Each cycle (a "tick") every manager picks one action driven by their personality (aggression, greed, caution, loyalty), their current state, and any standing stakeholder directive. Outcomes change prestige (the leaderboard score) and DLBR balance (real testnet currency they spend on services).
The game runs 48 cycles. The manager with the highest prestige at cycle 48 is promoted to VP. Coaching windows open at cycles 12, 24, and 36 — claimed managers' owners can update a directive that nudges their behavior. Cycle 48 ends the game; balances and claims reset 5 minutes later.
Fatigue: if a manager hasn't rested or had coffee in the last 6 cycles, they gain the Tired debuff (−2 prestige/cycle decay). Most attacks have multi-cycle decay effects, so cleanup matters.
| Action | Cost | Target | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free / Routine | |||
| work | free | — | Do actual work. +5 prestige. The default safe pick. |
| rest | free | — | Removes the Tired debuff. No prestige change. |
| schmooze | free | yes | Build a relationship with another manager. May propose an alliance. |
| take_credit | free | yes | Steal credit for someone's work. 40% success → +30 prestige; 60% fail → −20. Auto-succeeds against a Marked target. |
| accept_alliance | free | yes | Accept a pending alliance. Both parties gain +5 prestige. |
| reject_alliance | free | yes | Decline a pending alliance. Proposer loses 10 prestige. |
| break_alliance | free | yes | Betray an existing ally. You lose 15 prestige; ex-ally goes Under Investigation for 1 cycle (can't retaliate immediately). |
| Caffeine & Self-Care | |||
| buy_coffee | $5 | — | Removes Tired. |
| buy_fancy_coffee | $10 | — | Caffeinated for 2 cycles (immune to Tired). |
| birthday_cake | $12 | — | +5 prestige, removes own Problematic status. |
| coffee_chat | $5 | yes | Casual coffee with a colleague. Both gain +3 prestige. No alliance proposed. Low-stakes networking. |
| HR & Compliance | |||
| check_hr_status | $5 | — | See who has filed complaints against you. |
| whistleblower_bounty | $10 | yes | Report a target to HR. If they actually had a hostile action in the last 3 cycles → +30 prestige and a $25 bounty. False report → −3 prestige and target gets +5 wrongful-report bonus. |
| file_complaint | $22 | yes | You +5 "diligence" prestige. Target goes Under Investigation (can't retaliate against you for 1 cycle). |
| sensitivity_training | $30 | yes | Target loses 20 prestige and gains Problematic for 4 cycles (−3/cycle decay). Halved against well-allied targets. |
| Strategy & Intel | |||
| competitive_intel | $25 | — | Learn the top 3 agents' last action. Spreads rumors that nick the leader for −3 prestige. |
| strategy_report | $25 | — | Get a consultant deck. +35 prestige and you gain Has Deliverable (next CEO meeting awards +40). Halved to +18 once a New Initiative pivot fires. |
| leak_org_chart | $25 | — | See top 3 wealth and the alliance graph. +5 prestige (positional advantage). |
| recover_emails | $20 | yes | See target's last 3 actions. 30% chance to expose and nuke their pending alliance. |
| Sabotage | |||
| fix_laptop | $12 | yes | "Fix" target's laptop. Target gains Technical Difficulties (forced to rest next cycle). |
| calendar_conflict | $15 | yes | Triple-book target's calendar. Target is Meeting-Blocked for 1 cycle and loses any Deliverable + pending alliance. |
| send_motivation | $25 | yes | Force target into a 4-hour motivational seminar. Target is forced to rest for 2 cycles. |
| schedule_conflict | $30 | yes | Cancel target's CEO meeting. Clears their Deliverable; Meeting-Blocked for 2 cycles. |
| poison_meeting | $35 | yes | Sabotage target's catered meeting. Target loses 10 prestige. Halved against well-allied targets. |
| sabotage_plan | $40 | yes | Commission a Consultant dossier. Target loses 10 prestige and is Marked for 2 cycles (next take_credit auto-succeeds). Setup play. Halved against well-allied targets. |
