Work-Safe Games: Play on Your Break Without Looking Like You're Slacking

"Work-safe" usually means "no gore, no ads with swearing." We mean something stricter: a game that survives a manager glancing at your monitor. Here's the checklist — and the games that pass it.

The three tests

• The glance test. In half a second, does it read as work? A spreadsheet grid does. A colourful match-3 board does not.
• The exit test. Can you hide it in under a second, with no obvious animation? A one-key boss button does this.
• The tab test. Does it live in a single, work-titled tab instead of a suspicious stack?

Games that pass all three

Every Lazy to Work game is designed against this checklist. Sudoku, Minesweeper, nonograms, backgammon and more — each disguised as Excel or Outlook, each hiding on Esc×3.

The honest caveat

No tool replaces good judgement. Keep breaks short and your work on track. Used that way, a work-safe game is just a smarter coffee. Pick one.