Great games for five-minute gaps

Some of my favorite mobile games are the ones I can open at a bus stop and close cleanly when the bus arrives. That's a specific design skill, and not every game has it.

The best short-session games save your progress instantly and never punish you for leaving mid-run. Arcade titles with quick levels are ideal, and so are farming sims where the world simply waits for you.

What kills a game for short bursts is a long unskippable intro or a match that traps you for fifteen minutes once you start. If I can't safely put a game down within thirty seconds, it drops off my phone fast.

Match the game to the moment. Save the sprawling RPGs for the couch and keep something snappy in a folder for the in-between minutes.