A gamified calendar: XP for finished hours, not for opening the app

The rules of the game

Most "gamified" productivity apps reward you for using the app. Cutline only rewards what happened in your week.

• Finish a block, earn XP. 10 XP for every 15 minutes, with at least 10 XP for any block. A 2-hour deep work block is worth 80 XP.
• Clear a day, earn 100 XP. When every block on a day is ticked, the day card is stamped Cleared.
• Level up. XP adds up to levels. Each level band has a rank: Rookie, Grinder, Operator, Closer, Shark, Mogul, Legend. New levels unlock new colours for your rank tile.
• Planning earns nothing. A block you never finish is worth zero, so there is no point in planning a fantasy week.

Why it works

Games work because the feedback is immediate and the score is honest. A calendar usually gives neither: you plan, the week happens, and nothing tells you how it went. In Cutline the feedback arrives the second you tick a block, and the score cannot be gamed by planning more.

The second reason is other people. On the Arena your finished hours sit on a weekly board next to friends and people like you. It resets every Monday, so last week's leader has to do it again.

What it is not

• Not a streak trap. Missing a day does not reset your level. XP you earned stays earned.
• Not public by default. Joining the Arena is opt-in, and it only shows totals: hours and blocks, never what a block was.
• Not a task app. Cutline scores time, not checkboxes. If you want points per task, a task manager like Todoist has its own Karma system; see Cutline vs Todoist.