Playing games in user research

10 new (and fun) ways to get your stakeholders involved in your work

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Hello Curious Human!

One of the toughest challenges I came across wasn’t necessarily conducting the actual research but getting stakeholders to care about and act on that research. You might have been in a similar place presenting your findings, hoping the insights will lead to decisions and changes, but instead, you’re met with polite nods, a few questions, and ultimately…crickets.

What if you could turn this around? What if you could make user research not just informative but engaging—even fun?

In this article, I’ll guide you through 10 ways you can integrate games into your user research process to engage stakeholders. You’ll learn specific, actionable techniques that you can implement in your next project, whether you’re running usability tests or gathering insights for strategic decisions.

Why Gamify User Research?

Let’s start with the obvious question: Why bother turning user research into a game? Isn’t that trivializing the work?

Not if you do it right.

By introducing game-like elements into the process, you make it easier for stakeholders to connect with your research, understand its importance, and even actively contribute to the findings. The key is to keep the focus on the insights while making the experience more memorable and impactful for everyone involved.

Games tap into our natural instincts for competition, problem-solving, and fun. When we play, we become engaged, focused, and, crucially, more likely to retain information. When done correctly, games can make your research a shared experience, which means stakeholders won’t just hear your insights—they’ll remember and care about them.

Here’s how to make that happen.

1. Usability Bingo: Turning Feedback into a Game

Usability Bingo transforms a typical usability test into an interactive experience for stakeholders. By giving them Bingo cards filled with common usability issues, this game forces stakeholders to pay close attention and actively engage with what they’re seeing. The simple act of crossing off a square whenever they notice a problem keeps them alert and involved, making post-test discussions more effective.

Goal: Increase engagement during usability testing by making it a game.

When to Use It: Ideal for usability tests where stakeholders need to observe and recognize patterns in user behavior. Use this when stakeholders tend to disengage during observation sessions.

How to Set It Up:

1. Create Bingo Cards: Fill each square with common usability issues relevant to your product (e.g., “user hesitates before clicking,” “user struggles with navigation”).

2. Distribute Cards: Hand out the Bingo cards to your stakeholders before the session begins.

3. Explain the Rules: Stakeholders mark off each issue they observe during the test. The first to complete a row, column, or diagonal wins a small prize.

4. Debrief After the Session: Discuss the Bingo cards and the issues identified, making the post-test debrief more dynamic.

2. Internal Hackathons: Get Stakeholders to Solve the Problems

An Internal Hackathon turns research insights into actionable solutions by putting stakeholders in problem-solving mode. You gather them into teams, provide them with the challenges uncovered during research, and let them brainstorm and prototype solutions. The competitive aspect encourages creativity and deep engagement, ensuring they feel responsible for the outcomes.

Goal: Encourage collaboration and creative problem-solving among stakeholders based on user research findings.

When to Use It: Use this after presenting research insights to involve stakeholders in generating solutions, especially when multiple departments are involved.

How to Set It Up:

1. Present the Challenges: Based on your research findings, present a series of challenges or pain points that need solving.

2. Form Teams: Divide stakeholders into small teams with mixed expertise (e.g., product, design, marketing).

3. Set a Time Limit: Give teams a clear amount of time to brainstorm, prototype, or sketch out solutions (e.g., two hours).

4. Showcase Solutions: At the end, each team presents its solution, followed by a discussion of how these solutions can be implemented.

3. Pin the Pain Point on the Persona: Mapping Stakeholder Insights

This interactive game helps stakeholders internalize user pain points by visually mapping them onto user personas. Think of it as an improved version of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” Stakeholders write down the pain points they believe each persona is experiencing and then “pin” them on a large printout of the persona. The result is a visual, collaborative way to understand where stakeholder assumptions align—or differ—from the research.

Goal: Help stakeholders understand and empathize with user pain points by mapping them to personas.

When to Use It: Use this when introducing personas to stakeholders or when correcting stakeholder assumptions about user pain points.

How to Set It Up:

1. Prepare Persona Posters: Print out large versions of your key personas and hang them on the wall.

2. Hand Out Post-its: Give each stakeholder a stack of Post-its and ask them to write down the pain points they believe this persona is facing.

3. Pin the Pain Points: Stakeholders place their Post-its on the appropriate areas of the persona (e.g., motivations, behaviors, frustrations).

4. Debrief: Discuss the pain points that were pinned and how they align with your research findings, opening up discussions on misaligned assumptions.

4. UXR Escape Room: Escape the Inefficient Tasks