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Cafe World is cooking up some fun on Facebook
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In 1963, The French Chef, Julia Child entered our living rooms in black and white, and taught us how to cook haute cuisine. In the 70s, Graham Kerr galloped into our lives, and showed us that anyone could be a gourmet. The 80s came along, and The Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith, entered our homes through PBS, and imparted his knowledge of all things culinary, to his viewers, while demonstrating that fine dining didn't necessarily have to mean spending a ton of money. 1993 rolled around, and cable introduced us to the Food Network with its menu of cooking shows for practically every taste. Japan's Iron Chef came to the cable network and established a hardcore foodie audience, as well as several Americanized knockoffs. Now, Tyler Florence, Giada De Laurentiis, Paula Deen, Ina Garten and Guy Fieri have become household names thanks to their shows on Food Network.
In recent years, Gordon Ramsay crossed the pond with his BBC show Kitchen Nightmares which FOX gladly revamped with a little Hollywood glitz.. His show, Hell's Kitchen, allows budding chefs to compete for the chance to run their own 5 star kitchen. Shows like Take Home Chef and Top Chef have managed to jump to entertainment and educationally oriented cable networks, and have racked up loyal if not rabid followings. All in all, cooking shows are no longer relegated to PBS, and local television audiences, and it is no coincidence that Zynga has found a way to play on the world's love of cooking, and eating out.
In September, Cafe World joined the ever-growing catalog of social games on Facebook. Since its launch it has become one of the fastest growing and popular massively multi-player online games(MMO) available. Cafe World is yet another browser based application (BBA), and allows players to role play the part of a restaurateur and chef. Once the applicaton is launched, players are walked through the basic functions of the game, and then left to their own devices to run their little cyber cafe.
As the owner of your cafe you get to cook items from the cookbook, decorate your restaurant, and move up in the online culinary world. The game offers several options for menu items that allow the player to plan ahead days in advance. Items range from the quick and cheap hamburger to a home-style pot roast that takes two days to cook.
As players accrue the necessary funds, and reach the appointed levels, they can expand their cafe, and add stoves and counter space in order to increase their clientelle and buzz. The selection of decorator items is extensive, and with a bit of imagination players can fully create their own little online haven. A player can start off basic, and as their budgets allows, they can add different, and more expensive, furnishings, flooring, wall treatments, decorator items, and architectural elements.
The game is simple to play, is perfectly child friendly, and can even be used as an educational tool. Cafe owners are encouraged to add neighbors that will enhance the ability to make money and progress through the levels. The game does not include a chat applet, and there is no actual communication while inside the game application. This means that the social aspect of the game is limited to gift giving, wall posts, and visits to neighboring cafes. Daily visits can help boost experience, or cafe points, and cash flow in the game. A gaming ID is not a bad idea if you do not have enough family or friends that are already playing this addictive game. Joining the game's fan club will give you access to other enthusiasts that are looking to grow their own Cafe World neighborhoods.
As with most of Zynga's games, players that would like a little assistance, in playing their online game, will have no problem in finding an assortment of strategy guides, user forums, hint pages, and videos to guide them through the ins and outs of cyber cafe ownership. The game is free, but those that wish to can purchase cafe bucks that wil enable to expand their cafe, and buy more items at a quicker pace. Truly competitive players may also be interested in purchasing one of the several strategy guides that have surfaced on Cafe World specific websites.
The game can be a little glitchy and slow to load, but usually hitting the refresh button or completely reloading the application will fix the problem. The game does not offer any surprises, and plays much like Zynga's Farmville, but for those who have always imagined owning their own supper club it offers afun online playground, and is actually kind of entertaining to run as a background application for a quick escape from the every day world. So strap on those aprons, dust off your wire whisk, and fire up your browsers for a quick foray into the culinary arena... Cafe World is worth visiting.
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