Girl Games

Girl games are one of the biggest sections on the site, with almost 3,000 games about fashion, beauty, cooking, decorating and businesses to run. You dress your favorite characters, try out hairstyles, bake cakes or run a restaurant, all free and in your browser with nothing to download. There are two quite different kinds of game in here: the ones where you create and experiment with no pressure, and the ones where you race the clock.

For creating and experimenting

Dress Up is the biggest group, with more than a thousand games: you mix clothes, shoes and accessories, sometimes for a date, as in Dream Date Dressup, and sometimes with characters from other franchises, like Sonic Dress Up and Iron Man Dress Up. Makeup, Hair Salon and Manicure work the same way, like beauty salons where you try things and change whatever you want; Sue Hairdresser, Barber Shop and Nail Salon 3D are examples. Interior Decoration is about furnishing and painting rooms or dollhouses, as in Doll House Maker and Cozy Home Decor. In all of these there's no right answer, so try things and change your mind as often as you like.

For staying organized and running a business

Cooking has step-by-step recipes and faster games, with Cakemania, Sue Cooking and Cake Factory. Restaurant and Time Management are the busiest in the section: customers arrive, wait and leave if you take too long. This is where The Waitress, Burger Restaurant 3, Papa's Pizzeria, Papa's Freezeria and Monkey Mart live, the last one having you run a shop. Farm is about growing crops and looking after animals (Frenzy Farming, Old Macdonald Farm, Idle Farm Tycoon), and Babysitting is about caring for babies and pets, with Baby Hazel and Pet Grooming Studio.

Dating and quizzes

Dating is romance stories where you choose what to wear or what to say, like Toki Meki and Beach Date. Quiz is the extra: contests and tests about animals, flags or general knowledge, from Zoo Trivia and Guess the Animal Quiz to plenty more.

Where to start

If you don't know where to jump in, start with Dress Up or Makeup: you can't go wrong. For something with more movement, Papa's Pizzeria or The Waitress. To build something up over time, Monkey Mart or a farm game.

Tips for playing

In restaurant and time management games, serve the customers who have waited longest first, and prepare the things that come up again and again before they're ordered. If the game gives tips or bonuses for speed, they usually pay off more than going slowly. In dress up and makeup games, take a screenshot of the looks you like best. In cooking games, follow the order of the recipe: sometimes the game scores you for doing it right, not just fast.

One last note: the section mixes games at very different paces, so if one doesn't grab you, try another type before writing off the whole category. Someone who's bored in a beauty salon may have a great time running a pizzeria, and the other way around. You also don't have to play the category in order: go into whichever subcategory catches your eye and jump to another when you get tired of it. There's plenty to get through.