Sometimes you only have a few minutes: a tea break, a queue, the gap between two meetings. The games on this page load quickly, explain themselves on the first screen and let you finish a round, or give up and restart, in well under five minutes. We timed how long each one took to reach its first playable screen and played at least the opening round ourselves. The comments below describe what actually happened.
Brick Breaker Gala
Loaded in about a quarter of a second. Aim, tap once and a whole volley of balls bounces around the bricks. Rounds are short, and the touch controls are some of the neatest we tried.
Asteroid Dodge
Steer a ship with your finger while it fires on its own. We reached a score of 20 on level 1 within seconds. Because it plays one-handed, it is perfect for a quick break on a phone.
Roll or Fall
Tap to turn a rolling cube before it falls off the path. Our first runs ended at a score of 7. Restarts are instant, so a five-minute session is dozens of attempts.
Tennis Dash
A very short reflex game built for portrait phones. It is good for chasing your own high score in a spare minute.
Mini Golf 3D
Drag back and release to putt. Holes are short, and the same control worked with a mouse and a finger. It is bright and easy-going.
Bounce Dunk Frvr
Bank-shot basketball: bounce the ball off the walls into the hoop. It takes a few tries to get the angles right, which is exactly the right amount of challenge for a short break.
Ping Pong Table Tennis
Simple ping-pong rallies against the computer, in a phone-shaped layout. It is quick to learn, but the ball speeds up enough to keep you focused.
Tic tac toe with AI and multiplayer
A tic-tac-toe round takes about 30 seconds. Play it against the AI or pass the phone to a friend.
Grid3
Another fast tic-tac-toe, with Easy and Hard modes and a two-player mode, handy when you want the shortest possible game.
Never Fall
One tap per jump from block to block, and it loaded in about 0.3 seconds. It is very light, but a round lasts seconds, so it fits any gap.
Bubble Shoot Merge Box 2048
Shoot and merge numbered blocks. It loads almost instantly and each board is short, so it suits quick bursts.
Water Sort Puzzle 3
If you would rather relax than react, pour colours between tubes until each tube holds one colour. The early levels take a minute or two each.
Nut Bolt Screw Puzzle Game
Short screw-puzzle levels with a timer. It is a good way to wake your brain up in a few minutes.
Tips for a short session
- Games that load in under a second (Brick Breaker Gala, Never Fall and Bubble Shoot Merge Box 2048 in our tests) are best on slow mobile data.
- Many free games offer rewarded ads for extra lives or coins. You can always skip them. They are optional.
- If you want to measure your reflexes rather than play, try the reaction time test. It takes about 30 seconds.