Imagine if you took every irritating office stereotype - the outrageous flirt, the nit-picking suck-up, the anti-social computer geek, the stressed out numbers guy, the incompetent middle manager - then took every irritating office behavior - gossiping, slacking off, cooking smelly foods in the microwave, hogging the bathroom, bullying - and mashed them all together. That, in a nutshell, is Miss Management. Oh, and did we mention that it's your job to actually squeeze some productivity out of this mess?

Miss Management is one of the most inspired Diner Dash-type games to come out in a while, thanks to the entertaining cast of characters and the hilarious situations that they find themselves in - situations that will probably be all too familiar if you've spent any time in a cubicle maze yourself.

It falls to Denise, the newly-hired office manager at Conkling Associates International, to keep things running smoothly by delegating tasks, spending petty cash on snacks and office supplies, and making sure the employees aren't getting too stressed out.

Each day, new tasks arrive on Denise's desk from Corporate Office in the form of color-coded file folders. She can assign a task to an employee by picking it up and dropping it on the employee's desk. Some employees are better at certain types of tasks than others. Timothy, for example, is a whiz at the green financial tasks but gets stressed out by orange art tasks. The IT guy, Winston, loves blue technical tasks, and the hippie freelance writer, Luke, excels at pink writing tasks. Tara, the shy artist, loves art tasks and nothing else.

As employees work, their stress level will rise as indicated by a little thermometer over their heads. If it gets too high, they'll have a melt-down and go home for the day, leaving Denise a person down. Denise also has a stress level that starts to rise if unfinished work is sitting around for too long. If Denise's stress maxes out, you'll have to restart the day.

There are various ways of reducing stress around the office; what works and what doesn't depends on the employee's personality: Mahavir the slacker loves napping on the couch, while Winston relaxes by playing a few rounds on the office's arcade game. Tara loves to draw pictures on the whiteboard, and Pearl (the old office battle-axe) takes smoke breaks.

You have to be careful, however, because what one employee finds relaxing might drive other employees crazy. For example, Timothy enjoys making beef stroganoff in the microwave, but Mahavir can't stand the smell, and so his stress level will actually increase as long as Timothy is in the kitchen. Pearl's smoking annoys Luke. Luke likes to work with the radio on, but Pearl can't stand having music in the background - in fact, she hates all kinds of goofing off.

Each time a task is completed, a few dollars are added to the office's petty cash fund, which Denise can use to buy items like donuts, which reduce stress; coffee, which makes an employee work faster; how-to manuals, which temporarily boost an employee's skill in a certain area for one day; and energy drinks which make Denise walk more quickly.

The challenge doesn't stop there. One of the things that makes Miss Management so interesting is that you don't pass the level simply by earning a certain amount of money, or completing a certain number of tasks. Instead, you are given a series of goals to complete, like bringing Tara five colored markers, making Luke go to the washroom five times, letting Pearl smoke for 90 seconds, or giving Mahavir 10 technical tasks to complete. Given the complex set of likes, dislikes and talents of each character, juggling everything so that no one stresses out is a challenge indeed.

By doing it this way, each one of Miss Management's 30 levels feels unique and fresh, with goals based on a rich storyline brimming with office drama and politics. Employees quit and develop crushes and rivalries, rules like "no snacks" are imposed, and Denise must deal with a few crises, like when Pearl pulls a power-trip and tries to take over the office, or when Duncan, her out-to-lunch boss, introduces one stupid idea after another.

The only thing I regretted about Miss Management was that Denise could only carry one thing at a time. Given that she clearly has two hands, it seemed strange to not be able to pick up two tasks at once and save some time instead of having to walk to and from a desk twice.

That one issue is the only fault I could find with the game, however. Miss Management really is a superb title that delivers great gameplay and is a clever and often hilarious satire of office life.

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Back-linking to the home page of GameLab doesn't get you anywhere to get the game.

Looks great, but the link doesn't work and Gamelab's site still has it listed under the title "Work". C'mon Gamelab, when can we play?

Sometimes you play a game and think well it's okay!!! But this was like a sitcom or soap. I loved it!!! Definitely money well spent and worth the wait!!!!!!

i am not able to download the game the webpage just displays ERROR ERROR PLS HELP

Hi guys, Gamelab is in the process of launching a new version of its website, and they warned us that some people might get errors for 48 hours or so until everything transitions over properly.

In the meantime, you can download the game by using this link:

http://d.trymedia.com/d/gamelab/60m_i_1f/gamelab/Miss_Management-v1_0.exe

~Erin

Perhaps I don't get these sorts of games. This is just not fun. I don't get the 4.5 star review.

This game is absolutely fabulous! The best scripted game ever! Really clever and funny. Humorously captures the frustrations of dealing with co-workers. If Big Fish doesn't offer this game soon, I'm takin' hostages. :)

Wow, what a wonderful game from Gamelab!! I love it! Beats any hidden object game anytime:)

tell me about it, i really liked this game and i have 4 coupons for free games at big fish and im seriously thinking of spending the $20 and get it now.

It will on big fish within a few days(3-5)...ill keep you posted

Big Fish has it! Yea! Now if they'd just get Mahjong World. I'd be set.

For some reason I can't get past the part where you have to talk to Tara about her career for 60 secs. The counter doesnt count down.

Any suggestions?

