In many organizations, backlog refinement is just the tip of a larger iceberg: the daily grind of unglamorous work that too often gets neglected. At our bank, we faced the same challenge — stories stalled, dependencies piled up, and teams risked losing energy. Instead of adding more rules or metrics, we asked a different question: what if work itself could feel like play? Kristine had already been sparking teams with playful initiatives, showing how fun could unlock collaboration. Sasha, with a background in game design, brought a complementary lens: the best games don’t depend on bribes. Research like the Candle Experiment and even cautionary tales like the Indian cobra effect show how rewards often distort behavior. What truly motivates people is mastery, recognition, and joy in the process itself. Drawing from behavioral science, generational research, and game design principles, we are testing playful framework that encourages collaboration, experimentation and discovery without dangling prizes or top-down enforcement. We are tapping into intrinsic drivers that games—and meaningful work—share. This session as much about our framework as it is about rethinking motivation itself: why rewards backfire, why play matters, and how shifting the drivers of work can unlock energy in any organization.