By: Claudia Casal

Culture Editor

Papa’s games are an iconic part of the elementary and middle school experience: the perfect game to play as the teacher drones on during class. The main premise of the series is getting stuck working at a restaurant and preparing food to serve the customers. Each game specializes in a different food, and the customers then follow by giving scores based on how well you prepared the food. As a Papa’s games player since the fourth grade, I assembled a completely trustworthy list of the best (and worst) Papa’s games.

Papa’s Wingeria: Wingeria consists of frying chicken wings and tossing them in sauce. When it comes time to coat the wings in the sauce, the game flashes arrows and I have to click at the perfect moment, which I genuinely loathe. Not only do I have an embarrassingly slow reaction speed, but the game never makes it clear when exactly I’m supposed to click the button, always leaving me with a headache and a bad score. The worst part of the game is when I have to plate the wings I made in a specific order, a task that is both repetitive and tedious. This process along with the lack of variety in wings and options makes me feel like I’m preparing the same order over and over and falls so short compared to other Papa’s games. Papa’s Wingeria makes me want to go play better Papa’s games.  

Papa’s Sushiria: Papa’s Sushiria, much like Papa’s Wingeria,  is self-explantory: I cook rice, make boba, and assemble the roll, but the way the game makes me put the fish inside the roll is way too finicky to prepare consistently good sushi. It’s also impossible to tell if I actually prepared it correctly. Aside from that, Sushiria is alright, but it’s forgettable. It doesn’t really do anything right or wrong, and that’s all this game is: mediocre.

Papa’s Freezeria: Papa’s Freezeria is perfect. Papa’s Freezeria mainly consists of making milkshakes and adding toppings to them. When I add the ingredients into the cup to blend, an arrow flashes like Wingeria, so I have to click it at the perfect moment. Now this usually would make my blood boil, but the flashing arrow slows down little by little, making it gradually easier to get a perfect score. I like this game so much better than Wingeria, and it doesn’t stress me out. It also lacks the newer features of events, including the bizarre freshness feature. All of these additions are, quite frankly, annoyingly useless and senseless. The topping station is probably my favorite part. There’s something about watching the milkshakes blend and adding the whipped cream that satisfies me to my core. This game is the perfect getaway Papa’s Game. It’s a classic..

Papa’s Bakeria The only thing better than Papa’s Freezeria is Papa’s Bakeria. This game aims to make pies with varying pie crusts, fillings, and toppings, which I love. I feel like I’m always making a different pie. Since it is one of the newer games, it includes a lot of cool mechanics, such as daily specials, where I pick a pie recipe that gives me benefits whenever a customer orders it. The gameplay is so satisfying. The way in which I dispense the filling into the pie crust scratches my brain just right, and the system of adding toppings makes each pie unique and interesting to make. The only thing I would change about this game is the pie cooking time as it takes a little bit too long, but this is perfect for pastry-lovers like me. If you catch me playing a Papa’s game, it’s probably this one.