Noa The GameAbout us
Noa The Game is a Swedish digital co-op game for building individual habits, together.
Who is Noa?
Noa is a neuron. A nerve cell, that is.
The character was born long before the app. Fredrik and his mother sewed a neuron in fabric for a dear friend's baby shower, a girl, so it was named Nora the Neuron. Then they kept playing with the idea and started writing children's books about her.
The distinctive neuron stayed with Fredrik as a symbolic insight: a habit is not an abstract idea about discipline, the neuron is something physical that gets built in the brain, connection by connection. When Fredrik turned his own life around, that insight was what carried him through heavy days — he only needed to maintain the physical connection being built in his brain, and it would get easier with time.
In the game, Noa is the one who greets you, helps you get started and guides you until you've built your own nerve connection. The game was named after the character, to carry that symbolism on to other players.
How the method grew.
- 2020, an experiment at ENV Media.The method started in the fall of 2020 inside a fully remote company with people in nine countries, under the name Watering Together. The image was the same even then: you plant a seed, water it, tend it and iterate as the habit grows. Each person chose a habit of their own, reported yes or no every day and told their group once a week how it had gone. Why "together"? Because everyone worked on their own individual habit, but they did it together.The case is here →
- The players asked for a game.That wasn't the original idea. But the people who tested the method wanted more of what kept them coming back: a character to build, streaks to protect, something to look forward to. Fenix, who was there from the start, described the method as "a cheat code to connecting with the human behind the colleague", and was one of those who asked for the game.
- The expensive lesson.The company set up to build the product quickly grew into a team of ten, in under a year. The technology became too complex and too slow to evolve together with the players. Many millions later it was clear everything had to be torn down and rebuilt, simpler.
- 2026, Noa The Game.What remains is what proved to hold. The report, yes or no every weekday. The group of five and the weekly call. Breathing, as short exercises and as daily live sessions. And two months, roughly the time it takes most people before a habit runs on its own.How it works →
Why we exist.
We help people establish habits. That's the whole mission, and every tool and feature we build is developed with that in mind.
And underneath it all lies the thought the whole method rests on: build yourself for the people you love. So your partner gets a stronger partner, who is you. So your kids get a stronger parent.
We take care of ourselves to be able to be something for others.
Who is behind it.
Noa The Game was founded by Fredrik Brännlund, who built the method inside his own company. Today he leads the live breathing sessions, takes part in the calls and speaks about habits, energy and engagement. More about Fredrik, and press photos →
Contact us.
Book half an hour and we'll look at your situation together, or just write a few lines. No ten-field forms, we'd rather read your sentence than your checkboxes.