Nowadays, gamification has gained widespread acceptance in education. However, limited studies have focused on whether and how game-based learning impacts university students' creativity. This study aims to explore the relationship between university students' engagement in game-based learning and their creativity. By drawing upon flow theory principles, we conducted interviews with nine actively participating university students in game-based learning. The findings highlight that game-based learning stimulates the generation of novel ideas and fosters the adoption of innovative behaviours among students. Subsequently, an empirical study involving 142 undergraduate students was conducted, utilising game-based learning as an intervention. The results demonstrate a significant positive effect of game-based learning on university students' creativity. Furthermore, the effect varied among individuals with different personality traits: game-based learning exhibited stronger effects for individuals characterised by high conscientiousness, low openness, or a combination of low neuroticism and high openness.