Seven Games for a Five-Minute Break
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Five minutes is an awkward amount of time. It is too short to start anything serious and too long to stare at the wall. It is, however, exactly right for a small game, provided you pick one that starts instantly and ends by itself. Here are seven from this site that fit, and what each one is good for.
1. Reflex Test: for waking up
Time needed: one minute.
Reflex Test measures how quickly you react when the screen changes from red to green, and gives you the answer in milliseconds. Each attempt takes a few seconds. Do five and take your average.
It makes a good first game of the day because it is honest. If your times are slow, you are tired, and no amount of coffee-fuelled confidence will argue with the number.
2. Target Tap: for restless hands
Time needed: thirty seconds a round.
Circles appear and shrink, and you tap them before they vanish. Target Tap lasts exactly half a minute, so you can fit several rounds into a short break and still know precisely when you will be finished. It is pure hand-eye coordination with nothing to think about, which is sometimes just what you need after an hour of thinking.
3. Tic Tac Toe vs CPU: for a quick win
Time needed: under a minute a game.
Noughts and crosses against the computer sounds too simple to bother with, but this version plays a sensible game. It will block you and it will take a win if you leave one. Beating it requires setting up two threats at once. Working out how is a satisfying little problem, and you will know within a few games whether you have cracked it.
4. Treasure Dig: for a spot of logic
Time needed: about a minute a round.
A treasure is hidden under one of sixty-four tiles, and you have ten digs. Each miss changes colour to tell you how near you are. Treasure Dig is a tiny exercise in deduction: two or three well-chosen digs narrow the search to a handful of squares. It is a calm game with no clock, and good for clearing your head.
5. Penalty Shootout: for settling something
Time needed: fifteen seconds.
Five penalties, one goalkeeper. Penalty Shootout is the shortest complete game on this list, and that makes it ideal for deciding who makes the tea. Each person takes a turn, and the most goals out of five wins. Aim for the corners.
6. Tower Stack: for focus
Time needed: one to two minutes.
A block slides back and forth, and you tap to drop it on the tower. Anything that overhangs is cut off, so the tower gets narrower with every mistake. Tower Stack is all about timing, and it has a way of narrowing your attention to a single moving edge. A couple of rounds works rather like a short breathing exercise, with a score at the end.
7. Fruit Memory Match: for slowing down
Time needed: two to three minutes.
Sixteen cards, eight pairs of fruit, and no timer at all. Fruit Memory Match counts your moves, not your seconds, so there is no rush. It is the most restful game here, and a good choice if your break is meant to calm you down.
How to choose
Match the game to the kind of break you need.
If your mind is tired, pick something physical and thoughtless: Target Tap or Tower Stack.
If you have been doing something dull and repetitive, pick something that makes you think: Treasure Dig or Tic Tac Toe.
If you are tense, choose a game without a clock: Fruit Memory Match.
If you are with other people, choose something with a clear score that takes seconds: Penalty Shootout or Reflex Test.
Keeping a five-minute break to five minutes
The risk with short games is obvious. One more go becomes ten more. Two simple rules help.
Decide the number of rounds before you start. Three rounds of Target Tap is ninety seconds, and when the third one ends, you are done.
Prefer games with a built-in ending. A game on a thirty-second timer finishes whether you like it or not. An endless game finishes only when you fail, which is exactly the moment you most want to try again.
Used like that, a small game is a decent way to spend a short break: a proper change of activity, a small challenge, and a clear point at which to go back to what you were doing.