The best genres for five-minute sessions

Most mobile gaming happens in gaps — a train platform, a lift, a kettle boiling. The games that work best are the ones built around that reality instead of fighting it.

Puzzle games are the obvious fit. A single level of Gridlock Garden takes a minute, and you can stop the instant your stop arrives. Arcade racers like Neon Drift Rally work the same way, with races short enough to finish before a traffic light changes.

What ruins short sessions is anything that punishes you for leaving. Games without mid-level saves, or that reset your progress if you close the app, simply don't belong on a phone. I've dropped otherwise good games for exactly this reason.

My rule of thumb: if a game can't be meaningfully played in five minutes and left cleanly, it's a tablet or console game wearing a phone costume. The best mobile design assumes you'll be interrupted.