Grillionaire is our free burger restaurant game: you run a street cart, grill patties, build burgers to order and save up $25,000 for the restaurant across the street. This guide explains how the game really scores your burgers and pays your tips, so you can earn more on every day. For the full list of toppings and upgrade prices, see Grillionaire recipes, unlocks and upgrades.
Beginner tips for your first days
- Read the ticket from the bottom up. The ticket shows the burger exactly as it should be stacked, bottom bun first. A green check appears next to each layer you get right.
- Flip on green. Drag a patty from the cooler to the grill. The ring above it fills as the bottom side cooks; when it turns green, tap the patty to flip it. Take it off when the second side is green too. If the ring goes dark, it's burning.
- Start the next patty early. A patty takes longer to cook than toppings take to stack, so put one on the grill as soon as a customer walks up.
- Drop toppings in the middle. Neat stacks score better. Let go of each topping right above the burger.
- Cover the burger with sauce. Drag the bottle over the whole burger, not just one spot. The game measures how much of the bun the sauce covers.
- Mistakes go in the trash. A wrong burger costs more than a fresh start. Drag it to the trash can and rebuild.
- Be quick. A customer who barely waited tips up to twice as much as one who almost gave up.
How burgers are scored
Every burger you serve gets a quality score. It's built from four things, in this order of importance:
- The right order. This matters most by far. Every missing, extra or swapped layer lowers the score sharply, and it multiplies everything else. A beautifully cooked burger with the cheese in the wrong place won't be "perfect".
- Patty cooking (62% of the rest). Both sides need to be in the green zone. A raw side or a burnt patty ruins the burger.
- Neatness (24%). How centred the layers are.
- Sauce coverage (14%). About half the bun covered counts as full marks.
A score of 92% or more is Perfect, 78% or more is Great. Before bonuses, a perfect burger earns a tip of up to 55% of its price, a great one up to 35%, a good one 18%, and an "OK" one almost nothing. A bad burger is paid at half price. The customer tells you what went wrong ("Forgot the cheese!", "A bit undercooked."), so read the bubble.
Combos
Every perfect or great burger in a row adds to your combo, and each step adds 8% to your tips, up to x6 (+48%). Your combo can keep climbing past x6 for the trophies (x10 earns Combo King), but the tip bonus stops at +48%. A burger below great, or a customer who leaves angry, resets it to zero.
Stars at the end of the day
- 3 stars: serve at least 95% of the day's customers with an average quality of 85% or more.
- 2 stars: at least 75% served with an average of 65% or more.
- 1 star: serve at least one customer.
The best upgrade order
Upgrades unlock as you level up, a few at a time. This is the order that pays back fastest for most players:
- Bigger Grill ($120, level 2). Three patties at once. Your single biggest speed boost early on.
- Napkins ($60, level 3). +10% tips for almost nothing.
- Warming Tray ($150, level 4). Cooked patties rest there and never burn. Cook a batch, park it, build burgers from it.
- Soda Fountain ($180, level 4). About half of all customers then want a soda: +$1.50 each, and a soda gives a waiting customer some patience back.
- Tip Jar ($140) and Chalkboard menu ($100), level 5. +15% tips and one more customer every day.
- Hotter Burners ($120, level 6) and Grill Thermometer ($200, level 7). Faster cooking and a much bigger window before a patty burns.
- Second Prep Board ($600, level 8). Build two burgers at the same time. Expensive, but it changes how fast you can serve a line.
- Premium Buns ($500, level 12) and Premium Patties ($1,100, level 16). +$1 and +$1.50 on every burger, which adds up over hundreds of burgers.
- Delivery Scooter ($1,200, level 18). +$40 at the end of every day, +$100 after its $2,600 upgrade at level 20.
Patience upgrades (Hand-Wash Station, Radio, Waiting Bench) matter most if customers often walk away from you. Style upgrades such as Flower Pots, String Lights and the Paint Job are cheap fun, and the signs bring extra customers every day. All prices are in the full upgrade list.
