Burger Stack is a free burger stack game online. Each kitchen is a scaffold of girders and ladders with the makings of two to four burgers scattered across its floors. Walk the whole width of a layer and it drops one floor; if it lands on the layer below, that one drops too, all the way down a stack. Get every layer onto the plates to serve the kitchen. Sausages, eggs and pickles walk the girders after you: they chase, they cut you off, and one touch costs a chef. Shake pepper to freeze them for three seconds, drop a layer on one to squash it, or catch one standing on a layer as it falls and it rides down for a bonus. The puzzle is the order — walking the top bun first moves every layer under it, and walking the bottom bun first moves one — and the stars are for how fast you serve. Eight kitchens, from two burgers and one sausage to four burgers and four enemies. No download, no sign-up — play with a keyboard, or with the on-screen pads on a phone.
How to play Burger Stack
- Pick a kitchen and press Start, or just press an arrow key. The chef starts on the bottom floor, and enemies start coming in a few seconds later.
- Walk left and right with ← and → (or A and D), and climb ladders with ↑ and ↓. Holding ↑ or ↓ while walking takes the first ladder you reach. On a phone, use the pads under the kitchen.
- Walk across all four cells of a bun, patty, cheese, tomato or lettuce layer. Each cell you step on sags, and when all four have, the layer drops one floor.
- A layer that lands on another layer knocks that one down a floor in turn, so walking the top bun of a full stack moves every layer under it at once.
- A layer that falls past the bottom floor lands on the plate. Serve the kitchen by getting every layer of every burger onto its plate.
- Sausages chase you, eggs try to get ahead of you, and pickles wander. One touch costs a chef, and you have three. Press Space or X to shake pepper up to three steps the way you are facing — or up and down a ladder — and freeze them for three seconds. Every burger you finish refills one shake.
- Drop a layer onto an enemy to squash it, or drop one an enemy is standing on and it rides down for a bigger bonus. Squashed and ridden enemies come back about five seconds later. Stars are for your clear time.
Tips
- Walk the top bun first. It has to fall every floor to the plate whatever you do, and each time it lands on a layer it takes that layer down too — walking tops is the fewest walks there are.
- Walking the bottom bun first moves one layer one floor. It feels like progress and it is the slowest way to serve a kitchen.
- A layer with a gap under it falls into the gap and stops: look for stacks with no gaps, where one walk moves everything.
- Save pepper for when an enemy is between you and the only ladder out. Turning towards it and shaking is one move — the pepper goes the way you are pressing.
- Finishing a burger gives back a shake of pepper, so the last layer of a nearly done burger is worth going out of your way for.
- An enemy that has just been squashed is gone for about five seconds. That is the safest time to walk the layers on its floor.
- Enemies never turn round except at a dead end. One walking away from you keeps going until it reaches a ladder, so a ladder between you and them is the best place to be.
FAQ
Is Burger Stack free to play?
Yes. It runs free in your browser with no download, no install and no account, on a computer, a tablet or a phone.
How do you drop a burger layer?
Walk across all four cells of it. Each cell sags as you step on it, and once all four have been stepped on the layer falls to the next floor down. If it lands on another layer, that layer falls a floor too, and so on down the stack.
What is the fastest way to finish a kitchen?
Walk the top layer of each burger first. The top bun has to fall every floor to the plate anyway, and every walk of it also carries the layers it lands on, so it takes the fewest walks. In tests, a player who walks the tops earns three stars on at least three runs in five on every kitchen, and a player just as quick who walks whichever layer is nearest earns them on fewer than one in three.
What does the pepper do?
Pressing Space or X, or the Pepper pad, shakes pepper up to three steps the way you are pressing or facing, or two rungs up and down a ladder you are on. Any enemy in it freezes for three seconds and cannot catch you. You start each kitchen with five shakes, and every burger you finish gives one back.
How do I get rid of the enemies?
Drop a layer onto one — anything under a falling layer, on the floor it lands on or on a ladder in its way, is squashed. An enemy standing on a layer when it starts to fall rides it down, which scores more. Either way it is gone for about five seconds and then comes back in from a door.
How are the stars decided?
Serving the kitchen is one star; two and three stars are clear times, shown on screen. They were measured with test players on forty games per kitchen and re-checked on forty others: three stars sits between a player who walks the top layers first and one who walks the nearest layer, and two stars is the pace of the second player.
How many kitchens are there, and do they get harder?
Eight. They grow from four floors, two burgers and one sausage to six floors, four burgers and four enemies, with gaps in the floors in kitchens 4 and 7. In tests, a player who reacts in about a third of a second clears the first kitchen nearly every time and the last two hardly ever, while one who reacts in a quarter of a second clears every kitchen at least a quarter of the time.
Do the enemies move the same way every time?
Mostly. Play again runs the same shift: the enemies come in at the same moments and make the same choices whenever you give them the same situation. New shift changes when they come in and which way they wander at the ladders. They react to where you are, so a different route gives a different game.
Is this like the old arcade burger game?
It plays the same idea as the 1982 arcade classic BurgerTime — a chef walking girders to drop burger layers onto plates while food chases him — as a set of kitchens with star times. It is an independent game with its own kitchens, not affiliated with the makers or owners of BurgerTime.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. The pads under the kitchen walk, climb and shake pepper; hold a pad to keep walking. On a phone held upright the frame is taller, so the kitchen and the pads both fit.