How to play
STACK ATTACK is a burger-stacking game set in a cartoon diner. Food drops from the ceiling and you catch it on a bottom bun that slides along the counter. Move it with the mouse, A and D or the arrow keys, or by dragging a finger anywhere on the screen.
The ticket at the top of the screen is the customer's order, read from the bottom of the burger up. Catch the pieces in that order, then catch the top bun to serve. The piece you need next glows white as it falls. A top bun that lands on an empty bun just bounces off.
The catch is the wobble. Every piece stays exactly where it landed and hangs off the one below it on a springy hinge. Catch something off-centre and the tower leans. Jerk the bun hard and it sways the other way, because the food lags behind. Lean too far and the top of the tower topples onto the counter, and every piece that falls off has to be caught again.
Mistakes cost you. A wrong ingredient stays in the stack, cuts the pay for that burger by a quarter and takes a bite out of the tip. Junk is worse: catch a boot, a fish or a sock and the customer walks out, and the whole burger is flung off the bun. Each shift runs on a clock of 60 to 90 seconds, and a burger that is not served when the bell rings earns nothing.
Tips and strategy
- Balance with the next catch. If the tower is leaning right, catch the next piece a little to the left of centre.
- Move smoothly. The bun gets slower and heavier as the stack grows, and a sudden start throws the top over.
- Watch the edges. A piece only sticks if it lands within most of the width of the piece on top. A little wider and it bonks off the edge, and that bump shoves the whole tower.
- Serve fast. The tip meter under the ticket drains the whole time, slower for big orders. Each correct catch tops it up a little; a wrong one, or a topple, knocks it down. A perfect burger with a full meter pays almost twice the base price.
- Chain perfect burgers. A burger with no mistakes pays a $1 bonus, plus another 50 cents for every perfect burger before it in a row. One wrong slice resets the streak.
- Dodge the seagull, or use it. When the red ! appears over your stack, the gull is about to dive for the top piece. Slide away and it misses. But if the top piece is a wrong ingredient, letting the gull take it removes the mistake from your order.
- Respect the sauce. A sauce blob that lands on your stack makes that piece slippery. Anything above it slides downhill the moment the tower tilts, and the joints above it go soft, so keep the tower upright and move gently until you serve.
What's in it
Ten shifts: Monday Morning, Tuesday Lunch, Wobbly Wednesday, Windy Thursday, Seagull Friday, Saucy Saturday, Sunday Brunch, Late Night Rush, Health Inspector and The Monster. Orders start at two or three pieces; The Monster asks for up to nine layers before the top bun. Along the way the shifts add junk, gusts of wind that push both the falling food and your tower (an arrow at the top shows which way it blows), a seagull, sauce, and double drops.
Every shift has three star targets set in cash, for example $24, $46 and $66 on the first shift. One star unlocks the next shift, and there are 30 stars in all. Stars also unlock six bun skins: Sesame from the start, then Brioche at 4 stars, Pretzel at 8, Charcoal at 13, Rainbow at 18 and Golden at 24.
Rush Hour opens once you have a star on shift 2. It is endless and keeps getting harder for four minutes, with bigger orders, faster drops, and wind, sauce and the seagull joining in as it goes. You have three plates. Catching junk breaks one, and so does a topple that loses two or more pieces. Your best Rush Hour cash is kept on the title screen.
On a wide screen a customer stands at the counter: one of twelve regulars. They hop when the burger is good, gag at junk, and tell you to hurry up when the tip runs low.
Questions
How is the pay worked out?
Each burger is worth $1.50 plus $1.25 for every piece on the ticket, so a four-piece order is worth $6.50. Each wrong piece takes 25 per cent off. On top of that comes the tip, up to 80 per cent of the base for a perfect burger, scaled by how full the tip meter is when you serve.
Why did my tower fall over?
A tower falls when the weight above any piece hangs too far past that piece's edge, or when a joint bends or tips too far. Several off-centre catches to the same side add up quickly.
Does it save?
Yes. Your stars, best cash on every shift, unlocked shifts, Rush Hour best, chosen bun and sound settings are kept in your browser.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. Drag anywhere to slide the bun. On a narrow screen the customer is hidden and the served burger flies up to the ticket instead.