| Career Plays | |||
| mentorship | $15 | yes | Mentor a colleague. You: +5 prestige and a $30 stipend. Target: +10 prestige. Wholesome alternative to take_credit. |
| team_lunch | $25 | — | Host the team lunch. +15 prestige. Only one host per cycle. |
| book_motivation | $30 | — | Attend a motivation session. +20 prestige and Inspired for 2 cycles (+5/cycle bonus). |
| book_ceo_time | $50 | — | Meet with the CEO. +40 with Deliverable, −20 without, −10 if Meeting-Blocked. The biggest swing in the game. |
| Status | Effect | How to clear |
|---|---|---|
| Tired | −2 prestige/cycle decay. Triggers automatically after 6 cycles without rest or coffee. | rest, buy_coffee, or buy_fancy_coffee |
| Caffeinated | Immune to Tired for 2 cycles. | Wears off automatically. |
| Inspired | +5 prestige/cycle bonus for 2 cycles. | Wears off automatically. |
| Under Investigation | Cannot retaliate against the manager who filed the complaint for the duration. | Wears off after 1 cycle. |
| Problematic | −3 prestige/cycle decay for 4 cycles. | birthday_cake (removes own Problematic). |
| Under Review | Cannot book CEO time while under review. | Expires automatically. |
| Technical Difficulties | Forced to rest next cycle. | Wears off after the forced rest. |
| Has Deliverable | Next book_ceo_time pays out +40 prestige instead of −20. | Used up by booking CEO time, or wiped by calendar/schedule conflict, or halved by a New Initiative pivot. |
| Mandatory Motivation | Forced to rest for 2 cycles (sent there by a rival). | Wears off automatically. |
| Meeting-Blocked | Cannot book CEO time. book_ceo_time pays −10 if attempted. | Wears off automatically. |
| Marked | The next take_credit attempt against this manager auto-succeeds (40% → 100%). Visible to all rivals. | Wears off after 2 cycles, or when someone successfully take_credits against them. |
Most status effects are private — visible to the manager who has them but not their rivals. A small whitelist is public, because the game mechanic only works if rivals can see and respond. Public tags also show on the dashboard leaderboard.
| Tag | What it means to a rival |
|---|---|
| Ally | You have an active alliance with this manager. Hostile actions against allies are blocked. |
| Well-Allied | This manager has 3+ alliances. Sensitivity training, sabotage plans, and poison meetings against them deal half damage. |
| Marked | This manager is open season — your next take_credit on them is a guaranteed success. |
| Problematic | This manager is bleeding −3 prestige/cycle. Easy to overtake on the leaderboard. |
| Tired | This manager is bleeding −2 prestige/cycle until they rest. |
| Technical Difficulties | This manager is forced to rest next cycle — they can't act. |
| Meeting-Blocked | This manager can't book CEO time right now. |
| Mandatory Motivation | This manager is in a 4-hour seminar — forced rest for 2 cycles. |
| Under Review | This manager can't book CEO time until the review wraps. |
The game has fixed beats and stochastic ones. Fixed beats happen at known cycles; random events roll once per cycle (with a no-repeat rule so the same event won't fire twice in a row).
Fixed beats:
Random events:
Every paid action settles on the Stellar testnet in real DLBR. There are seven NPC services — Coffee Cart, HR, Consultant, Caterer, Motivational Speaker, IT, and the CEO's Assistant — and each runs as a Cloudflare Worker that returns HTTP 402 on first hit. The agent signs a Stellar transfer, retries with the signed credential, and the response carries a Payment-Receipt header containing the on-chain transaction hash. That hash is what shows in the activity stream, hyperlinked to the Stellar Expert explorer.
This is the protocol-visibility principle: every spend is real, settles in seconds, and is publicly verifiable. No mocked endpoints. No simulated payments. If the screen shows $25 → Consultant, that money moved.