If anyone remembers anything about their middle school years is playing on Cool Math Games at school. Especially if your school was bougie enough to issue laptops. “This game isn’t blocked on Cool Math Games!” I remember prepubescent boys shrieking in my math class.
Cool Math Games is a site that blends education with some math related games and pure fun. One of the most iconic games associated with the site are what I call the “Papa ‘ias” which included a pizzeria, sushiria, freezeria and more.
The game I preferred was “Papa’s Sushiria” but as mentioned, there’s games from the franchise that covers a variety of food items, ranging from pancakes to hamburgers. The main premise is to create the title food and usually drinks that go along with it. For example in Papa’s Sushiria you get to make sushi rolls and bubble tea.
What is unlike any assembly game is that the components are broken down into different stages that determine the final score of the order. In terms of the sushi roll and bubble tea, the rice must be made perfectly by having the vinegar added at the halfway point of cook time, the toppings in and outside of the roll are added and sometimes the seaweed and rice base needs to be flipped, and even cutting the sushi takes precision. The bubble tea is also made with utmost accuracy as there is a star in the center of a light that moves around and the objective is to hit close to it to deposit the milk, flavor, and boba pearls associated with the order.
The better the player does and gets the order as perfect as possible, they are given access to new ingredients and new people to fulfill orders for. Your experience increases and you’re given opportunities to win other ingredients in a mini game (depending on how many tickets you earn).
The “Papa ‘ias” franchise is an integral part of Cool Math Games as a whole, and arguably they are one of the most popular games on that site. The ability to accurately reproduce an order and do it in a timely manner was probably also one of the most beneficial takeaways from games that were just for pure enjoyment as opposed to education. It is the standard of what makes a longstanding franchise game that anyone can enjoy whether they are in school on their Chromebooks or not.
