D.C. Diner Guide

Special thanks to: Slanted Fish, Fuzzy-B, Shaggy Tornado, & Fierce Moon

D.C. Diner is a Poptropica MiniQuest that was released as a promo game for Mystery Train Island back in August 2011. It disappeared once the island was released, but returned in late 2018 for a limited time.

You can still play the game on external sites Poptrickia and iPoptropica. D.C. Diner is similar to the game Diner Dash.

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How to Play

In this game, Poptropicans are all getting ready to board the train to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893! Before they hop on the train, they want to grab a quick bite to eat at the D.C. Diner, where you will be their server. To know what your customers need, just look at the picture inside their thought bubble.

Click to seat your customers when they arrive (watch icon), and wait as they peruse the menu (blue pamphlet icon). When they decide what they want, go get it for them at the appropriate drink stand (hold down your mouse button to fill) or get the chef to whip up the dish they ordered!

When the food or drink is ready, click to put it in your tray. After your customers are done eating, be sure to clear the space for the next customer by picking up the dirty dishes. To clear space in your tray, wash the dishes in the dishpan and dispose of unused orders in the trash can on the far right.

The types of drinks are: coffee (teacup), root beer (brown mug), and soda (yellow mug). For food, there’s the hamburger, chicken, or dessert platters (dessert, which is the red pie, will only be ordered after a customer has had either the hamburger or chicken).

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Tips & Tricks

Captain Crawfish of the official Poptropica Creators’ Blog offered the following tips & tricks to keep your restaurant running smoothly:

• Keep moving. Don’t just stand there waiting for your cook to fill an order. Head back to the table and see if another customer has a new order. Every second you’re standing still is a second wasted.
• Stand in the right spot. You can fill up drinks and bus dishes withough having to stand next to the soda fountains or the dish bin. But you do need to stand right in front of the chef in order to place a dinner order. Try filling up drinks from across the screen, or bussing dishes while you place multiple orders with the cook.
• Choose your upgrades carefully. The hostess is a big help, but you probably don’t need her in the earlier stages, when only a few customers at a time can fit at the table. But fast drinks — that’ll shave seconds off your time from the start.
• Take calculated risks. Every customer will always order a drink first. Then they will order either the chicken or the burger. Knowing this, you can take some calculated risks. Keep an extra soda and root beer on your tray. Get the chef cooking a burger and a chicken before anybody has ordered their dinner. You might end up needing to dump something in the trash, but when these risks pay off, you’ll save lots of time.

Check out some snapshots of the gameplay:

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Shifts & Upgrades

After you serve a certain number of customers, the shift will end, and the new shift begins. It gets harder each shift, as more customers arrive and you have to keep up with the timer at the top.

You get +30 seconds for everyone you serve the first two shifts, +20 seconds the next two shifts, then +15 for the rest of the game. After 3 shifts, non-members won’t be able to go on, but Members can go on up until five shifts.

Upgrades are also available after each shift! For each shift you’ve finished, you get to pick that many upgrades (for example: by the 3rd shift, you can pick 3 upgrades). Non-members can only get the Hostess & Fast Drinks upgrades.

Here’s a list of the upgrades and what they do:

• Hostess: automatically seats the guests when a spot is available
• Fast Drinks: makes filling drinks faster
• Larger Tray (members only): enables you to carry more orders at a time
• Busboy (members only): makes washing dishes instant
• Faster cook (members only): makes orders faster & lets you take three orders at a time

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VIPs & Prizes

There are VIPs (Very Important People) that come into your diner that you have to serve, but you may not recognize them. When they leave, you’ll get a prize based on who you just served. The celebrity’s picture will also go up on the diner’s wall.

In the 2018 re-release, winning the game would grant you a Magic Hat:

In the original release, there were five prizes to be had from D.C. Diner:

1. Edison Light Bulb: When Thomas Edison comes into your diner, you get this handheld item that lights up when you press spacebar!
2. Mark Twain Haircut: When Mark Twain comes into your diner, he leaves you with his snazzy haircut that you can wear! Mustache not included. 😦
3. Magician’s Hat (members only): When Harry Houdini comes into your diner, he leaves with you his magic hat! This magic hat, when you wear it and press spacebar, bubbles appear and a cute rabbit pops up! 🙂 Sometimes flowers pop up too, but it’s not as cute as the rabbit. 😛
4. Eiffel Tower Hat (members only): When Gustav Eiffel stops by your diner, he gives you an Eiffel Tower hat, a hat that will surely make you a fashion “attraction”! 😀 Get it? Oh, never mind.
5. Tesla Coil (members only): When Nikola Tesla stops by, he leaves you with this handheld Tesla Coil. When you wear it and press spacebar, it electrifies you in little lightning bolts and emits a flash of light! 😀

Here’s a picture of all the original prizes in action:

Note: Be sure to log in to Poptropica before visiting either Poptrickia or iPoptropica to play D.C. Diner and keep the prizes.

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Looking for more walkthroughs? Check out our Island Help page! 🙂