Caramel Row

What is Caramel Row?

Caramel Row is a candy shop game where you make every treat by hand. Each treat is a short recipe of steps, like Cook the caramel, Pour onto the slab, Cut 4 pieces and Wrap and twist. Every step is graded, the finished treat gets one to three stars, and better treats sell for more and earn bigger tips.

There are 71 treats in the candy book: truffles, bonbons, caramels, toffee and brittle, fudge, taffy, lollipops, marshmallows and nougat, dipped treats, cocoa bombs, seasonal sweets and gift boxes. Ten of them are signature recipes that regulars teach you. It's free, it runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there's nothing to download.

How to play an opening

Tap Open the shop to start an opening. It lasts 2 minutes 45 seconds. Shoppers walk up to the counter with a picture ticket of the treat they want and a patience bar under it. Tap anywhere on the work table to make the order that is closest to running out of patience, or tap a ticket to pick a specific shopper.

While you make a treat, that shopper waits happily and everyone else waits more slowly than usual. When the clock runs out you get a short Last orders warning, finish the counter, and the day closes with a results card: coins, treats sold, average stars and reputation earned.

Wishes

From Reputation 3 some shoppers make a wish, shown as a small badge on their ticket. A lightning bolt means they're in a hurry: start their order while they still have more than half their patience and make it two stars or better. A blue star means they're hoping for a perfect batch: make it three stars. A granted wish adds a bonus of half the treat's price (60% for a perfect batch). Missing one costs you nothing.

Your very first opening is a gentle lesson with three friendly shoppers and no clock. A ghost hand shows each new step the first time you meet it, and you can skip it just by starting the motion yourself. With Relaxed shop on, the hand comes back at the start of every step, which helps younger candy makers a lot.

Every candy step

Each step has a target you can see and a live readout, so you always know how close you are. A bubble at the top of the work table tells you what to do right now and how it's going: green means keep going, yellow means adjust a little, red means act now. The grades are Perfect, Great, Good and Oops.

Controls on phone and computer

On a phone or tablet everything is one finger: tap, hold, trace, swipe and circle. On a computer the mouse does the same things, and the keyboard works too.

• Space or Enter: make the next order, and the action key inside most steps (hold to pour, tap to cook, pulse to spin, pulse to pipe while keeping the pressure gauge in the green).
• 1 to 6: pick a shopper by counter spot.
• Left and Right (or A and D): pull taffy (hold each side for the same length of time) and twist wrappers (tap in a steady rhythm).
• Esc: pause. The pause card has sound, music, Relaxed shop and an early close.

Stars, prices and tips

Your step grades are averaged. An average of 85% or better is three stars, 60% or better is two, and anything else is one. A one star treat sells for 70% of its price, two stars for the full price and three stars for 130%.

On top of that, prices go up with:

• Mastery: make a treat with three stars 3, 8 and 15 times for Bronze, Silver and Gold mastery (+10%, +20% and +35%).
• Location: each shop has a price multiplier, from x1 at the Market Stall to x7 at the Factory, and its shoppers pay 20% more for the categories it loves.
• Treat of the day: one treat sells for double. It's marked TODAY x2 in your candy book.
• Theme days and seasons: one category sells for 20% more each day, and seasonal treats sell for 20% more in their season.
• Decoration skill and renovations: +3% per Decoration level and +6% per renovation star at that shop.

Tips depend on stars (a one star treat earns only a small tip), on how much patience the shopper had left, and on your combo. Every treat with two or more stars adds to the combo, and each step of the combo raises tips by 5%, up to +50%. Hitting a combo of 3, 5, 8, 12, 16 or 20 also pays a Sweet streak bonus. A one star treat resets it.

Candy Kitchen (calm mode)

The Candy Kitchen has no clock and no shoppers. Pick any treat you can make and take your time. You earn half the treat's price and a little reputation, and three star batches count toward mastery. It's the best place to learn a new treat before you put it on sale, and some days a daily goal asks for perfect treats made here.

