Smartphones have always been designed to help us communicate with each other, whether it’s via text, calls or some other medium. But over recent years we’ve seen mobile gaming grow into an integral part of the mobile experience.

But when did games turn from a short bit of entertainment, into something that could dominate hours or even days of our lives?

Now, we can find ourselves sitting down at 6pm with our phones, and quickly losing an hour or two playing some random game that is immensely addictive. So, to help you out, we’ve put together just three of the games that are guaranteed to make you late for work, or school, or bed…

Temple Run 2

For those of you that don’t know what Temple Run 2 is, the premise is pretty simple; you run as far through an endless temple as possible whilst avoiding obstacles and keeping ahead of a giant undead ape.

It doesn’t sound addictive, but once you try it you’ll be hooked, quickly climbing the ranks from a lowly explorer who doesn’t last 5 minutes, to a veteran traveller who can play for upward of half an hour without dying.

Power-ups and upgrades help keep users interested and help you last longer when speed and difficulty intensifies in a game guaranteed to make you miss your stop if you’re travelling to work on the bus.

Words with Friends

We’ve all played a game of Scrabble with our Nan or our Granddad, and Words with Friends is essentially the same game, only on our smartphones, linking us with friends and family via the internet.

The rules are simple, you try and outscore your opponent by using your letters to create higher scoring words, using double or triple letter/word tiles along the way.

It all sounds friendly to begin with, but this game quickly turns into an all-out word-war capable of sapping away hours of your day, only for you to lose on your last word. Whilst some argue that it boosts intelligence, others are proof that it induces word based rage, often resulting in mental breakdown (we’re using hyperbole here of course).

Flappy Bird

Arguably the craze of 2014 so far, Flappy Bird captured to world’s heart with its incredibly high difficulty level and quick restart style, drawing users into hours of mobile ‘fun’.

We use quotations here because often users aren’t really having fun playing Flappy Bird, instead they are purely gritting their teeth to nubs through sheer anger, trying to last more than six seconds on the game.

It involves guiding a bird through a series of obstacles, but you quickly discover that this is not an easy task. It takes days to master the game to a level where you can comfortably make a score of 50+, and this is still a below average score compared to some of the top scores in the game.

You see a fill list of the 7 most addictive games right here, including a video package showing off each games quality.