Games to kill time: quick high-score runs

When you need to kill five minutes on a commute, in a queue or during a break, a long campaign is the last thing you want. There's no final level here, only a score that keeps climbing until you slip up. A run can last a few seconds or several minutes, and after a loss it's hard not to hit retry straight away.

The mechanics differ from game to game. Flappy UFO revives the flappy genre with a space shuttle weaving between obstacles. In Reaction Game: Flap! your character climbs ever higher, grabbing coins and trying not to get crushed by closing blocks. Dangerous Bridge: Runner asks you to stop moving bridge sections at the right moment so your car can keep driving, with the coins you collect unlocking new skins. Sand Blocks: Clear the Lines turns falling tetrominoes into sand and offers a dedicated endless mode alongside its campaign. For something with more firepower, Toxic Arena: Biological Threat is a survivors-style roguelite with ever-growing waves of mutants.

This set is for anyone who likes to compete, even if only against their own best. The Clouds has a full player ranking, so you can see how your score stacks up, and its one-button controls make it easy to play on a bus or in a queue.