While I could sing the praises of InDesign ad infinitum, it is software for creating work… it’s not exactly a Playstation 3 in terms of fun.

There are plenty of ways of goofing-off during work, most involve the internet, smartphones, or both. But is there a way to take a five minute breather from the task ahead, without leaving Adobe InDesign? Well now the answer is yes!

Tetris for InDesign

This popular Russian puzzle game has been available from DTP tools as a free download since the early versions of Creative Suite, and is indeed still available as a free download for both Mac and Windows for versions up to CS6.

UPDATE 2013-12-29: Scripter Marc Autret has developed his own version written in Extendscript:

Space Invaders for InDesign

Initially a project by Philipp Geuder for the workshop “typography and automation” by Fabian Morón Zirfas, this is more of a demonstration of the power of javascripting rather than an app for entertainment. At the same time, Philipp has done an absolutely amazing job of turning InDesign into an environment to play his take on the popular title “Space Invaders” using only javascripting. While the aim of the workshop was to learn the basics of JavaScript for Adobe applications to apply this in automated layouts and generative art, I think Philipp has missed the mark a little, but clearly demonstrated tremendous scripting talent.

InDesign’s Easter Eggs

There are a few “easter eggs” in Adobe InDesign which have been well documented on the internet, so rather than paraphrase what has been written succinctly  elsewhere, I feel the linked article says it all.

Tomaxxi’s Shortcut Guide

Marijan Tompa (aka Tomaxxi) is a Graphic Designer, scripter, and certainly a go-to guy in the InDesign community. Based in Serbia, he is the creator of many ingenious scripts which any serious InDesigner should have in their repertoire. Nevertheless, he has created an interactive guide to InDesign Shortcuts (using only Adobe InDesign nonetheless) which, while it isn’t a game, is a lot of fun to prod, click, and draw inspiration from in terms of what can be done with interactivity using only InDesign.

Tomaxxi’s browser within InDesign

Again, Marijan has created his competitor to the likes of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer – TomaxxiBrowse! OK, sarcasm aside, what Marijan has created is an internet browser which is actually a panel within Adobe InDesign.

These are some brief examples of InDesign being used for recreation rather than work, but if there any others which may be out there, feel free to add them by posting!