The playfirst game that some many have come to love has a new home on Facebook, where the classic time management fun incorporates new social networking features.
If you aren’t familiar with classic Diner Dash, it goes something like this. Flo waits tables for the good of mankind. She must seat each set of customers, take their orders, feed them, grab the check and clean up after them. Some customers are more demanding than others, and if you make any of them wait too long, they will throw a temper tantrum and leave. Customers keep coming until the restaurant closes.
Despite some swanky restaurants, poor Flo has to practically do it all herself. If she gets it right, she is rewarded with, guess what, more shifts at the diner.
In the Facebook version, there are a number of different additions to the game that take advantage of the social networking of Facebook. For one thing, you have a park that you can clean up and decorate (Farmville anyone?)
Similar to Farmville, you can get rewarded with additional space and gifts when you have plenty of friends who are also playing the game. Additional park space can also be purchased with Facebook money (which requires real money to get it).
Some decorations cost coins which you can earn throughout the game by completing levels, while the real premium stuff, such as a fancy water fountain requires, you guessed it, Facebook money.
Each shift that you play requires energy units. When your energy is gone, you are cut off from playing additional levels. Don’t worry though, there are ways to earn additional energy, such as by eating food (buy it or request it from friends), clean up your park or simply wait around (you get about 1 energy unit for every five minutes and most shifts require five energy units).
To keep you coming back, diner Dash offers a new special level each day. You get a reward for completing that daily level plus a reward for completing an entire week’s worth of levels.
The game is addicting and fun, although personally I could do without all of the blatant pushes to spend real money to play. It doesn’t seem quite so challenging as the classic Diner Dash, and slow Internet connections can really affect your play.
Still, if want a quick casual game to use up some time while waiting for all of those responses to your Facebook status, you can turn to Diner Dash on Facebook.