Leaving work on time sounds simple until the boss turns around. These ten tips will get you through the cubicle farm, past the glass office and out of the building with your evening intact.
1. Watch the floor, not the faces
Every coworker who can catch you projects a vision cone onto the floor. If your feet are in it while they can see you, your suspicion rises. Learn where the cones sweep and move in the gaps.
2. Glass is a window both ways
A glass wall stops you walking through it, but it does not stop anyone looking through it. The boss’s glass office is not cover. Pass it when he has turned back to his screen, not before.
3. Crouch behind anything waist-high
Cubicle partitions and cabinets hide you, but only while you are crouched. Usable cover lights up with a yellow frame — snap into it with ACT and stay low.
4. Peek before you commit
From cover you can lean round a corner to see who is coming. Two seconds of peeking beats five minutes of “quick chat.”
5. Jog only when you have to
Pushing the stick all the way makes Dev jog. It is fast, but it is loud and it burns stamina. Sneaking is quiet, though never completely silent.
6. Never bump into a colleague
A seated coworker in your path is not an obstacle to squeeze past — touching them is an instant catch. Go round.
7. Lift or stairs? Read the forecast
At the lift lobby you choose your way down, with a risk forecast to help. The lift is quick, but somebody may get in. When they draw breath for a “So, Dev—”, hold ACT to fake a phone call. Faking it drains your stamina, so you cannot hold it forever — time it to the moment they glance at you.
8. On the stairs, freeze when the Chairman listens
On Monday the Chairman smokes on the Stair A landing and every so often stops to listen down the stairwell. Move while he is listening and he will call you back up for a walk-and-talk. Treat it like red light, green light — and watch for the wet floor halfway down.
9. Getting caught is a conversation, not a game over
When someone stops you, the scene waits for your move: nod along, push back or lose it entirely. Different people react differently to a “no”, and losing it is very funny and very final. Choose carefully — every task you accept costs minutes you do not have.
10. Protect the streak
OUTCLOCK counts consecutive escapes and your bests for every clean getaway. A clean run is worth more than a fast one — and one bad day can end a streak you spent all week building.
Bonus: use the week against itself
Each day has its own tricks. On Friday, announce cake at the pantry counter and most of the roaming floor wanders off to it for half a minute. It works once a run, it is loud, and anyone already looking your way sees you do it. The guard on the turnstile, sadly, will not move for cake — you will need another way past him.
New to the game? Start with our Android guide, then go and get to know the people standing between you and the exit.
