Cooking Mania Express

The pitch is speed but the game is really about order. Dishes take different lengths of time and several run unattended, so the players who do well are the ones who start the slow items first and fill the gaps rather than the ones who tap fastest.

Growth between levels is the second layer. Takings buy equipment and menu expansions, and expanding the menu before expanding the kitchen produces exactly the traffic jam you would expect — a recurring trap in this genre and one this game is unusually honest about.

It runs in a wide layout with the pass along the bottom. Comfortable on a desktop, workable on a phone, and busy enough by the middle levels that a small screen starts to cost you orders.

1. Start the longest-cooking item on the ticket first.
2. Fill the waiting time with faster dishes.
3. Collect each item as it finishes and plate the order.
4. Invest takings in equipment before adding menu items.

Expand the kitchen before the menu. New dishes pull in customers who order them, and a wider menu against the same stations is how a comfortable level becomes unwinnable.