Some Changes Come Easier than Others

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 6:46 pm  
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I pride myself on playing games well. Maybe a little too much, but if I play, I do my best. And while I try to cook most of the new dishes, I have standards that go above even my strategic nature. I don’t care how nice they are, how many Cafe Points they give, or how much money they make me, I will never serve Hot Dogs at the Crossroads Café. We’re a class joint. Only the best for my imaginary customers. So the fish and chips, and the fried eggs went untried.
These days I make 8 different dishes, and that’s it. These dishes are chosen to make my restaurant look good and get the best value in Cafe Points and Cafe Coins. I also try to do silly things like make sure I have a vegetarian dish, a kosher dish, and we can’t leave out deserts, because I have to have a little reality in my fantasy, and that’s how my café would be.

Cafe World Dish - Seafood Paella

Cafe World Dish - Seafood Paella

But today all that changed. Today Café World released two very classy dishes; Vegetarian Lasagna, and Seafood Paellas. I have made a descent Paella before, the saffron wiped out a couple week’s “going out” money, but it was worth it. And will be a cool addition to my café.

Laughdonor hasn’t done his analysis yet, ( http://cw.laughdonor.com/dishes?realistic ) but they look good and they’re high level, so I believe the stats will work out well. The Paella casts 1,500, makes 800 servings that sell for 7 coins each to make you 4,100. The Lasagna costs 1,400 to makes, gives you 900 servings that sell for 6 coins each making you only 4,000 per batch. If nothing else I can promise you the classiest places will be serving it. ;-)

Bob – Crossroads Cafe

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Oh What a Night…

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 7:19 pm  
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So one evening, I get a call at work. “Bob, the health depart is going to close down my café if I don’t clean the place up.” Now Gentle-Reader, I’m not sure how seriously you take your fantasy, but let’s assume that you don’t take yours quite that seriously. (Me neither.) I cocked an eyebrow, “Beloved, what are you talking about?” She answered, “Café World now makes you clean your restaurant, like those silly aquarium games. You can ask for help, or go clean your friend’s cafés.” She was speaking to herself at that point as I had in a panic pulled up my Facebook account and checked my café. Sure as heck-fire, there were stains in my beautiful café!

I cleaned them, cursing Zynga all the while. Then a wonderful thing happened; my buzz rating jumped to an amazing 110! I saw more customers coming in. I was so jazzed I ran to Christine’s café and made sure hers was cleaned, then Heidi’s, then my daughters and my niece’s. Debbie’s café needed help, and then I ran through my 400 neighbor’s places picking some out; especially the ones I knew cared about their buzz rating. I checked back at my café, and saw the food was moving! My best-est bud called to tell me that his buzz rating went up, he wasn’t sure how, but now they go past 105. I explained, and we chatted for a bit about how cool games like Café World and Castle Age were that they were constantly changing. Games like that keep you on your toes, and make it a pleasure to buy some of their coins every now and then.

I got up early the next morning so I could clean a few cafes before I had to go to work, but the option was gone. Nobody could ask for help, or clean each other’s cafes. I jumped to the forums to see if it was a glitch. There were pages of complaints about the change. One guy even said that he was so tired after a day of work that if he needed to make extra clicks to play Café World, he’d quit. (Oh and we’d miss him too, wouldn’t we?) I could scarcely believe my eyes.
So in the final analysis we have two things to learn from the night of Café World Cleaning.

  1. Zynga does listen to the complaints of their players.
  2. People will complain about stuff before ever really giving it a try. For myself, I really miss the buzz rating boost, and the excuse to travel to distant cafes in search of those that may have been missed to gain a few extra coins and CP’s.

