A Christmas showcase

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! On Christmas Day I presented a tour of The Garlic Tree decked out for the festive proceedings. Such a tour is something I like to post for the special events, but this Christmas I also wanted to do something a little different.

Today I'd like to offer a peek at the delightful designs some of my neighbours have come up with this season. In particular I've picked out five players (and that in itself was hard work!) who have not only been loyal to me in the game but have also been excellent contributors to the blog.

So without any further ado, let's take a look, and I do encourage you to click on the images for enlarged versions!

We start at the home of my first regular blog contributor, Fat Bear.

Far Bear

Christmas at The Garlic Tree

Merry Christmas everyone! On this most lovely of days my restaurant, The Garlic Tree, remains open for business, so do come along and enjoy your festive fill!

When you enter into the foyer section, you'll be met with the fine sound of the Carolers hitting all the high notes.

Foyer section of The Garlic Tree

They and their Lyrics Sheet Stand are stationed at the door to give the customers a hearty welcome. A Christmas tree is obviously a must in this area, so the Snowy Holiday Tree is positioned in the corner, despite having a dusting of snow which makes it more of an outdoor piece. To go with this the walls have been coated in the Illuminated Trees wallpaper, and topped with a number of Carnival Lights. None of these features are new this year; in fact the Carnival Lights isn't even a Christmas item having been included in one of the Carnival updates in the Summer of 2013.

Game update: 24/12/14

It's Christmas Eve! Santa is on his way so there's nothing more you can do to grab his attention with your funky Christmas decorating. Instead it's time to turn to New Year celebrations!

Notification for New Year update

That's right, for the first time in the game's history, we've got a New Year themed update before Christmas is even upon us. This gives a whole week to ready our restaurants for seeing in 2015 in the grand manner. Here's the usual list of all the new content, which is available from level 21:

Christmas 2014 sale analysis

Santa has gotten his dates mixed up! That or he's feeling extra generous as there's a special Christmas sale popped up in Restaurant Story late on Thursday!

Christmas 2014 sale notification

I near enough begged for such a sale over the Christmas period in last Saturday's Suggestions Box, and now it's become reality! The special offers are around for a good while too, with an 18 day timer attached to all the goodies. This is fantastic - assuming TeamLava have learnt from their mistakes on Black Friday, there's no need to rush into any decisions with regards to purchases, plus there's time to accumulate some extra gems before everything vanishes if you're running short.

As ever when we get a major sale like this, I like to include a graphic with all the items up for grabs:

Restaurant Story 2 launched around the world

The time has come my friends! Nearly nine months after Restaurant Story 2 was first launched on the Thai App Store, the game is now available around the world.

Title screen for Restaurant Story 2

In truth I don't really know exactly when the sequel game was released worldwide. I only became aware of the worldwide release after a tip-off from one of my fine neighbours, Creme. The latest update came yesterday, so it could be as recent as Wednesday that RS2 hit stores globally, but in reality it has probably been kicking around for a good few weeks.

Game update: 17/12/14

The Christmas decorating is almost done, but there's still time for a few final touches!

Notification for latest Christmas update

There's a wealth of new content this week, so without any further ado, here's the comprehensive list:

Christmas 2014 goals content report

The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on, and consequently the players have been getting busy decorating for the occasion. A new set of goals alongside last week's update has really helped get everyone into the Christmas spirit, and this is where we take a look at some of the content which is unlocked via the goals.

But before that a few thoughts about the goals themselves. They've proven to be much more challenging than most of the recent sets, primarily thanks to two brand new parts required for building the appliances.

New parts for Christmas 2014 goals

The Holiday Screwdriver and Snowflake caught out a lot of us who had been trying to stock up on the number of festive parts from yesteryear which were still in the gift list.

Suggestions Box (Dec 2014)

Every month I list five things I'd like to see added, altered or abolished from the game. Because even though my long time of playing Restaurant Story clearly shows I love it, that doesn't mean it's perfect. Some of the ideas I'll air will be significant game changers while others will be low-key and irrelevant in the eyes of many of you readers.

In no particular order, here are this month's entries...

Christmas 2014 goals (in full)

Please note that this set of goals expired on Monday 12th January 2015.

Christmas is the order of the month, and to help spread the joy in your restaurant this December, you can complete a new set of goals.

With this week's update, the goals are the only way to gain access to three floor decorations, two appliances and six recipes. You've got 34 days to get it all done, so Monday 12th January 2015 is the likely cut-off date. But who wants to be celebrating Christmas in mid-January?!

Here is the complete list of goal steps:

• Step 1: Reindeer Rescue
• Step 2: Frosty Favors
• Step 3: A Snowy Snack
• Step 4: Reindeer Treats
• Step 5: Yuletide Yams
• Step 6: Stocking Stuffed
• Step 7: Sleighbell Jinglin'
• Sidestep A: Lost and Found
• Sidestep B: No Place Like Home

Game update: 10/12/12

Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

Notification for Christmas 2014 goals update

Christmas is only a couple of weeks away, and there is a new set of goals to give everyone the perfect opportunity to deck the halls. Before we get too overexcited with the presents, let's take a look at the list of new content:

The complete collectibles guide

Among the various methods of harvesting gems in Restaurant Story is through obtaining collectibles. There's also an opportunity to claim a number of other prizes, including some extra coins and XP.

There are five different collections to work on, with each containing four collectibles. When you have one of every collectible in a collection you can redeem the prize for that collection. By doing so the mastery meter, much like with recipes, moves up, and when you top up to the end of a level there's a gem reward.

So how do we get hold of all the collectibles? Some are much easier to discover than others, so let's go through each of the collections in turn, using information that has previously been published on the TeamLava Blog.

 Floral Bouquet

Floral Bouquet collectibles collection

Game update: 03/12/14

With the dust settling on an infamous Black Friday, there's a dusting of snow in Restaurant Story. Winter is here!

Notification for Winter 2014 update

There's a chilly outlook to this week's update! Here's the list of new items, all of which are unlocked before level 10: