Cooking Mania

About this game

Cooking Mania puts you behind the counter as a chef, and the publisher frames the objective as running a restaurant rather than clearing stages. Orders arrive, food has to be prepared and assembled, and the counter is the only thing standing between the two.

The progression is a chain of venues rather than a level ladder. The publisher lists five in rising difficulty — Burger Fast Food, Burger Restaurant, Fish Fast Food, Fish Restaurant and Steak Restaurant — each with upgrades bought from coins and gold.

How to play

Food is cooked by tapping or clicking it, and the tutorial then prompts you to combine items and serve the finished order. Preparation is therefore three distinct acts rather than one, and an order sits waiting between each of them.

Burned or unwanted food is discarded with a double tap or double click. That the game gives waste its own deliberate gesture is a signal in itself: leaving a mistake on the counter costs more than the ingredient did.

Tips

• Start the slowest item first and assemble around it. Cooking runs while you are doing something else, so an order begun early is finishing while the next one is still being tapped in.
• Clear burned food the moment you notice it. Discarding takes a deliberate double tap, and a spoiled item occupies the station it is sitting on until you do, which stalls every order that needs the same station.
• Spend on upgrades before power-ups when a venue opens. Upgrades change the restaurant permanently, while the publisher describes power-ups as temporary, so early coins are worth more in the fixtures than in a boost.

Provider details

The provider's listing files Cooking Mania under casual and restaurant. It names five restaurants arranged in rising difficulty, lists restaurant upgrades, power-ups, coins, gold, level and time indicators, settings, instructions and a tutorial, and describes power-ups as temporary rather than permanent.