Quick games for a five-minute break

Not every gaming session needs a save file and an evening. These eight games are for a coffee break, the end of a lunch hour or the time it takes the kettle to boil. A run lasts seconds or a few minutes, starting again is instant, and most of them use one button or one gesture, so you can play with a mouse, a keyboard or a phone. Your best scores are kept in your browser, so even a short break can beat a record.

AXE THROW

AXE THROW is a spinning log and one button. Tap to throw an axe straight up into the wood, and every axe you land keeps turning with the log. Hit one that is already stuck and it is a CLANG, and the run is over. Land the right number of axes and the log splits apart and the next one drops in, with a boss log with a carved face every fifth stage. Coins buy new axes, and beating each boss earns one you cannot buy.

It is easy to understand in a second, and the logs soon start speeding up, stopping and flipping direction. Tip: throw your first few axes quickly while the log is empty. Throws less than half a second apart build a SWIFT combo, and from x3 every axe scores double.

PRISM

PRISM is a one-button climb up a neon tower. Each tap hops a glowing ball up a little, and every obstacle is split into four colours. You can only pass through the part that matches your ball, and switch orbs change your colour between shapes. Stars you collect on the way buy new ball styles. There is a gentle CLASSIC mode and a faster RUSH mode that skips the warm-up.

A run can end in seconds, which is the point: retry is one press away. Tip: small, even taps keep the ball floating in place under an obstacle. Hover there until your colour swings round, then tap quickly to go through.

GRAZE

GRAZE is a one-button neon dodger. Your arrow flies at a steep angle through tunnels of walls, spikes and saws: hold to climb, let go to dive. Flying close past things without touching them is a graze, which builds a combo of up to x10 and fills a Phase meter that lets you ghost through one crash. There is an endless mode, a 90-second daily course that is the same for everyone, and 24 world levels of under about a minute each.

It is the most intense game on this list, with brief white flashes on crashes and speed-ups. On a phone it wants to be held sideways. Tip: the graze zone is much wider than your hitbox, so fly along the faint strip inside each wall on purpose.

CURVEBALL

CURVEBALL is a free-kick game in a floodlit stadium, played with one swipe up from the ball. The direction of the swipe aims the shot, its length sets the height, its speed sets the power, and bowing it out to one side curls the ball. There are thirty short challenges of three to five balls each, bringing in walls, wind, moving walls and better keepers, and an endless Sudden Death mode where one miss ends it.

A single challenge is only three to five balls, and one goal is always enough to pass it. Tip: the keeper cannot read curl or wind, so a shot that bends late into the far corner beats even the best keeper in the game.

MOONSHOT SLUGGER

MOONSHOT SLUGGER is a home run derby under the lights. Put the aim circle on the pitch and swing just as it reaches you. On a phone, one tap on the ball aims and swings together. Only home runs count, and a round ends after ten outs or 30 pitches. Eight stages add changeups, curveballs and sliders and get faster each time, with golden balls and rings in the stands for extra points.

It fits a short break because letting a bad pitch go by costs nothing, so you can play at your own pace. Tip: swing a fraction before the ball reaches the batter, not when it arrives, and aim a little low on curveballs.

CROSSING

CROSSING is a frog hopping up an endless strip of road and river, in the tradition of the 1981 arcade game Frogger, but with a new world every run. Each press is one hop. On the road you avoid the traffic, and on the river you have to land on logs and turtles. The bottom of the screen creeps up after your first hop and gets faster, so you cannot stand and wait for ever.

You get one life, and your score is the furthest row you reach. On a phone, swipe to hop. Tip: turtles dive for about one and a half seconds in every six, so only land on a group that has just come up.

ROOF RUN

ROOF RUN is a one-button runner across a sunset city. Tap to jump the gaps and boxes, hold to slide under hanging neon signs, and run straight through glass towers for a burst of speed. The city speeds up from a jog to more than twice as fast, and a flag on the roof shows where your best run ended. Coins buy four extra runners with perks such as a double jump.

The first two runs show prompts above each new hazard, so you learn every move in about ten seconds. There is screen shake but no flashing. Tip: hold the button in the air to drop fast and land already sliding under a sign.

BEAT DASH

BEAT DASH is a one-button rhythm runner. A neon cube runs across a course built on the beat of a synth track, and you only jump. Touch a spike and you are back at the start in under a second. There are six hand-built levels of about 40 to 45 seconds each, from a chilled 128 BPM up to a brutal 170 BPM, and all six are open from the start.

It is short per attempt but can eat a whole break once you are chasing a level. The practice mode, with checkpoints you can place yourself, helps with the hard parts. Tip: when in doubt, press early. Every jump has some leeway, and the safe side is almost always the early side.

If you only have one minute, AXE THROW, PRISM or a single CURVEBALL challenge fits it. If you have five, BEAT DASH and GRAZE have levels to work through. If you want to play with your phone held upright, AXE THROW, PRISM, CROSSING and ROOF RUN all suit it.