manage the typical string of tasks around a farm.

Farm Frenzy 3 Gameplay:

Across as much as 45 levels, you’ll get to experience a wide variety of farming tasks, starting from the simple ones to the more complex endeavors. Specifically, you’ll get a chance to:

• Take care of 30 different animals,
• Tend the fields and produce 33 products,
• Invest the money you make in new equipment (such as a cheese dairy that will help you process milk into cheese), and
• Purchase 17 buildings and vehicles.

Each of the available levels is more challenging than the previous one and requires you to handle a specific task in order to progress, earn more money, and buy better equipment to make your life on the farm easier.

Steam Rating: ★★★★★★★★ 8/10

Platforms: Web, PC

Player mode: Single-player

Fabulous — Angela’s Fashion Fever

Game overview:

In the game Fabulous — Angela’s Fashion Fever, you guide Angela as she strives to take over the fashion world through lovely designs and exquisite customer service.

Fabulous — Angela’s Fashion Fever Gameplay:

In this game, it’s all about the score. Within each of the 90 levels (labeled as “days”), you’ll have a certain amount of time, during which you’ll need to serve as many customers as you can to get the highest possible score. 

You can achieve great scores by:

• Making your customers happy through timely and accurate service — each customer will ask for a specific clothing item, and it’s your job to locate the clothing item and bring it to the customers as fast as you can,
• Collecting cash from customers and occasionally cleaning up the counter after providing service, and
• Pursuing various combos and event completions to increase your scores further.

Angela’s journey to fortune and success is also plagued with mice — quite literally, as you’ll need to locate as many as 61 mice hidden throughout the game. Clicking on a mouse when you find one will bring you +100 points.

Steam Rating: ★★★★★★★★★ 8.7/10

Platforms: Android, PC

Player mode: Single-player

Heart’s Medicine — Hospital Heat

Game overview:

Heart’s Medicine — Hospital Heat is a medical drama with time management and strategy features. 

You play as Dr. Allison Heart, a young doctor balancing her professional medical work with a complicated personal life — and both will culminate in a fire situation at her hospital.

Heart’s Medicine — Hospital Heat Gameplay:

The game makes you apply real life time management skills but with a medical twist. Here is what you can expect in this thrilling game:

• Patients with different ailments will arrive at the hospital, and you’ll need to provide them with the treatments they require,
• Treating patients and prescribing medicines — but some of the medicine may need assembly, and some of the patients may need treatment that involves quick minigames,
• Dealing with a great number of patients — you’ll need to attend to everyone as quickly as you can, and
• Gaining rewards — you can use these rewards to upgrade Allison’s apartment.

The game also offers extras you can enjoy, such as competing against friends on one endless level, upgrading the hospital with new equipment, and even learning more about Allison’s past in this compelling story.

Steam Rating: ★★★★★★★★★ 9/10

Platforms: PC, Android, MacOS

Player mode: Single-player

Nintendo Switch Games

If you’re not a fan of PC gaming, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Gaming on Nintendo Switch holds a special place in every gamer’s heart, so we’ve isolated a couple of all-time favorites for everyone out there.

Check them out!

Stardew Valley

Game overview:

Stardew Valley has been a fan-favorite in the farming simulation genre since 2016 and it still manages to amaze the crowds. Although it was initially released for Windows, its popularity exponentially grew after it was released for Nintendo Switch, where it found its home among millions of players.

Stardew Valley gameplay:

The game begins when the player takes the role of a character who inherits their deceased grandfather’s farm in a place known as Stardew Valley.

As you might have guessed, the farming simulator lets the player progress and develop the farm by:

• Growing crops,
• Raising livestock,
• Mine for ores,
• Explore their surroundings, and even
• Marry and have children.

The gameplay itself does not differ tremendously from other games in the genre, but it does offer a unique perspective in terms of world-building and character development.

Steam rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Web, PC, Xbox One, Linux, MacOS, PlayStation 5, Android, iOS

Player mode: Single and multiplayer mode

Overcooked! 2

Game overview:

Overcooked! 2 is another great outing in the restaurant time management subgenre, one that enhances the original concept — you and your team of up to 3 additional players have to serve a variety of recipes, such as:

• Pasta, 
• Cakes, 
• Burgers, and 
• Sushi — to customers in a limited amount of time, all while cooking in unusual kitchen settings and dealing with obstacles.

Overcooked! 2 Gameplay:

The game essentially follows the usual cooking game principle, but you have to do the cooking in absurd and unexpected kitchens (such as Wizard schools):

• You’ll need to coordinate orders and streamline teamwork — otherwise, you’ll be bumping into other players and the whole organization will collapse, and
• Apart from limited time and frantic fellow chefs, you’ll also have to deal with fires, moving floors, portals, and changing settings. One especially memorable level has you preparing salads while flying in a hot air balloon before you conveniently crash in a sushi kitchen.

