A Game By Its Cover 2018: Mai-Chan’s Sweet Buns

“Mai-Chan’s Sweet Buns” by Krystian Majewski & Sebastian Haßler.

“A tile-matching puzzle with the sweetest, bounciest pastries.”


Tile-matching puzzle games can be pretty boring, but “Mai-Chan’s Sweet Buns” is quite amazing and super cute. Also, it features three different game modes: ‘Normal’, ‘Hard’ and ‘Infinite’. At the start of a round, you will be dealt four order cards from a stack, consisting of either a total of twenty-four order cards in the ‘Normal’ as well as the ‘Hard’ mode or of a stack with an infinite number of such cards in the eponymous game mode. These orders must now be processed by selecting a horizontal or vertical row of bakery goods from your playing field that is exactly the same length as your order. Once an order is ready, the next card is drawn. You win a round in the ‘Normal’ or ‘Hard’ mode in the moment when you are out of order cards.

If you win a round, you will receive coins as a reward. The coins allow you to unlock new pastries and swap them with your assortment. No more fancy pretzels? Okay, just unlock the brownie and exchange them. The number of coins depends on your game mode and the number of star points you are able to accumulate in a round. Star points can be gained in “Mai-Chan’s Sweet Buns” by placing four pastries of the same kind in a vertical or horizontal line. They can also be very useful, as they allow you to activate the individual special powers of your pastries. For instance, with the ‘Nom’ ability of the sweet buns you can eat any kind of food off the field, while taiyaki’s ‘Sakasa’ ability turns the entire board upside down and cupcakes with their ‘Flip’ ability allow you to swap two baked goods vertically.

You lose a round whenever you cannot not complete any of the four orders and if you do not have any star points left. It is therefore important to choose a strategically balanced set of pastries and to keep a close eye on what is happening in order to progress in “Mai-Chan’s Sweet Buns”. So enjoy this sweet game with its wonderful pixel art and chiptune music, while you masterfully arrange all the pastries. >>PLAY