Hooked Once Again To Casual Social Games

Yes, I admit it—I am once again hooked to casual social games, particularly those found on the phenomenal social networking website known as Facebook. Not to Zynga's smash hit Farmville, though, but PlayFish's Restaurant City. This is despite the fact that my better half—formerly known in some circles as the Perfect World yuling (elf priestess) Cesky, the Ragnarok Online blacksmith TikaWaylan, and the Atlantica Online staff main Elphame—is playing Farmville like there is no tomorrow.

Why Restaurant City? Well, the first reason, I guess, is because this particular game is my first Facebook application, upon the goading of friend Khang, a girl gamer (although I can't exactly classify her as the girly type) who haunts the Philippine servers of Perfect World.

Now, I'm on my own, and I've found a challenge to hurdle. I need to get my virtual restaurant's popularity up. Ashamed as I am to admit it, the sudden resurgence of my interest in Restaurant City has caused my restaurant's popularity to dip from 30.5 points out of a maximum 50 to a pitiful 16.3 points.



I've mapped out a plan to get not only my restaurant's popularity up, but also my gourmet points (the basis for leveling up in Restaurant City). Let's go check it out:

Renovate My Restaurant City Resto. Hey, I've got about 30,000 coins with nothing better to spend on. I've come to realize how important a good layout is to achieving success not only in real world restaurants but virtual ones as well. My current setup sucks and contributes a lot to the decline of popularity. From what I've gleaned from the virtual restos of my friends and neighbors, a good layout means corralling incoming customers long enough for your staff—primarily cooks and waiters—to cope with the orders. You can do this by using dividers or walls or whatever item that can block movement and forming something like a maze from door to tables.

Fix My Restaurant City Staff Assignments. At my current level, I have five staff members. I assign three of them as cooks and two as waiters. The problem with this setup is the two waiters have nothing to do in the first minute or so after the first customer comes in. When all the tables are filled, however, I'd need to step up both cooking and waiting on tables. What complicates matters is the fact that toilets often get clogged, so I change the designation of one of my staff members from cook or waiter to janitor. I haven't figured out how to fix the staff assignments, but I'm sure the answer will come to me soon.

Try My Best To Stay Active In Restaurant City. Tall order, especially since I have to work. Playing on a workday is a big no-no. Believe me, I've tried it, and it sucks because it saps your remaining time for rest. My best bet is to play on weekends, and even this is difficult. But if I am to become a virtual restaurant mogul, I better step up my game.

Well, that's it for now. If you have suggestions on how to get my Restaurant City mojo going, do leave a comment.