Steam rating: ★★★★★★★★★ 9/10

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, Web, Xbox One, Linux, MacOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Amazon Luna

Player mode: Single-player, Multiplayer

Megaquarium

Game overview:

Who said you can’t learn, have fun, and practice management in the process? Megaquarium will test your precision, accuracy, and time management skills, but it’ll also provide an upbeat and easygoing gaming experience.

Simply put — take care of your fish and your aquarium and you’ll be good to go. So, how does it work?

Megaquarium Gameplay:

The basic premise of the game is simple — you get an aquarium that can fit various types of fish. It’s up to you to figure out:

• Where exactly to put them,
• Which types of fish have to be separated,
• How to feed multiple fish, and
• How to clean the aquarium properly.

The game further has a functioning management system (employer/employees) and customers that must be kept happy. Therefore, time and proper project management is of the utmost importance, but still, the most important part is to have fun.

GOG Rating: ★★★★★ 4.2/5

Platforms: Nintendo Switch Windows, Playstation 4, Linux, Xbox One, MacOS

Player mode: Single-player

YouTubers Life 2

Game overview:

YouTubers Life 2 is a business simulation game with time management elements. The goal of YouTubers Life 2 is to manage your character’s life while they balance their private errands, education, and the dream of becoming a YouTube personality.

YouTubers Life Gameplay:

This game simulates the life of a real aspiring YouTuber, so you’ll have to:

• Create videos for your channel,
• Manage your content creation network and employees,
• Decide whether you’ll accept making videos for friends, and
• Participate in advertising agreements in order to make money to upgrade your equipment, and level up your skills.

On top of that, you’ll need to find time to attend events, interact with fans, and make sure your private life and educational aspirations don’t get sidelined in the process.
Steam rating: ★★★★★★★ 7/10

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, MacOS, Linux

Player mode: Single-player

Game Dev Story

Game overview:

You take control over a game developer working in a start-up — your goal is to come up with hit video games and new consoles, perform fast and quality game development, win over the critics, and earn money.

Game Dev Story Gameplay:

The gameplay mimics the life of a real-life game developer, as you’ll have to control a number of factors in order to sustain your business, such as:

• Hiring staff,
• Controlling the direction, quality, and speed of game development,
• Creating games that please the critics — each game you finish is given a score from 1 to 10 and a review from a critic, and
• Increasing your score — high scores mean higher sale’s numbers, and higher sale’s numbers mean your game will rank higher.

As you progress and earn more money, the building you’re working in will start to improve, you’ll be able to hire additional staff, and create better games.

Steam rating: ★★★★★★★★★ 9/10
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, PlayStation 4
Player mode: Single-player, Multiplayer

Offline time management activities

Up ahead, we have 5 engaging team time management games and activities you can easily play with your team at the office — even when you experience Internet downtime or a blackout.

How long is a minute?

A simple, yet challenging game — How long is a minute is a fun activity that requires no preparation or tools, and it takes away a minute from your workday.

How is it played?

• Bring people to a room with no clocks (or where all the clocks are covered),
• Take away their phones and watches,
• Instruct them to stand up and shut their eyes, and
• Tell them to open their eyes when they think 60 seconds have passed.

What you’ll learn?

Some people will open their eyes before the 60 seconds are up, and some will open them after. This game will help you better estimate the time it takes you to finish projects and tasks because you’ll understand how well you perceive time.

Great for: Recognizing the importance of time and comparing your understanding of time with your colleagues.

Circadian Rhythm

From light to dark, there are a number of influences that affect your circadian rhythm on a daily basis. Playing Circadian Rhythm lets you keep track of them all and understand how your energy levels change throughout the day.

How is it played?

You and your colleagues should plan and write down a day in your lives from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. You’ll divide the day by the hours and, ideally, you’ll enter the following marks next to your time slots:

• A — High energy,
• B — Autopilot control,
• C — 70% energy level,
• D — Distracted,
• E — Slowing down for the day, and
• F — Tired or hungry.

What you’ll learn? 

You’ll understand how energy levels change during the day, so you’ll be able to make better decisions about your schedules. Furthermore, you’ll learn more about yourself, in terms of whether you’re a night owl or a morning person. 

Also, based on the fluctuations of their energy levels, your team will learn more about:

• When they should work on important, challenging tasks, 
• When they should tackle less important work, and 
• When they should simply take a break. 

You can even post all your completed charts on a wall so everyone will know when to call their co-workers and for what type of tasks.

Great for: Analyzing your schedule and finding the best time to work and rest.

What I Did Yesterday

Your subconsciousness can play tricks on you and let you make decisions you’re unaware of. Enter What I Did Yesterday — a quick and fun way to learn more about yourself and your colleagues.

How is it played?

The activity consists of two simple parts:

• Ask people at the office to write down 10 things they did yesterday while at work,
• Then, instruct people to write 5 things they expect to see on their next performance review.

Look over and compare the two lists for each individual that contributed. Most likely, you’ll find that there is a significant number of indirect correlations between the two — what you did and what you expect to see. It might not be obvious at first glance, but the gist usually overlaps.

