The ‘‘$in TIME’’ Gamification Project: Using a Mobile App to Improve Cardiorespiratory Fitness Levels of College Students Mora González, José Rafael Pérez López, Isaac José Delgado Fernández, Manuel Aerobic fitness Health Innovation Objective: To examine the effects of a gamification teaching program, including the use of a game-based mobile app on the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels of college students. Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 117 college students (20.1 – 2.9 years). They belonged to two different class groups, one formed the intervention group (IG, n = 58) and another one the control group (CG, n = 59). IG college students followed a 16-week gamification teaching program focused on encouraging physical activity (PA) through a game-based mobile app. The program was named ‘‘$in TIME’’ and set in the ‘‘In Time’’ science fiction movie. Each student belonging to the IG had a countdown on their mobile app so they had to perform learning and PA challenges to gain time. Thus, they had to run or cycle 3 to 5 days per week to gain time of life. The CG followed a traditional teaching methodology instead. CRF was assessed preintervention and postintervention using the 20-meter shuttle run test (20mSRT). Results: The stages completed in 20mSRT and the estimated maximal oxygen consumption at postinterven- tion were significantly different between groups (P < 0.001, d p 0.7), with a mean difference of 1.2 stages and 3.69 mL/(kg$min), respectively. Analysis within group showed a significant pre-post improvement only in the IG of 1.4 stages (P < 0.001). Conclusion: A gamification program, including the use of a game-based mobile app in a university setting, had a significant effect on the CRF in college students, in comparison with a CG that follows a traditional teaching methodology. 2026-01-15T08:54:58Z 2026-01-15T08:54:58Z 2020 journal article Publisher version: Mora-Gonzalez, J., Pérez-López, I. J., & Delgado-Fernández, M. (2020). The “$in TIME” gamification project: using a mobile app to improve cardiorespiratory fitness levels of college students. Games for health journal, 9(1), 37-44. DOI: 10.1089/g4h.2019.0001 2161-783X 2161-7856 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109724 10.1089/g4h.2019.0001 eng open access SAGE Publications