Iftar Planner: free Ramadan meal planning and timing game

What is Iftar Planner?

Four evenings of Ramadan, four menus for the family meal at sunset, called iftar. Each dish has steps that take time, wait for each other and share your two hands, two stove burners and one oven. Move every step on the timeline so the hot dishes come out in the last 15 minutes before sunset and nothing is late.

Iftar Planner is a free planning game set during Ramadan, when many Muslim families fast from dawn to sunset and then share an evening meal called iftar. You're the cook for four evenings, from a simple lentil soup to the big family meal on the last night before Eid.

Every dish is a few steps: chop, then simmer; knead, let the dough rise, then bake. Each step takes time, some wait for others, and they share your hands, two stove burners and one oven. Slide the steps on a timeline that ends at a made-up sunset time, so the hot dishes come out in the last 15 minutes and nothing is late.

At a glance

Category

Seasonal

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Move the steps

Each step is a bar on the timeline that ends at sunset. Nudge it 5 minutes earlier or later with the arrows.

Respect the kitchen

Some steps wait for another, your hands do one thing at a time, the stove has 2 burners and the oven fits one dish.

Serve at sunset

Hot dishes must finish in the last 15 minutes. A plan that isn't ready costs one of 3 lives and shows what went wrong.

Score

120 per evening, plus up to 80 for starting the kitchen as late as the best plan. A hint costs 20.

Scoring

Each evening served scores 120, plus up to 80 for starting the kitchen as late as the best plan (10 less for every 5 minutes earlier). A hint costs 20; an evening never scores below 20.

Serving a plan that isn't ready (a cold dish, a step started too soon, a clash in the kitchen) costs one of 3 lives. Your best score is kept in this browser.

What it trains

Working backwards

Starting from a deadline and subtracting each step's time.

Critical path

Finding the longest chain of steps that sets the start time.

Sharing resources

Fitting steps around one pair of hands, two burners and one oven.

Strategy and tips

Plan backwards

Start from sunset and subtract: a 30-minute simmer that must end at 19:00 starts at 18:30, and its chopping has to be done before that.

Find the longest chain

The chain of steps that adds up to the most minutes sets your start time. Place it first, then fit the rest around it.

Use the waiting time

Rising dough, marinating and chilling need no hands. Chop or knead something else while they wait.

Share the burners

When three hot dishes need two burners, one has to finish a little earlier, still inside the last 15 minutes.

Don't start too early

Starting the kitchen earlier than needed costs rest points. The best plan starts as late as it can.

Why play Iftar Planner?

Working backwards from a fixed deadline is how cooks, event planners and project managers plan: they find the longest chain of dependent steps, called the critical path, and fit everything else around it while sharing limited tools. Iftar Planner turns that into four short puzzles where you can see every minute on the timeline.

Frequently asked questions