How Zamzee Used Gamification to Get Kids 59% More Active (Octalysis Case Study)
A fitness tracker that made children 59% more physically active sounds like a product designer’s dream. For a few years, it was real. Zamzee, built by the HopeLab Foundation with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, turned running around into a game — and the research proved it worked.
Then it disappeared.
This post preserves the original interview I conducted with the Zamzee team, followed by a full Octalysis Framework analysis explaining why their gamification design was effective — and where it fell short.
About Yu-kai Chou: Human-Systems Architect
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar — with 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
What Was Zamzee?
Zamzee was a physical activity tracker built specifically for kids aged 9 to 15 — the age range where research shows physical activity drops off sharply. Created by the HopeLab Foundation (with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), Zamzee combined a wearable sensor with an online platform where children could earn points, complete quests, and unlock rewards based on how much they moved in real life.
The device tracked movement and synced with a website. Every component — from the activity graph to challenges to rewards — was driven by physical movement. To unlock the good stuff on screen, kids had to unplug and move.
A six-month peer-reviewed clinical study found that kids using Zamzee were 59% more physically active and showed reduced biological risk factors for obesity-related diseases. The product was a rare example of gamification that delivered measurable health outcomes in a controlled study.
Interview With the Zamzee Team
I had the pleasure of talking with the Zamzee team about their approach to gamifying physical activity. Here is the original interview, preserved from when the product was active.
1. What is Zamzee?
Zamzee is a game that gets kids moving. Zamzee uses an activity monitor and website to make movement fun and rewarding.
2. What was the motivation behind creating Zamzee?
The purpose of Zamzee is to make moving fun so that more kids enjoy being active. Today over one-third of Americans are overweight or obese.
Research and practical experience tells us that physical activity declines around ages 9 to 15 — right when kids are forming lifelong habits. Zamzee targets this age group with a product designed for kids that makes physical activity more fun.
HopeLab Foundation (with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) completed a six-month scientific research study showing that Zamzee increases physical activity by almost 60% and reduces key biological risk factors for diseases associated with obesity.
3. How does Zamzee motivate kids to be more active?
By making physical activity fun and rewarding. We use rewards to bring kids into the fold — to capture their attention and get them excited about using Zamzee. This is great to “get the kids off the couch,” so to speak.
Once kids start using Zamzee, we make sure that rewards don’t become the sole focus of the experience by emphasizing gamification and fun. This fosters kids’ intrinsic motivation to be more active, so that physical activity becomes a habit instead of a chore.
Our approach is deeply grounded in academic research on motivation and a long iterative process developing the product.
4. Why does using a website make kids want to move around more in real life?
Kids are used to being plugged in and online. We meet them where they already are — at their computers — and incorporate components of online gaming like rewards, badges, and levels.
But we do not make the website the sole focus. Every component of the website, from the activity graph to challenges to rewards, is driven by offline actions. To unlock the good stuff — passing levels, earning rewards, taking challenges — kids need to unplug from their computer and move.
5. What kind of rewards do kids get when they are very active?
Our rewards catalogue has many tangible rewards that kids can earn — from small things like plush toys to large things like Xbox consoles, plus virtual goods like apps, gift cards, charitable donations, and virtual goods for their avatars. All rewards are kid-friendly.
6. Do kids compare their own scores with others?
Yes. You can make friends on Zamzee, which lets you see your friends’ activity graphs, level rankings, and Whamz. Many kids cite competing with siblings and friends as a favorite part of Zamzee.
7. Is Zamzee suitable for adults too?
Yes. Over 20% of our users are adults.
8. What are Zamzee’s goals for the next five years?
To get more and more kids moving and having fun while they’re at it!
Gamification Analysis of Zamzee with Octalysis
Analyzing Zamzee with Octalysis, my Gamification Framework, we see that Zamzee achieved a Gamification Score of 247 while focusing almost entirely on White Hat Gamification — the motivational techniques that make users feel powerful, accomplished, and inspired.
Here’s what Zamzee got right from a Core Drive perspective:
- Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment — Levels, progress tracking, and quests gave kids a clear sense of achievement. Every run moved them closer to the next milestone.
- Core Drive 3: Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback — Kids could choose which quests to pursue and how to reach their goals. The feedback loop between physical movement and on-screen progress was immediate and meaningful.
- Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession — Earned rewards (tangible and virtual), customizable avatars, and accumulated points gave kids a sense of something that was theirs.
- Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness — Leaderboards, friend connections, and sibling competition drove the social layer. Many kids said competing with friends was their favorite part.
What’s notable is that Zamzee’s design was almost entirely White Hat — meaning it made kids want to exercise rather than fear not exercising. This is exactly the right approach for children’s health, where building long-term intrinsic motivation matters more than short-term compliance.
Gamification Design Suggestions for Zamzee
Assuming Zamzee wanted to continue focusing on White Hat Gamification, there were two improvements that could have strengthened the design significantly.
1) Group Quests (Core Drive 5): Zamzee could have created quests that required two or more friends to stay active together. This would have made the experience far more social. They could even have introduced Mentorship — if you ran around with someone at a much higher level, you’d level up faster too. This technique borrows from MMO game design and is extremely effective at building Core Drive 5 engagement loops.
2) Collection Sets (Core Drive 4): If kids redeemed their points for one reward in a collection set, they’d naturally want to complete the entire set — which meant more running. Collection mechanics tap directly into our deep drive to complete things we’ve started, a powerful behavioral lever in gamified fitness products.
Why Zamzee Disappeared
Despite strong clinical evidence and a well-designed gamification layer, Zamzee did not survive as an independent product. The company was acquired by Welltok (a health optimization platform) and stopped servicing commercial customers.
This is a cautionary lesson for product designers: even a gamification design that works needs a sustainable business model beneath it. Zamzee’s non-profit origins (HopeLab Foundation) meant it lacked the commercial infrastructure to scale. The technology worked. The motivation design worked. The business model didn’t.
For designers studying gamification, Zamzee remains a valuable case study precisely because the behavioral design was validated by peer-reviewed research. The 59% activity increase is one of the strongest evidence-backed results in the gamification space.
Modern Gamified Fitness for Kids
The space Zamzee pioneered didn’t disappear — it evolved. Several modern products carry the torch of gamified fitness for children:
- Walkr — A space adventure where real steps power a spaceship, unlocking 30+ missions and planets. Uses phone pedometers for gamified walking motivation. Strong Core Drive 7 (Unpredictability) through exploration mechanics.
- GoNoodle — Focuses on yoga, dancing, and mindfulness with animated characters. Popular in schools and homes. Heavy Core Drive 3 (Creativity) with expressive movement activities.
- Sworkit Kids — Customizable video-led workouts with streak badges and progress tracking. Core Drive 2 (Accomplishment) is the primary motivator.
None of these have replicated Zamzee’s peer-reviewed clinical results. The gap between “gamified fitness app” and “research-validated behavior change tool” remains wide — and represents a significant opportunity for product designers who understand Octalysis-level design.
Related Reading
- Top 10 Gamification in Fitness
- Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework
- Top 10 Education Gamification Examples
- Self-Determination Theory: The Complete Guide
- 90+ Gamification Stats, Examples & Cases with ROI