Gamification may seem like another Silicon Valley buzzword or a concept that only very young or very rich companies can try, but it actually isn’t hard to implement. Employers can incentivize their staff through healthy competition and encourage team members to hit work goals in a fun and unique way.

Gamification has been used by HR teams to onboard employees and in IT departments to work through tasks. It is possible for your company to use this engagement technique, too. Here’s why gamification has taken off in the workplace over the past few years and how you can try it with your team.

Why Is Gamification Popular?

Video games as a whole have become exceedingly popular across the world. The Electronic Entertainment Design and Research group says 67 percent of Americans (roughly 211 million people) play video games regularly on at least one device. Of that, 90 percent of Americans play games on their smartphones or tablets.

Gaming today doesn’t necessarily refer to Fortnite or Call of Duty tournaments that last for hours. The average gamer plays a quick game of Candy Crush while waiting for the bus or grabs their phone during commercial breaks to answer trivia questions.

Even before the advent of smartphones and computers, games and competitions were popular. Look at the Olympics or game shows like Jeopardy as examples. People like to compete and test themselves.

Winning Makes People Feel Good

Games aren’t just fun. There’s a psychological trigger that goes off when you compete and win. Molly St. Louis at Adweek explains that every point scored in a game causes the brain to release dopamine — the feel good chemical that lights up your mind’s reward center. This makes you feel more excited about what you are doing while keeping you coming back for more.

In a casino, this reward system might mean putting your winnings back in the slot machine in hopes of hitting the jackpot. At the workplace, it means working harder and being more productive in hopes of gaining recognition from management and your peers.

“[Gamification] plays on the psychology that drives human engagement—the drive to compete, improve, and out-do—and to get instantly rewarded while doing so,” writes Daniel Newman, CEO of Broadsuite Media Group. “The technology is merely the means to put that psychology to work in the business sphere.”