Rush hour and special days
| Event | When | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Rush hour | Every day from day 3 | Starts when about 40% of the day's customers have come. One extra customer (two from day 8) and tips x1.5 while it lasts. |
| Rainy day | Days 5, 11, 17, 23... | One customer fewer, but every tip is x1.35. |
| Food critic | Days 7, 13, 19, 25... | One special customer orders a fancy burger (at least three toppings). The review pays a bonus. |
| Street fair | Days 9, 15, 21, 27... | Three more customers than usual, with bunting and balloons. |
| In a hurry | From day 6 | About 1 customer in 10: 40% less patience, tips x1.6. Look for the stopwatch on the ticket. |
The food critic's review
| Your burger | Stars | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect | ★★★★★ | $150 |
| Great | ★★★★ | $70 |
| Good | ★★★ | $30 |
| OK | ★★ | $10 |
| Bad | ★ | none |
On a critic day the third daily goal is "Get 4 stars from the critic", which pays on top of the bonus. Five stars also earns the Critic's Choice trophy.
Regular customers
From level 3, about one customer in seven is a regular. They have names, say hello in their own way and tip more for a great burger. Serve all eight for the Everybody's Friend trophy.
| Regular | Visits from | Tip for a great burger |
|---|---|---|
| Uncle Gus | Level 3 | x2 |
| Granny Pearl | Level 4 | x1.5 |
| Little Timmy | Level 5 | x1.2 |
| Officer Dan | Level 6 | x1.4 |
| Skater Zoe | Level 7 | x1.3 |
| Chef Pierre | Level 9 | x2.5 |
| Coach Hank | Level 10 | x1.6 |
| Mayor Bigsby | Level 12 | x3 |
How to earn every trophy
There are 17 trophies. Each pays cash the moment you earn it, at the end of a day. The trophy shelf on the title screen shows the ones you still need.
| Trophy | How to earn it | Reward | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open for Business | Finish your first day | $25 | |
| Dressed for Success | Change your chef's outfit | $20 | |
| Combo Chef | Get a x6 combo | $60 | Easiest on a calm early day: fewer toppings, fewer mistakes. |
| Sky-High Stack | Serve a triple-patty burger | $60 | Triple patties appear from level 15. Keep a patty on the warming tray for them. |
| Clean Grill | Finish a day with 10+ customers without burning a patty | $60 | Buy the Grill Thermometer and the Warming Tray first; park patties instead of leaving them on the heat. |
| Nobody Goes Hungry | Serve every customer on a day with 10 or more | $80 | Hand-Wash Station and Radio give everyone more patience. Pour sodas to buy time. |
| Singing in the Rain | Get 3 stars on a rainy day | $80 | Rainy days have one customer fewer, so serving everyone well is a bit easier. |
| Soda Jerk | Serve 50 sodas | $80 | About half of all orders want a soda once you own the fountain. |
| Perfect Ten | Make 10 perfect burgers in one day | $100 | Try it on a street fair day: more customers means more chances. |
| Fair Day Hero | Serve 15 customers at a street fair | $100 | Street fairs are days 9, 15, 21 and so on. A second prep board helps a lot. |
| Money in the Bank | Earn $5,000 in total | $100 | |
| Critic's Choice | Get 5 stars from the food critic | $120 | Days 7, 13, 19... The critic always orders at least three toppings: check every layer. |
| Combo King | Get a x10 combo | $150 | Late game with the second prep board and a full warming tray. |
| On a Roll | Get 3 stars five days in a row | $150 | 3 stars needs 95% of customers served with an average quality of 85% or more. |
| Everybody's Friend | Serve every regular customer | $150 | Mayor Bigsby only starts visiting at level 12, so this one comes later. |
| Burger Baron | Serve 500 burgers | $250 | |
| Fully Loaded | Own every upgrade | $300 | Every level of all 18 upgrades: the last ones unlock at level 20. |
More ways to earn
- Daily goals: three goals every day (serve or earn, a quality goal and a special one), each worth more as the days go by.
- Daily gifts: open the game on consecutive days for $50, $75, $100, $150, $200, $300, then $500 every day from the 7th day in a row. Miss a day and it starts again at $50.
- Level bonuses: a level that unlocks nothing new pays cash instead.
Buying the dream restaurant
The "For sale" shop across the street costs $25,000 in cash. When a day ends with enough money saved, the game offers it to you, and a "Buy the restaurant!" button stays on the title screen. Buy it to see the sign flip to SOLD and step inside your own diner. Upgrades spend the same money, so decide whether you want to save or grow first. Growing first usually gets you there sooner.