Kudos Zynga, I think it was a really good idea. Good community building, which is something you guys do well

Bob – Crossroads Cafe

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Make it so?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 11:38 am  
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You know Gentle-Reader, I don’t consider myself a complainer. This game we play, even though I buy Café Cash every now and then, is pretty much free. In fact, most of the players I know, don’t buy Café Cash. So when I read the forums and people are all bent out of shape because they have to make too many clicks, or the cookbook is too slow, I just shake my head. If you think you can develop and have hosted a game for 5 million players better than they do, then you have my admiration. And I can’t wait to play your game. So for the most part, the majority of the complaints about the game just seem to me to be whiney. But… this time I’m painting picket signs and organizing!

Most Cafes have a theme and mine is no different. One night my wife and I had dinner with President Ford and his wife at the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage. It was a magical night, and everything everywhere reeked of class, grace and elegance. The food was the best, every decoration was immaculate. I wanted my café to remind me of that night every time I saw it.
And then along came the sci-fi set. (Shrug) Oh well. Out with the old. I calculated every penny I’d need to completely remake my café in my own version of Deep Space Truck Stop; 5,437,000 coins and about $20 in Café Cash. No problem. I started working and saving, and last night I hit the magic number. But all the stuff is gone! Even the purple egg chairs! (Aggghhhhh!!!! The Agony!)

All replaced by the new Chinese deco theme honoring the Chinese new year. (Beautiful stuff by the way.) They have some great new dishes that I’d love to tell you more about but the last time I checked, Laughdonor still hasn’t done his analysis. And I’m only 69th level so I can’t even see the candy boxes yet. And this new theme has some very nice furniture, and so forth and so on.

Cafe World - Crossroads cafe

Cafe World - Crossroads cafe

But, but, but,… All the stuff I wanted is now gone, before I could buy it. People, are we going to let this stand? Are we mice, or mouse wielders? We have to stand up and revolt! They have to know that they can’t do this to us! We’re not talking about food disappearing or spoiling instantly, or other infuriating but minor glitches. This is about them teasing us with stoves and decorations and taking them away! Ban Zynga! (Sigh)

Or maybe we could just keep it alive amongst ourselves. Talk about the time when you could get purple egg chairs, or rocket suspended stoves. And remember the stuff that used to be real, a long time ago, in a café far, far away. (Writer breaks into uncontrolled sobs and moans)

In other news, they also have Valentines presents that open up tomorrow, and I would like to thank you all for the mass of presents that has all but shut down my café. You guys are seriously why I play and love this game.

Bob – Crossroads Cafe

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I’m embarrassed to be so far behind

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 3:58 am  
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It is with a red face that I’m writing to you this day. There is so much going on in Café World, that every time I start to write to you about it, they change it even more. Every time I start to write about the problems, they either fix them or develop new ones! Everybody’s trying to keep up, there are so many new dishes that Laughdonor’s probably had a nervous breakdown by now. But today let’s do our best catch up; you and I.

So let’s start by going back a bit. I have a half-written piece about their great sci-fi changes. They are adding starry backgrounds and floors and aliens and holograms and floating asteroids, and all kinds of stuff that is just guaranteed, (or as close as they can get to it without violating copy right issues,) to make your Café into the Star Wars Cantina, or Star Trek’s Ten-Forward. Very cool stuff and dishes.

They also have a bunch of stuff to make you café into your favorite sports bar! With trophies and beer taps and foos tables and dart boards and very nice oak walls, and specialized tables and a lot more. (Most expensive Hot Dogs, since Orlando!)

And … They have a 50’s theme! With pinball machines and benches that look like older automobiles and new clothes. Fun stuff, I’m really sorry my mom missed it, as a major nostalgia buff, she’d have loved it.

Other changes are Zynga’s anti-cheating changes. You get a 1,000 pop-ups guaranteed to mess with any macro while you cook or accept gifts. But the worst of all are the glitches. Ya, a lot of us are running into them. Can’t accept gifts? Can’t get bonus food, not even your own? Having trouble cooking? Can’t clean your stoves? Well, you are not alone. But it’s not happening to everyone. Get a letter to Zynga Support A.S.A.P.! They need to know who and where and what and why. I’ll post more as I learn it! I promise.