I keep getting an authorized error message when I try to download this game. It says - We're sorry. Our Systems indicate you are outside the territory authorized for distribution by the software publisher of this title.

Unfortunately, we do not have permissions from the publisher to sell this title outside of our approved territory.

I'm in the United States, what territory do I have to be in in order to play this game? Thanks

Anyone can give some sites that not go down after the usual 60 minutes of free play ? I know already msn.com andas arcadetown! More, please ?!'

its a great game. its just like you are in tv serie. greetings from belgium

Hey !

I tried to play this game...call me crazy, but I can't really control it. Esc is if you want to close the window...like do you want to quit... But what do you need to do, if you want to close employee information and continue the game ????????

bye...Jenn

k....

I need help doing level 28! I can manage all the other tasks except for talking at the water cooler for 60 sec in one day! There is just too many work tasks coming in and too many people getting stressed by my talking to do it all in one day! HELP!

I can't seem to pass episode 28. Denise keeps stressing because Brooke can't do all the task in one day? Help! Any tips or strategies would be appreciated. Thanks.

Tara's cute. ^.^

One of the very few time management games I liked well enough to buy. It's entertaining as much as is challenging, and unlike others in the genre, it doesn't get tedious over time. (Something I view as pivotal to a game's success.)

Trust me, you don't want to miss this one!

Miss Management is such a fun game. I love playing it. But I can't seem to get past episode 28. I can complete every task, except the task that Denise has to talk to him at the water cooler for 60 seconds, in one day. Everyone keeps stressing out because of the work load that's coming in. Please if anyone has any strategies or suggestions on how to complete episode 28? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey, Robin - check out Gamezebo's tips and tricks for the later levels here:http://www.gamezebo.com/2007/07/miss_management_tips_tricks.html

I love the game it deffinatly keeps my hand busy ;)

I enjoyed the 60-min trial though I was taken back by some of the edgy dialogue. I liked the spoofing of Office life, I just didn't expect references to Xanax for the anxiety prone or the obvious sexual harassment in such a cartoony game like this. I wasn't necessarily offended, but I was taken off guard.

Where most time-management games have you doing repetitive tasks to earn a specific amount of money, I thought the game took a fresh look at the genre by adding specific goals to reach. That the employees all had varied personalities made reaching the goals that much more of a challenge and more enjoyable. I found myself quite interested and amused in the Office drama and found myself making comparisons to similar drama that unfolds where I work! Life imitating art indeed.

I'm iffy on purchasing the full version even though my overall take on the demo was favorable. I just got tired of constantly telling people what to do! Maybe I'm not management material but I think it's more that the employees mimicked too closely what I deal with at my 9-5 and that was just too much stress! Perhaps a Xanax would do the trick. ;-)

Brooke is the key to finishing those all those tasks in the harder levels. Trust me. I know she gets stressed out easily but there is an advantage to having her. All you have to do is really use your items. Buy a soda, choco-cappicino, and maybe a couple of cinnamon rolls (they aren't really that necessary, you can just put her on the treadmill to lower her stress level). The first step is to use the soda,then bring the choco-cappicino to her desk. After that she'll be in turbo mode. Just constantly go back and forth (with your super soda speed)grabbing tasks and putting it on her desk. You can easily get 40-50 tasks done repeating this process over and over again.

I have finished all the levels with 3 stars for each of them. I know what I'm talking about :D

super fain jucati si voi

just finished it! finally a challenging game! so hard at the end!

Here's a mini strategy for episode 28 (this is the most difficult stage in the game - it took me 3 days and the most any episode took me was about 2 hours. )The key is on the first day is to chat up with Denise and giving the Technical tasks to Winston and Financial tasks to Nadine. As soon as the stage starts you must chat up right away at the water cooler, when the time runs down to 35-30 seconds (you must gauge wether there are Art tasks - the more Art tasks on the table - you must get Denise seated at 35 seconds remaining.) then when you get some cash - try to lower the stress level of Winston and Nadine, you then get back with Nadine at the water cooler for the 2nd time - get atleast 15-20 seconds more, delegate and lower the stress level then finish off the chatting. Getting this 3 tasks on the first day is part of the key in winnning this stage. Then on the 2nd day, you must get Denise to get all the tasks as the main priority. Good luck! this stage is HARD!

In episode 28, you can make Denise can chat almost continuously for 60 seconds if it is one of your last objectives and you have plenty of petty cash. Just alternate between eating brownies and talking at the water cooler. You can simply ignore all the work tasks coming in. Just concentrate on talking and keeping your own stress level down with the brownies. Soda helps you walk faster, even if you're just walking from the lift to the water cooler. This worked for me. But be sure you complete the other tasks first!

I love this game, but ughgh! it's impossible. i've completed everything, but going back and trying to finish each level in the days required is impossible. on the level i'm stuck 5-2 the time for each task goes OVER the five days!! or there isn't enough work to give out... grrr... but otherwise. i love this game!

Woot i need miss management 2 pls!! i really enjoyed this more than any other..this unique! i think stage 28 had me stuck in it also but u gotta have your strategy to pass it..

now my goal is to get on all those stars!

does anyone know when spintop games or arcade town will get miss management? x

I installed this game and when I restarted my computer later that night I got an error saying I have an invalid or damaged bootable partition. Can anyone help me get this fixed? PLS!!!

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