Additional step: have people rank the 10 things they did yesterday in terms of importance and urgency.

What you’ll learn? 

Following the rules of What I Did Yesterday, participants can learn to adjust their schedules and work on their efficiency. 

How? 

The compared results that overlap on both lists are usually the items that affect positively on our performance — the items that remain unchecked typically reflect negatively on our performance.

Great for: Finding a link between work performance and activities.

The Mayonnaise Jar Lesson

If you’re looking to learn more about prioritization and the way you and your team can coexist and work together efficiently, The Mayonnaise Jar Lesson will come to your aid.

How is it played?

• Make sure you’ve got a jar, some golf balls, some pebbles, and sand.
• Gather your team to demonstrate the game (alternatively, you can bring materials and divide people into teams, and instruct them to perform the task themselves).
• Then, you’ll need to add the pebbles, golf balls, and sand to the jar. The correct order is adding the golf balls first, then the pebbles, then the sand.
• In the end, you’ll notice that following this order you’ve made enough room for all items in the jar.
• However, in case you added sand first, you’ll see that there isn’t enough room for the other items.

What you’ll learn? 

The golf balls represent your priority tasks. The pebbles are your less important tasks. The sand represents everything else.

By adding the golf balls first, you show that working on priority tasks is crucial for you. By adding the pebbles afterward, you show that you have the tendency to save some time for other important tasks in your life. Finally, the gaps in the jar are reserved for unimportant tasks — the sand.

If you fill your days with unimportant tasks, you’ll never have time for what is truly important.

Great for: Teaching the team about the importance of scheduling their priority tasks first.

Desert Island

The chances of getting deserted on an island in real life are pretty slim, but there is something enticing in fantasizing about it. Well, here’s a fun way to practice survival with your colleagues and improve your time management skills in the process.

How is it played?

• Everyone is given a pen and paper — the task is to imagine being trapped on a desert island,
• Set a time limit — for example, two minutes,
• During this time, everyone should write down what they would bring to a desert island,
• All items deemed essential by the group will bring them points, and
• All tasks not deemed as essential by the group will bring the player no points.

What you’ll learn? 

Every player will get a chance to learn how to quickly assess their work priorities/essentials. 

Great for: Teaching the team how to analyze their priorities. 

They’ll learn to be more careful about assigning their time blocks to unessential tasks, just as they should be careful about what they’re bringing to a desert island (if given the option to choose).

What are time management games?

A time management game is a video or real-life game you can play alone or in a group. These games require you to meet certain objectives, in a specific order, but with limited time and resources.

Most of these games are fast-paced and require you to plan and strategize, in order to use the limited resources and time as effectively as you can, before meeting the required objectives.

Aside from the fun aspect of gaming, studies show that gamers have enhanced brain activity and greater decision-making skills.

By playing these carefully selected time management games, you’ll be able to:

• Hone the skills you learn by using them in virtual scenarios, 
• Solve real-life work challenges,
• Get a better grasp of the passage of time, and
• Learn how to multitask, as most of the following games will require you to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

Why play time management games?

There are several benefits to playing time management games, both the video and the real-life variety.

Time management games improve your reaction time

Considering that these games are fast-paced, they help improve your reflexes. Unless you’re able to react on time to complete the challenges, the game will not let you move forward and progress.

Time management games help you perfect your planning and problem-solving skills

The games listed above will require you to think ahead and execute the right strategies to reach the later stages of the game. 

Even though it’s not a real-life scenario, facing unexpected problems and finding yourself in unknown surroundings will certainly help you improve your organizational and planning skills.

Time management games improve your teamwork abilities

Considering that most of these games require you to collaborate with others to reach the desired effects, you’ll learn how to cooperate and make the most of the time and resources you have.

Time management games improve your resource management

Since these games require you to use the resources you have in an effective manner in order to progress, you’ll likely develop a good sense of resource management in real life as well.

Time management games help you understand the importance of time management

Last, but not least, most time management games are designed to help you understand the importance of time management and help you reassess your work routine. 

For example, they can help you assess how your perception of time, organizational skills, and understanding of the actions that lead to your goals may influence your work.

Boost your productivity: Track your work progress and improve time management with Clockify

We all know how time flies when the gaming session’s on — hours feel like minutes, and we feel like the day’s wasted.

However, playing games comes with some perks, one being the moment you recognize the time management mistakes you make in real life, as well as in-game.

To avoid such mistakes, you should start tracking the time you spend on work tasks and activities. With a time tracker like Clockify, you will also improve your scheduling, time allocation, and time management skills in general.

You start the timer at the beginning of each new task, and it’ll run in the background.
When you’re done, you can analyze the time you’ve spent working and find ways to improve your efficiency. 

Analyzing the data will help you improve your time management skills by letting you know the holes in your work schedule and helping you figure out time wasters.

The time data is further saved and you’ll have the ability to export it in PDF, CSV, or Excel sheets.

So, are you ready to game a bit, find your focus, and then get to work?