Diner Dash

You wouldn't want to work as a waitress. The hours are late, the pay ain't great, and the most fun you can have is spitting in the soup of any diners who get arsey.

Actually, that might be quite fun. But not as much fun as being a waitress on your phone.

Diner Dash is the best (okay, only) waitress simulation game. It started life as a PC casual game, and has been impressively converted to your phone by Glu Mobile. You play as Flo, who starts the game waitressing her own diner, and has to work her way up the greasy kebab-pole of the catering industry.

This doesn't involve securing a reality TV show and shouting 'Bollocks!' at your co-workers, surprisingly. Instead, it's about keeping a constant stream of customers happy by serving them fast, collecting their tips, and seating the next lot as quickly as possible. Work hard, earn plenty of tips, and you get to open bigger and better diners.

On PC, this involved lots of mouse clicking; Glu has cleverly adapted the controls to make the most of a mobile keypad. Each table is assigned its own number, while the ticket station is '1' and the dishwasher is '3'.

Here's how it works. You press a table number to seat customers there – say, '7'. When they stick their hands up indicating they're ready to order, you press '7' again to get their order, and then '1' to take it to the ticket station. When the meal appears on the counter, you press '7' once to pick it up, and a second time to deliver it to the table. Then, when they finish their meal, you press '7' to collect the plates, and '3' to take them to the dishwasher, then '7' again to collect the tip from the table.

The frantic-ness of the game comes when you're juggling several tables at once. And that's without even considering how the scoring system works.

See, it's essential to boost your tips using a couple of methods. First, by carrying out the same action several times in a row. Wait for three tables to be ready to order, and take them one after the other before heading back to the ticket station. The same principle holds true for clearing dishes away.

The second way to boost tips is to seat customers at tables the same colour as their clothes, adding another layer of complexity. This is the appeal and the challenge of Diner Dash – trying to juggle tables to get maximum tips, while not leaving people in the queue so long they get angry and leave.

There's depth here too, thanks to a well-worked Career Mode that enables you to upgrade your diner with gadgets – such as a drinks machine – and entertainers to keep people in the queue occupied.

The net result is an engrossing strategy game that requires fast thinking as much as fast fingers. Rather like being a good waitress.