Secret Ingredient

Secret Ingredient is an event where you create and match ingredients. Discover new recipes, recover Olivier's cook book and win generous prizes!

## Gameplay

Match ingredients to create new items. Energy slowly regenerates, winning main game levels adds extra energy.

Items can be combined into higher level items, or generators. Generators (marked with a blue lightning bolt) create items when tapped. Containers need to be filled with the specified items to become a generator or item.
Each step requires two of the previous, so going from level 1 to level 7 may require as many as 2^6 = 64 level 1 items. A generator mostly creates level 1 items, but sometimes a level 2 or even a level 3 item.

A generator is destroyed when the maximum number of items is generated, except for an infinite generator (Box of groceries and Cupboard) which will then start recharging. How many items a generator can create seems to vary, at least for some types (bag of groceries has been observed to display this behaviour).

Some generators can create multiple types of items. An example is the bag of groceries, which can create dough, a fruit or a vegetable. which ones come out is random but usually an equal chance for each type, and they come out in sets of the same type. An exception to this is the cupboard, which mostly produces kitchen utensils and has about a 1 in 5 chance of generating an oven mitt or chef's hat.

The (re)charge time is the waiting time before use, after creating a generator, or exhausting an infinite generator.

The % is the chance a certain line will be created (for example Onion, Apple or Flour). Within this division, there is a smaller chance a higher level item will be created (for example Carrot or Toast with cheese).

## Ingredients

* + = generator (\*\* = infinite)
* + = container
* ^ = if infinite, # items until recharge

## Strategies

First focus on clearing the board: generate items that combine with the plastic wrapped ones, this will free them and create space.

If you have sufficient space on the board, it pays off keeping a couple of items of each level around when your generator of choice creates them on the side of the ones you need (for example the box of groceries creating both onions, apples and flour). This will make it easier to fulfill orders.

Then start fulfilling orders to increase your score (counted in chef's hats). When gaining chef's hats, regularly exit Secret Ingredient and open the scoring window from the main interface, as that's where you can claim bonuses (like rainbow blasts, coins etc).

Organising your board will also make things easier: for example by keeping the box of groceries and the cupboard in the top left, and grouping the generators, containers and items that belong together in columns. If you need several of them for orders, you can move them to the bottom so they're easy to find between playing sessions.

The maximum amount of energy stored is 30. At a 3 minute recharge time per unit this means it fills up in 90 minutes. As recharging then stops, you should log into the game and use up your energy every 90 minutes. Playing levels in the main game will yield additional energy, between 8 and 12 per win. Special energy bonuses can overcharge beyond 30, however this will stop regular charging as well. Therefore, you're best off using the extra energy immediately.

## Tips

In the grocery store, there is a daily bonus of 15 free energy for you to pick up. The grocery store resets at midnight GMT.

Rewards: pick up any boosters, however leave the infinite lives ones until you actually need them. They can be activated at any time during the 16 day event.

Feel free to combine low level items to save space: the highest level items however will rarely be needed, so stick to one or two levels below that. A Slice of cake (level 5) for example replaces 16 cookies, and will still allow you to create Cakes (level 6) and Birthday cakes (level 7). Creating a Birthday cake however means you may be stuck with it for a long time due to low demand.

There is one exception to this: creating the Vegetable medley requires the equivalent of 32 carrots and yields the equivalent of 35 carrots. It is therefore a very efficient way of storing excess vegetables. However, as vegetables are at the root (☺) of a lot of recipe chains and therefore in high demand, this will probably happen rarely.

The only items you may want to regularly destroy to save space, are three of the containers: the Empy pitcher, the Baking tray, and the Empty pot. if you have 3-5 of each, that should be more than sufficient. Cloches are very difficult to get though, so hold onto those at all times. Any other excess items usually have a use for the final item. An example of this is the Burger, which, when opened, reverts back to a Veggie sandwich and gives you an extra Simple recipe. This applies to Preserves and Royal jello as well, of which you usually need either one or the other.

Coins can be combined to give more credits per coin, however the amount of credits provided (2 per coin, 5 per coin when 8 are combined, for a total of just 40 coins!) is so small that if you need the space, feel free to convert them immediately, regardless of the revenue.

If an order involves empty containers (like the pitcher or tray), make sure you don't have any that already have items in them. The game may pick these over fully empty containers, wasting the items inside.

There are two people ordering at any time. The top one always gives you the most chef's hats, the bottom one a lot less, but regularly with a bonus item (for example a cloche). If you're stuck because you need a rarer item, try doing bottom orders for a while. This applies in particular to the later stages of the game (400+ chef's hats), where the top order becomes increasingly difficult.

Finally, when you have enough chef's hats, before you open the event score screen, let the energy bar fully charge. There is an exchange bonus for the remaining energy, presumably the more energy the better the gifts.