If you owned a Nintendo DS in the mid-2000s, you’ve probably heard of this exhilarating cake baking game! “Cake Mania” is a game that focuses on timing and skill. The faster you work, the better you’ll fare. The game was produced by Sandlot Games and released as an online flash game. The game quickly gained traction, becoming one of the most downloaded online games of 2006, with 55 million downloads. 

When first released, the demo version of the game could be played for free online. That changed when the game came out in full on the Nintendo DS on April 9, 2007, as well as on the Wii under the title ‘Cake Mania: In the Mix!’ on Nov. 24, 2008. 

The success of the first game led to further releases, like “Cake Mania 2: Jill’s Next Adventure!” in 2007, “Cake Mania 3” in 2008, “Cake Mania: Main Street” in 2009 and “Cake Mania: Lights, Cameras, Action” in 2010. The last game in the series, “Cake Mania: To the Max!” was released in 2011, and the series has been dormant since then. 

Now that we’ve walked down memory lane, it’s time to delve into the plot of the first “Cake Mania”. This simple cooking game has an actual story and a developed main character: a woman named Jill Evans. Evans loves baking because  her grandparents own a bakery, fittingly named Evans Bakery. Due to this, she decides to pursue culinary school, but she faces a crisis when she comes home after graduating and realizes her grandparents’ bakery has been closed. Motivated by this, Jill decides to open her own bakery in the hopes of getting enough money to buy back her grandparents’ establishment. 

To get Jill to reach her goal, we must know how to play the game properly and rack up the dough. Once the clock hits opening time, customers come in the dozens to get their cakes. We guide Jill to take their orders, bake the right shaped cake, get the correct icing on it and add any decorations the customer may want. This seems easy enough, but as in real life, if you take too long, the customers will get mad and leave. If a customer gets upset and leaves, Jill loses one of her lives. If she loses all three lives in one shift, which are represented as hearts on the screen, you lose and must start the day over. 

There are also upgrades you can get because you collect money, which helps Jill work more efficiently. Some upgrades help improve the customers’ wait time, like adding a box TV for them to watch while waiting in line and a mini oven that makes cupcake samples for them. 

You don’t have to fret about not being able to play this iconic game series today because it’s still available! Video game stores often have a section of used Nintendo DS games, and retro game stores have an even bigger selection. 

If you’d rather play on something other than the Nintendo DS or don’t have one, fear not, it’s available on personal computers, Wii, and PlayStation 2. So, what are you waiting for? Get baking!