Good Luck Chefs and Laughdonor wherever you are,
Bob

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Cafe World Forum

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 1:49 pm  
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For those of you who are on my mailing list and overlooked my email or for those of you who are here for the first time, I want to let you know about Cafe World Forum.

I wanted to create the Cafe World Forum right at the beginning of this website, but then it turned out it wasn’t my priority by that time. I needed to accomplish other things. About a week ago I decided to let you all decide whether you would like to have forum where you could hang out or not. It seems it was a good idea and I thank again to those who decided to participate, do something and let me know.

Cafe World Forum: How To Access It?

Cafe World Forum

Cafe World Forum

It’s been a couple of days the Cafe World Forum is online and ready for you to flood it with your questions, answers, strategies, tricks, gossip etc. You can access the forum by clicking on the Forum button at the top of this website (see the screenshot on the right) or you can access Cafe World Forum just by typing its web address, which is:

http://cafeworldelite.com/forum

I invite you all to start participating on the forum, because if you all wait for others to start having conversations there, it will be without a life forever. You need to participate in order to start the conversations rolling.

I’m sure you have plenty of questions, so don’t be shy and post the questions on the forum.

At this point I know the forum might not be perfect. That’s exactly why I have created a section with Suggestions and Ideas, where you can let me know what kind of thing you’d like to change, add or remove in order to have a better experience with Cafe World Forum.

Having said that, find out more about Cafe World Forum now, you’ll love it.

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Cafe World Forum – yes or not?

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 8:40 am  
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When I was designing this website, I wanted to make it big. I wanted to make it a place where we all can hang out, share ideas, our routines and learn from each other. A place, where we could together progress faster.

Installing a forum was sure thing for me, but then I got stuck with other things not related to Cafe World, so I totally forgot about installing a forum. Now, a couple of months later, I’d like to give you an opportunity to decide whether you’d like to have here a forum or not. Because frankly, you’d be the ones who would be using it.

So now it’s in your hands. Give me your opinion.

Also I’d appreciate if you write a comment about why you want/don’t want the forum. Especially if you want the forum, let me know what topics would you like to discuss in the forum, so I can design it according to your ideas.

Thanks to all who participate.

[poll id="2"]

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The Latest Buzz

Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 4:26 pm  
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Cafe World Dish: VIP Dinner

Cafe World Dish: VIP Dinner

Zynga’s latest gift in Café World is a 2 day special called the V.I.P. Dinner. It costs nothing to make, gives very few CP’s but does, after 18 hours give you 99 servings of dinner that sell for 99 coins each! My daughter got in early on this one, and her café is featured below.

Does it replace the great money-makers of Holiday Ham and Gingerbread houses? Time will tell, but I already miss my holiday favorites that all my neighbors have been so generously giving me for the last month. By the way, when sharing this dish, it does not give out the normal 100 dishes, but rather 25. (You only make 2,475 coins every time your neighbor shares.)

Anyways, here we are with the new limited edition dish, and please note Zynga says that the deal’s only good ‘til 1/7 and I’d take them at their word at if I were you. So if you’re not like me and only go to your café’s every so often, make it today and not miss this deal.

Bob

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Dispelling Some Tips

Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 3:01 pm  
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So I thought I might dazzle you with some brilliant observations and tips this week. Does the order of the dishes on the serving tray affect how often they get served? Can you make some dishes sell faster by changing the order? What about some dishes selling faster because of what they are? Does chocolate cake sell faster than tostadas? Well, according to my observations, no and no. (Hmmmmm)

I love good tip columns. I spend my spare time looking through them, which is obviously how I found this fine place. But I have a couple of rules;
#1 I don’t steal. Cheating programs that get you Café Cash, that you can only normally get from buying them from Zynga, is stealing. No Thanks.
#2 I don’t mess around with other people’s servers. I’m a Network Administrator by trade, so I’d rather saw off a leg than mess around with the Zynga servers. So a cheat program that will get me extra stoves and counters, by messing with their servers is just not my style.

