Elevator simulator: shut the doors before your boss gets in

The yellow line

Every floor, the doors open and a few people walk across the lobby toward you. A yellow line crosses the floor just short of the doors. Whoever is on it or past it when the doors start to move gets in, even with only a toe on the yellow. Whoever is behind it is shut out, however fast they run at the glass.

The close button

Press Close and your hand reaches for the panel, jabs the button, and the car takes its time. The bar on the button fills while you wait, and the doors move when it is full. Pressing again only makes your hand jab again. Anyone past the line who reaches the doors as they close sticks a hand in, your manager included, and the doors bounce back open for them.

Points and the review

Each coworker who rides with you is 10 points, and each one you shut out costs 20. Shutting your manager out is 30. Letting him in costs 30, and the ride to the next stop, with him standing next to you, lasts 2.6 times as long. The review measures you against the best each stop allowed with him kept out. So any ride with your manager keeps you below Exceeds expectations, and three keep you below Meets.

Your manager tries sunglasses and a fake moustache, Groucho glasses, a hoodie, a cardboard box with eye holes, a potted plant, a newspaper, and an intern’s cap and lanyard. Coworkers carry plants and wear hoodies too, more of them on Casual Friday. He never takes off the red tie, which is how you know him.

Some days the micromanager is in instead, on nearly every floor. Your skip-level comes less often, walks faster and hides behind more cardboard. Today’s round sends everyone the same manager on the same floors, so the office can compare notes. The other dailies are on our games to play at work hub. To hide your screen rather than the whole elevator, play Boss Key, and to beat the badge reader, Coffee Badge.