Sofra
Merge the flavours, set the table!
How to play
Move the dish to any spot above the tray and let it drop. When two identical dishes touch they merge into a bigger one: from chickpeas to olives, from Turkish delight to baklava, and finally to the Feast. Don't let the tray overflow; in Levels mode, reach the goal before you run out of moves.
How to play Sofra: a complete guide
Sofra is a drop-and-merge game served with the flavors of Turkish cuisine. You drop dishes onto a tray; when two identical dishes touch, they merge into the next, bigger one. The chain starts with Chickpea and runs through Olive, Delight, Tea, Baklava, Simit, Pide, Lahmacun, Künefe and Döner, ending with the Feast. The game has 50 story levels, four free-play modes, daily quests, unlockable tray themes and an Album that tells the story of every dish you discover.
Goal and controls
Drag your finger left and right above the tray, line the dish up where you want it and lift your finger to drop it. With a mouse, just move the pointer and click. The Next box shows the dish that comes after this one, so you can plan two moves ahead.
Near the top of the tray there is a limit line. If a dish stays above it for more than two seconds, The table is full! appears and the game ends. Dishes that get close to the line start to tremble as a warning.
The dish chain and points
You can only drop the first five dishes: Chickpea, Olive, Delight, Tea and Baklava. Everything bigger has to be made by merging. Each merge gives you the points of the new dish:
| New dish | Points |
|---|---|
| Olive / Delight / Tea | 3 / 6 / 10 |
| Baklava / Simit / Pide | 15 / 21 / 28 |
| Lahmacun / Künefe / Döner | 36 / 45 / 55 |
| Feast | 66 |
If two Feasts merge, you see Amazing feast! +200 and both leave the tray.
Combos and orders
When a merge follows the previous one almost instantly (in under a second), it counts as a Combo. Combos of x2 and above give bonus points, and the bonus grows as the chain gets longer.
After a few drops an Order ticket appears next to the tray. The customer asks for a dish somewhere between Tea and Lahmacun, but never for the biggest dish you have reached. The moment you make it, the dish flies to the ticket, leaves the tray, and you earn more than three times its normal points. In regular play there is one order at a time, and the next one arrives a little later.
Special pieces and helpers
As a game goes on, special pieces sometimes appear:
- Chili: blasts the small dishes (Chickpea, Olive, Delight) around the spot where it lands.
- Salt: upgrades the dish it touches to the next one in the chain.
- Frozen dish: cannot merge until the ice breaks; it has to be hit twice to thaw.
Two buttons sit at the bottom: Shake throws every dish into the air so the tray settles again, and Fork removes a single dish you tap. When the tray fills up, Second chance clears the dishes at the top and lets you keep going. You get one of each per game. When they run out you can watch a short ad for one more, and that is always your choice.
Modes
- Levels: complete goals and collect stars.
- Classic: play until the tray overflows and chase your record.
- Timed: score as much as you can in 2 minutes.
- Zen: the game never ends. When the tray overflows, the top dishes are removed and Tray cleared appears.
- Daily: everyone gets the same order of dishes that day, with its own daily record.
Your very first game is always in Classic mode, and the first dishes are chosen so they merge easily.
Levels, stars and story
Each of the 50 levels has a single goal and a limited number of moves; every drop is one move. There are four kinds of goal: make a specific dish (Simit, Pide, Lahmacun or Künefe), reach a score, serve orders, or land a x3 combo a set number of times. When you reach the goal, the moves you have left decide your stars: 3 stars if at least 40% of your moves remain, 2 if at least 20% remain, otherwise 1. Finishing a level unlocks the next one, and there are 150 stars to collect in total.
The levels follow a story: Can reopens Grandma Hatice's forty-year-old restaurant. A scene opens at the start of every ten levels (Opening the Shutters, The Neighborhood Diner, A Distinguished Guest, The Wedding Feast, The Holiday Feast), and a finale follows level 50. You can rewatch the scenes with the Story button on the Choose level screen.
Quests, trays and album
Every day brings 3 new Quests. One is always about making a certain dish; the others ask you to beat a score in a single game, hit a combo or finish games. Complete all three for an extra 200 points. Points from games and quests add up to your total score and unlock new Trays: Copper Tray at 500, Iznik Tile at 1,500, Wooden Board at 4,000, Night Feast at 10,000 and Golden Feast at 25,000. The first time you reach a new dish it goes into the Album, where you can read a short note about it.
Tips
- Gather your big dishes along one side, ideally in a corner, and drop small ones next to them rather than in front of them.
- Check the Next box before every drop and plan where the matching dish should go.
- Do not scatter small dishes across the middle; one stuck Chickpea can ruin the whole layout.
- Hurry when an order shows up: the served dish leaves the tray, so you gain both points and space.
- Save the Fork for a dish trapped deep in the tray that will never meet its match.
- In Levels, avoid wasted drops; every move you keep brings you closer to 3 stars.
- Drop a frozen dish where other dishes will bump into it, so the ice breaks on its own.
The Turkish sofra: a table for sharing
In Turkish culture the sofra is where a meal is shared: once a cloth spread on the floor or a low round table, today any table where family and guests gather. The phrase "Sofraya buyurun" (come to the table) tells everyone the door is open.
- Origin of the word
- Arabic sufra; the eating place and the spread of food
- Traditional form
- A floor-level meal: cloth, copper tray, cushions
- Common phrases
- Sofraya buyurun, Afiyet olsun, Elinize sağlık
- Home of Turkish tea
- Rize and the eastern Black Sea coast
- Protected sweet
- Gaziantep baklava (EU geographical indication)
- Chain in the game
- 11 dishes, from Chickpea to Feast
What is a sofra?
