Quick Free Games to Play When Bored at Work

Rounds that end fast, and games you can stop any time

Three of the six end on their own within a couple of minutes. A Carrot Pop round is about 30 seconds and ends when you gather 20 carrots or make a fourth mistake. A Pillowcloud Drift route takes about a minute and ends at the Bedtime Moon, or sooner if three bumps or an empty dream wake Naps. A Ghost Parade night lasts under two minutes and ends when every ghost has arrived somewhere. These three play in real time, so each has a pause button: the toolbar pause in Carrot Pop, and in Ghost Parade it stops the parade at any time. In Pillowcloud Drift, pause freezes the sky, the dream meter and every moving hazard.

The other three have no clock. Mossy Stack says there is no timer, and you can let a log pass and drop it on the next swing. Book Nook Shuffle has no clock or turn limit, and undo is free. Pie Perfect has no timer and no limit on tries, and undo, Clear and hints cost nothing. Their estimates run from 1 to 5 minutes, and each also has a toolbar pause.

A caution: Carrot Pop’s page says it needs visual target recognition and timed reactions, and Mossy Stack calls itself a visual timing game. If you want no time pressure at all, pick Book Nook Shuffle or Pie Perfect.

Playing with the sound off

Every page describes sound as optional. Carrot Pop says sound is not needed to identify targets. Ghost Parade and Pie Perfect say sound is optional and never needed to play. In Pillowcloud Drift, every crumb, ring, bump, warning and finish has a visible cue, and sound can stay muted. Mossy Stack has optional sound and pause in the toolbar, and Book Nook Shuffle’s optional sounds use the shared mute control.

The toolbar across the top of each game has the sound control next to pause, restart, help and fullscreen, as in the Mossy Stack screenshot below.

Picking up where you left off

Saving differs a lot between these six, so check before you start something you may be pulled away from. Pie Perfect is the one that keeps your place mid-order: it saves best stars, open courses and the pie on the counter with the cuts you have made, on your device. Book Nook Shuffle saves ribbons, best turns and open puzzles in this browser on this device, but a puzzle in progress starts over if you leave the page.

Ghost Parade saves open neighborhoods, nights finished and your best night in each, but a night in progress is not saved. Pillowcloud Drift saves stars, best scores and open routes in the browser’s local storage, and a route in progress is not saved. Mossy Stack saves your best height, streak and score in this browser, and a run in progress is not saved. Carrot Pop saves nothing, so reloading starts at the ready screen.

For the games where a round in progress is not saved, the rounds are short enough that finishing one is usually easier than resuming it.

Check your workplace rules first

Many workplaces have rules about playing games on work devices or during work time, and some block game sites altogether. Check your employer’s policy, and ask if it is unclear. If games are not allowed on work equipment, you can play them on your own phone or computer during a lunch or scheduled break. Nothing on these pages changes the rules where you work.