One of my favorite games on Facebook is Restaurant City from Playfish. I used to start playing within an hour of waking up in the morning and just letting it run the entire day, checking every once in a while to feed my employees. I also made it a point to level up 3 dishes as fast as I could, one each for my Starter, Main Dish and Dessert, so that I could earn gourmet points faster. It didn't take long for me to reach Level 27, the final tier, of the game. After that, I didn't make much of an effort anymore to log on since the thrill was gone. Later, they added Drinks to the list and also allowed us to choose three items per meal to feature in our menu but it still didn't manage to make me return to playing the game like I used to.
Then two days ago, I decided to check in just to clear my restaurant of trash and I was greeted by new updates on the game. Since I'd been occasionally accumulating gourmet points even after reaching Level 27, I was automatically levelled up to 30 as the game now had additional levels (up to 32). And I had a garden!
The garden consists of 9 plots and a plot is unlocked beginning at level 16 and so on on every other level achieved. I have 8 right now and will have a complete garden by 32. A seed costs 2000 but unfortunately, I can't choose what seed I want so I'll have to wait and see what I'll be harvesting. Friends also can't water them for me so I'll have to do it myself. I can water my plots up to 3 times at once and it will last 9 hours before they get all dried up. Luckily, the plants won't die when that happens but will just stop growing until I get the chance to water them again. Ideally, they should be ready to harvest within 48 hours and whatever I harvest can be used as ingredients for my dishes or for trading with other RC friends.
Aside from having more levels and the new garden, the developers have also added some new ingredients (Vanilla, Wasabi, Coriander and Ginger) as well as new dishes (Three-Cup Chicken, Bak Kut Teh, Vanilla Panna Cotta, Ginger Beer Float and Vanilla Hot Chocolate) for RC people to add to their menus.
Now the game has given me something to play for again plus I'm not about to relinquish my top spot among my RC friends, hehe. I also need to save up some cash for the renovation I plan to do. Okay, have to go and slave drive my workers!
Mood Music: Finest Worksong by REM