Papa's Cupcakeria Guide: Batter, Bake Times and Frosting That Scores

Papa's Cupcakeria is gentle for the first few days and then gets busy fast. Four stations, one oven that keeps running while you are elsewhere, and customers who judge every part of the cupcake. Here is how each station works and how to keep the scores high.

How a customer is scored

Each order is marked on four things: how long the customer waited, how well the liners were filled, how close the bake was to the time on the ticket, and how the cupcakes were built. The four scores add up to the tip and the points that move you towards the next rank. A new rank brings new customers, new batters and new toppings, so a clean score early pays off later.

Order Station

Click the customer at the counter and listen: the ticket shows the liner colour, the batter, the bake time and the frosting and toppings for each cupcake. Drag the ticket onto the rail. It follows you to every station, so you can read it again at any time.

Batter Station

Drag the liners from the side into the tray, then pick the batter the ticket names and hold it over a liner to pour. Stop at the line. The batter score looks at how much went into each cup, so a spill over the top loses as much as a half-empty liner.

• Slow down at the end. Pour most of it quickly, then ease off as you get close.
• Buy the fill line. This upgrade draws a clear line inside each liner. It turns batter into free points.
• Double Batter lets you pour two liners at once. Buy it once your aim is steady.

Bake Station

Drag the tray into an oven. A dial fills as it bakes; pull the tray out when it reaches the time on the ticket. Pulling early or late both cost points. The oven does not stop while you are at another station, which is both the trick of the game and the easiest way to burn a tray.

The habit that changes everything: start the next tray baking before you frost the current one. Frosting takes a little while, baking takes longer, and doing them side by side is how good players keep the queue short.

Build Station

Choose the frosting and drag the bag over the cupcake in small circles, working from the edge in until the top is covered. The game grades the coverage: bare cake and frosting that slips off the side lower the build score. Then come the shakers (sprinkles and the like), the drizzles, and the placed toppings such as cherries or cookies, which must be dropped on the cupcake. One that falls off does not count.

The Frosting Copier upgrade copies a finished frosting onto the next cupcake. Frost one carefully, copy it, and you have two good tops for the effort of one.

What to buy first

1. The fill line for the batter.
2. Oven timers, so you hear when a tray is ready while you frost.
3. A doorbell, so you know when someone walks in.
4. Double Batter and the Frosting Copier once the days get long.
5. Lobby furniture, which keeps waiting customers happier.

Saving

Cupcakeria has three save slots stored in your browser. Use the same browser to come back to the same bakery. Private windows and clearing site data start you over on Day 1.