Life is full of situations where you find yourself waiting in line. It could be at the restaurant waiting for a table, the doctor's office, in the carpool line at school or simply waiting for the wife to get ready to leave the house.
Fortunately, the Windows Store is full of great time-wasting games that can help these waits move along a little faster. These games are easy to play, addictive and help you tune out the frustration of the wait.
We have sifted through the Windows Store for the best time waster games. It was a difficult task narrowing things down with so many quality games available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, but these titles are a great starting point for building up your collection of time wasters.
Tentacles: Enter the Mind
Tentacles: Enter the Mind is a wonderfully animated platformer where you guide Lemmy, a blob-like creature, through a scientist's brain that has been invaded by an odd assortment of creatures.
You travel around Dr. Phluff's mind, stretching Lemmy's tentacles, jumping from point to point and battling a host of subconscious creatures. You can collect gold, discover hidden eggs and unlock special powers as you explore the depths of the doctor's mind. You can use the gold collected during gameplay to unlock customizations for Lemmy (capes, hats, etc.) and buy power-ups (shields, bombs, berserker mode).
Gameplay is simple to get the hang of and levels of play (or missions) can be completed in a few minutes. If you prefer, there is also a Survival Mode that is well suited for short gaming spurts.
Graphics are colorful and full of detail, gameplay challenges your skills at strategy and timing and the Xbox achievements help give the game depth. Available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, Tentacles: Enter the Mind is a free, ad-supported game.
Download Tentacles: Enter the Mind from the Windows Store
Threes!
If you've played 2048, you will enjoy the original (and best): Threes! This Windows 10 Mobile game has you sliding numbered tiles around a 4x4 grid, merging matching tiles.
You begin by merging 1 and 2 numbered tiles to create a 3 tile. From there you swipe the tiles around to merge matching numbers, which in turns creates a new tile with the sum of the numbers merges. For example, merging two tiles with the number 12 creates a tile numbered 24. But it all begins with the creation of a 3.
Each swipe adds a new tile to the game board and a game ends when you run out of moves. The final score is based on the values of the tiles you leave on the board. High scores are saved locally with an image of your final grouping of tiles.
Graphics are minimal, but look good, and gameplay offers a nice strategic challenge where you need to stay one or two moves ahead. The free game is a great choice for when you have a little time to waste and your game progress is saved, should you need to shut things down early.
Threes! is available for Windows 10 Mobile and an excellent numbers game to have around.
Download Threes! from the Windows Store
Candy Crush Jelly Saga
Match-three games can be challenging time wasters and the Candy Crush series of Windows 10 games are hard to beat. The Jelly Saga edition of the game has you battling a jiggling Jelly Queen for candy domination.
Candy Crush Jelly Saga offers several games modes where you battle the Queen in turn-based competition, cover the game board with jelly as you create matches, shatter all the frosting covered candy and more. Each of 420 levels of gameplay has limits on the number of moves you can make and plenty of power-ups that can be created with matches greater than three.
One nice feature of Candy Crush Jelly Saga is that the game can be played in both vertical and horizontal orientation. Vertical orientation lends itself to one-handed game play while landscape views offers a little more elbow room.
Graphics are bright and colorful with gameplay having a challenging difficulty level. Candy Crush Jelly Saga is a free game with a few in-app purchase opportunities. There is a slight addictive pull to the game and Candy Crush Jelly Saga is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile.
Download Candy Crush Jelly Sage from the Windows Store
Chickens Can't Fly
Chickens Can't Fly is a fun game of survival where you have to guide a falling chicken past a series of deadly dangers and safely land them on a pile of pillows. Based from a chicken-powered science facility the fowl are used to test the effects of gravity through more than 80 levels of play.
Available for Windows 10 Mobile, you use your phone's tilt sensors to guide the falling chicken past dangers such as saw blades, spikes and hovering spinning blades. As you plummet downwards, gold coins can be collected and used to buy chicken skins and more.
If you need any help surviving the fall, Chickens Can't Fly includes over 30 power-ups that range from shields, magnets and more. You also have power-downs that you want to avoid that place your chicken at a disadvantage. These power-downs have a red glow and need to be avoided at all cost. For example, a red banana makes your chicken larger and more difficult to dodge dangers.
Graphics are well drawn up with plenty of detail and lively animations. Gameplay is challenging and overall, Chickens Can't Fly is a fun way to pass the time. The free trial gives you access to the tutorial levels and to unlock the full game, which includes all levels of play, customizations and downloadable ringtones, costs you $0.99.
Download Chickens Can't Fly from the Windows Store
Hill Climb Racing
Hill Climb Racing places you behind an assortment of vehicles, playing the role of Newton Bill. Bill's a young and aspiring hill racer and you help him embark on a journey that takes him where no hill climber has gone before.
The free game is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, includes a nice variety of vehicles to unlock (trucks, jeeps, tanks, semis, etc.). Hill Climb Racing plays out like an endless runner where you guide Newton Bill across various hilly courses. Along the way, you collect coins that can be used to upgrade or unlock vehicles and unlock additional courses.
Course environments include Countryside, Desert, Artic, the Moon, Caves and more. You can even race across rainbows (not sure if unicorns are present).
On-screen controls are simple to use and include a gas pedal and brake pedal. The key to survival is twofold. First, you need to make sure the vehicle doesn't run out of gas by collecting re-fueling tanks along the route. Second, make sure you don't go too fast, hit a bump and flip the vehicle.
Hill Climb Racing offers modest graphics and animations that are full of color and detail. The difficulty level is nicely balanced, challenging your skills at timing, patience and luck. All in all, Hill Climb Racing is a solid Windows 10 game and a fun time waster when you need help burning a little down time.
Download Hill Climb Racing from the Windows Store
If you need help passing the time, these titles are fantastic options to try. If you have tried any of these Windows 10 games, let us know what you think of things in the comments below. We know that there are other excellent time-waster games in the Windows Store. If we've missed your favorite title, feel free to share your recommendation in the comments as well.