Play Gokuraku! Chuuka Taisen (Japan) Online

An American chef called Ginger Sanderland must beat other contestants in a cook competition around the world, to win the Chef of the Year award.

Go-Go Gourmet: Chef of the Year is, like its predecessor, a time management game that borrows concepts from the hidden object genre. Each stage shows a kitchen with its appliances, food and other ingredients scattered around the available surfaces. Ginger sits in the middle of it all, running around collecting and cooking. The orders from judges accumulate at the right side of the screen, and the player must prepare the recipes by clicking on the required ingredients and appliances. When the dish is ready, it can be delivered by clicking on the recipe or on a tray at the bottom. A clock at the top-left shows the remaining time to complete the level.

Some recipes require a cooking step where the food has to prepared in one of the appliances. An icon of the required appliance appears on the recipe. The player can go from order to order at will, collecting and preparing one while a cooking process is performed on another. On top of each order, a portrait of the judge with a green meter shows the patience level. When this meter is exhausted, the judge leaves in anger. More satisfied judges also give higher scores.

At the bottom of the screen, portraits of all contestants indicate their position in the competition. After winning the first place on each round, Ginger receives special items. Some of them help by making her faster, or increasing the patience level of the judges. A special freeze power-up, that stops the clock giving a few seconds more to complete the challenge, appears over the judge patience bar, To collect it, the recipe has to be completed fast before the meter runs out. Ginger can try each round again to reach higher positions.

Bonus rounds appear between stages and have different gameplay variations. In one, the screen is split in two similar images and the player has to drag and drop the food on the right place to make them identical. In another, several ingredients have to be collected fast under a more rigorous time limit.

The hint button highlights the position of one of the ingredients and can be used without penalty, but takes about a minute to recharge after use.