What does that leave? Ones like the fine tips in Ethan Ward’s book that most of us have. Places where the game can be manipulated to give us an edge. Like figuring out how to organize your dishes to make them go faster, or do your waiters that play Café World serve faster than those that don’t? (Nope) Or one I found for massive amounts of free food. What you’re supposed to do is open your café in Firefox, and go to the free gifts. Next you open those free gifts in different tabs. Next you take each step to giving the gift of food to the same friends in each tab, one at a time. Lastly going back and sending them in all in one mass send.

The gentleman passing this on adds that he sent out 20 at a time doing this simple trick. Does it work? Nope. I tried it from mine and my daughter’s accounts. You get one order of free food, and a crap load of sent mistakes.

So this issue’s tips aren’t the brainstorms, just the clouds. But I’ll keep plugging. And please keep sending in more for me to try, if it works, I’ll give you credit.

Bob

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What’s the Point? Friends and Neighbors

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 9:49 pm  
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I suppose you’ve seen the new Café World Dish; Creme Fraiche Caviar.  This 30 minute dish will make you a whopping 72 coins and 22 total CP’s.  Plenty of people out there mad about it too; I’ve been reading in the blogs.  Everybody seems to think this dish is a total waste of time.  I sure don’t.

I made 1 batch.  With my 16 stoves that means I made 1,344 dishes to serve.  With my buzz rating and setup, that typically means 2 – 9 hours or so.  However I served this dish for almost 3 days at 8 coins a pop because I got thousands from my friends.

And I think this was the point that Zynga was trying to make here.  Their games give all sorts of bonuses to those with a big neighbor list.  And in my humble opinion that’s what this was; a block party dish.  When you make a new batch of something each day, you get the opportunity to give 100 of whatever it is out to your friends.  You do that, and gather up the ones your neighbors put out and serve it all up.  And it only took you 30 minutes to give out a dish to all your friends that made them each 800 coins!

That’s not a bad holiday gift.  Check out how long it takes to make other 8 coin dishes.  Of course the biggest gains in this dish were for the people that play in a community.  Like myself.

My neighbors have me trained, when a new dish comes out we all make it and we all share.  And we try to make as many different things each day as is reasonable.  The Gingerbread Houses weren’t a real good deal either in money or CP’s, but we all made ‘em.  Some because they cute, and some to share.  I made one batch, but I’ve been serving them for 5 days now, and I just got a couple hundred more.  Sometimes to see the point, you got to look at the bigger picture.

Bob, Crossroads Cafe

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A New Contributor

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 9:49 pm  
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Someone asked me last night if I was a Café World Enthusiast.  It took me back a bit, as I was in the process of writing a response to someone else’s CW blog; disputing some of his contentions and dispelling one of his lame “Tips”.  Me?  An enthusiast?  Well, my wife and I play.  So do two of my daughters, one of my sons, my nephew and my niece.  We have dish times written on whiteboards in our livingroom, Laughdonor’s spreadsheet is the home page on one of my browsers, I occasionally get phone calls like; “Hey your dish is gonna go bad pretty soon.” And “Honey, I got caught up here, can you get my pizzas off the stoves for me?”

I have over 400 CW neighbors, Facebook filters that show me only CW news, I put out food sheets on a private family server.  (A tip I got from this fine site and newsletter, by the way.)  I have honestly been known to stare at that Café of mine for a great deal of time trying to figure out how to better maximize my traffic flow, (maybe if I add another door between the windows?)  I pour over CW blog sites and new spreadsheets, my Christmas list had a Lobster Tank on it.

But am I what I would call an enthusiast?  Ya, OK.  This is my electronic aquarium and I do spend hours on the silly thing.

Oh and… I love it.

Cafe World - Crossroads Cafe

Cafe World - Crossroads Cafe

So if you’re trying to raise some coins for new furniture and fixings, trying to keep that zip rating at the top, or just trying to out-level your friends, stay tuned, I might have a few worthy suggestions.

Which reminds me, put this in your browser next time you’re logged in to Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_101539264719_0

Bob, Crossroads Cafe

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