Daily Challenge and leaderboards

The Daily Challenge is a 2 minute 30 second opening with the same four treats and the same line of shoppers for everyone that day. Your score is the coins you earn, plus 10 for every three star treat, plus 50 if nobody leaves empty handed. Gear and skills don't help here, so it's a fair test of your hands. Your shop also gets a share of the score as coins, and playing on back to back days builds your streak.

Every day a morning delivery crate also waits by the shop door. Open it for coins or reputation. Every seventh crate holds a skill point. Missing a day never resets the week; the calendar simply picks up where you left off.

There are two leaderboards: the Daily score and your total reputation. Sign in on the site to post scores and keep your shop on all your devices.

Growing your shop

Reputation comes from every treat you sell (more for more stars), critics, renovations and the Candy Kitchen. Each reputation level gives a skill point and unlocks new treats, gear and rooms.

Gear

Twelve pieces of gear, each with three tiers. New gear unlocks treats (the Pulling Hook unlocks taffy, the Mold Set unlocks bonbons and cocoa bombs, the Gift Wrap Bench unlocks gift boxes). Higher tiers make their steps more forgiving. The top Tempering Station tempers for you, and the Wrapping Machine twists every wrapper. Each new piece needs a free gear spot, so build the Second Bench, Back Kitchen, Candy Wing, Gift Wrap Nook and Production Line as you go.

Skills

Six skills with eight levels each: Temper Sense, Steady Hand, Pull Rhythm, Decoration, Quick Hands and Charm. They widen the windows for their steps, slow down patience loss and raise tips. Finish all three daily goals for a bonus point, and from Reputation 18 the Masterclass sells extra points for coins.

Team

Juno the Kitchen Helper taps out bubbles and sprinkles for you. Benny the Wrapper twists wrappers and later ties ribbons. Mae the Counter Clerk makes shoppers wait longer. Your team also sells from the window while you're away, for up to two hours of earnings.

Locations

Your gear, staff and decor move with you. Decor (floors, walls, lights, jars, signs, plants and wall art) makes shoppers more patient and tip more, and from Reputation 12 you can renovate each shop up to five stars.

Rock candy jars

Build the Crystal Shelf at Reputation 10 to grow rock candy in real time. Blue Raspberry is ready in 5 minutes, Strawberry in 20, Spearmint in an hour and Honey Gold in 4 hours. Start a long jar before you close the game.

Regulars and their signature treats

Ten regulars drop by during openings, such as Nell the sailor, Pip, Otto the beekeeper and Rosa with her rose garden. Serve a regular two stars or better and they share a bit of their story. On the fifth good visit they teach you their signature treat, which sells for a lot more than anything else at that level. New regulars appear as you open new locations.

Tips and strategy

• Keep the menu short early. Every treat on sale is one more recipe to get right. Three treats you can three star earn more than six you can't.
• Practice in the Candy Kitchen first. A new treat's first few batches are where the one star results happen. Learn it with no clock, then put it on sale.
• Protect the combo. Tips climb 5% per combo step, so a steady run of two star treats beats a perfect one followed by a rushed one.
• When tempering, react early. The needle drifts slowly. Change your stirring speed as soon as it heads for the edge of the band, not when it's already outside.
• Release pours early. The stream keeps flowing for a moment, so let go just before the line.
• Spend skill points on the steps you miss most. If tempering costs you stars, Temper Sense pays back faster than anything else.
• Buy gear spots before you need them. A new piece of gear does nothing until you have room for it.
• Put the treat of the day on sale. Double price is the biggest single boost in the game, and it changes every day.
• Turn on Relaxed shop if the clock stresses you. Shoppers never leave, nothing burns, steps are more forgiving and the demo hand shows every step. Prices stay the same, there are just no streak bonuses, and you can't fail.
• Say yes to wishes you can handle. A shopper in a hurry is worth tapping first, and a perfect-batch wish on a treat you've mastered is free money.

Questions