In Turkish, sofra means both the place where a meal is eaten and the whole spread of food laid out on it. The word comes from the Arabic sufra. In a traditional Anatolian home, meals were often eaten on the floor: a cloth was spread out, a low wooden table or a copper sini (a large round tray) was set on it, and everyone sat around on cushions. Tables and chairs spread later in the cities, but floor-level sofras are still laid in many villages and at big family meals.
Customs and manners
The sofra is the heart of hospitality. A guest at the door hears Sofraya buyurun, an invitation to come and eat. People wish each other Afiyet olsun (enjoy your meal) and thank the cook with Elinize sağlık (bless your hands). The eldest are usually expected to start, and bread is treated with respect. Holiday tables, wedding meals and the iftar meals of Ramadan are the most crowded sofras, gathering relatives and neighbors in one place. Tea served after the meal is the classic way to keep the conversation going.
The real story of the dishes
All eleven dishes in the game come from real Turkish cooking. Leblebi, the roasted chickpea, is closely tied to the city of Çorum. Most of the tea grown in Türkiye comes from Rize and the eastern Black Sea coast. Lokum is known worldwide as Turkish delight. Gaziantep baklava was among the first Turkish products protected by a geographical indication in the European Union. Künefe is the pride of Hatay, and simit is a symbol of Istanbul's streets. Cooking döner on a vertical spit is commonly said to have spread from Bursa in the 19th century.
How it shows up in the game
The game's logic follows the sofra itself: you start with small snacks, move on to main dishes and end with the great table where everyone sits together. The tray themes are based on real objects: the copper sini, Iznik tiles and wooden boards are familiar in Anatolian kitchens. Grandma Hatice, Can, Uncle Rıza, the food critic and Mrs. Zeynep are fictional, and so are the restaurant and its neighborhood.
How Sofra was made
Sofra grew out of the Turkish tradition of sharing a meal. In Turkish culture a sofra, the laid table, is about coming together, and inviting someone to it is the heart of hospitality. The idea was to bring that feeling into a merge game: starting from a Chickpea, dishes merge into Olive, Delight, Tea, Baklava, Simit, Pide, Lahmacun, Künefe and Döner, until a whole Feast is laid at the end of the chain. The dishes roll and lean on each other with real physics.
From the start the game had five modes, daily tasks, tray themes and an Album describing every dish you find. When it moved to CetinsGame, the game was reworked from the ground up. The game is playable in seven languages.
Version 1.6.0 added a story, Grandma Hatice's Diner: Can reopens his grandmother's long-closed restaurant, with a new scene every ten levels and a finale after level 50. The scenes are drawn in code. The same version made the levels easier: every level was played by a bot, and move limits were raised based on the results. In make-a-dish levels, salt now appears instead of chili, because the chili also destroyed the dish you were trying to grow.
The latest big fix came in 1.6.4. Playtests showed that orders came too often and the chili emptied the tray, and measurements agreed: two thirds of everything dropped went to orders. Now there is one order at a time, the next comes after a while, and no customer ever asks for the biggest dish you have reached. Orders take about a fifth, and players get past Pide to Lahmacun and Künefe. The chili only clears small dishes, in a narrower area.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest dish in Sofra?
The chain ends with the Feast. Merge two Döner and you get a Feast. If you merge two Feasts as well, you see Amazing feast, earn 200 points, and both leave the tray to free up space.
Why do I only get small dishes?
You can only drop Chickpea, Olive, Delight, Tea and Baklava. Simit and everything above it can only be made by merging two matching dishes, so you need a solid chain before the big ones appear.
When exactly does the game end?
The game ends when a dish stays above the limit line at the top of the tray for more than two seconds. Freshly dropped dishes get a short grace period. In Zen mode the game never ends; the top dishes are removed instead.
How are my stars decided in a level?
Stars depend on how many moves you have left when you reach the goal. With at least 40% left you get 3 stars, with at least 20% you get 2, otherwise 1. A better result raises your old star count.
What does the order ticket do?
The ticket shows the dish a customer wants. The moment you make it, it flies to the ticket, you earn bonus points and the dish leaves the tray. In serve-orders levels two tickets can be open at once.
Why won't a frozen dish merge?
An iced dish cannot merge with its match until the ice breaks. It has to be hit twice to thaw, so drop it where other dishes will land on it and it will clear by itself.
Does the chili destroy big dishes too?
No. The chili only clears small dishes such as Chickpea, Olive and Delight near the spot where it lands. It never touches the big dishes you worked for. In make-a-dish levels you get salt instead of chili.
How do I unlock new trays?
Trays unlock with your total score. Every game's score and every daily quest reward are added to it. Copper Tray opens at 500, Iznik Tile at 1,500, Wooden Board at 4,000, Night Feast at 10,000 and Golden Feast at 25,000.
What does Sofraya buyurun mean?
Sofraya buyurun is the warmest and best-known way to invite someone to eat: please come, sit down and share our meal. In the English version of the finale, Can puts it as: Come, join the table!
Are Grandma Hatice and her restaurant real?
No. Grandma Hatice, Can and the restaurant's customers are part of the game's story. The dish notes in the Album and the sofra customs, however, come from real Turkish cuisine.
Is Sofra free?
Yes. No download or account needed; it plays right in your browser. Watching an ad for a hint is always your choice.
Will I lose my progress?
Your progress is saved automatically on this device. Sign in and it moves to your account, so you can continue on any device.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. The game opens full screen on phones; tap the X in the corner to exit. On iPhone use "Add to Home Screen" to play it like an app.
Can I play Sofra offline?
Yes. A game you have opened once is stored on your phone or computer and opens without internet. Leaderboards and cloud saves need a connection.
Which languages are available?
Turkish, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Russian.
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