Omg...I just got through beating the game! I'm not even quite sure about how I did it, though it took a few tries tonight--which led to me asking about the timing with smoothies earlier tonight. (Since I won, I've been playing more Delicious in the "day to day" part of the game, trying to nail down what I've been doing.) Frankly, I think it was luck this time around--sometimes it's a matter of getting just the right combo of people. But here are some basic things that I've been doing to get through the game....

1) I've tried doing things in pairs as much as possible. I wouldn't try to push past doing a combo of two for serving food or having customers pay.

2) It helps to know how long customers take at the counter to order things--that way you can figure out whether you can do any combos or whether you need to hand any truffles out. It also helps to know who pays more:

--The businesswoman takes the least amount of time to order. When the "..." appears for her, she goes through four dots--one "..." and one "." before she orders. She'll also pay pretty well.

--Both the ordinary man and the student take the same amount of time to order: two "..." Between these two, the ordinary man will pay more--the average, I guess. The students don't pay much, even if they're happy.

--The tourist and the older lady both take the same amount of time to order too: 3 "..." Both of these people pay pretty well.

3) It really looks to me like it doesn't matter too much if you get people mad, especially in the last few stages of the game. Plenty of people are gonna get mad anyway because everything moves faster in the last few levels, compared to the other ones. But you can do damage control by doing combos, especially at the register. And you always have the truffles to help smooth things over.

4) With truffles, I try to save them for the old women and the businesswomen. Between the two, I prefer to save them for the old women because they're so patient and they'll be willing to wait a while--and give you the maximum number of points they'll give you. But it doesn't hurt to give them to people at the register in general if you really want the maximum number of points they'll give you. Like--let's say you served one customer really fast and their heart's beating, and then someone else comes up to the counter to pay. It wouldn't hurt to give that other customer a truffle so they can give more points for the combo you'll get when both customers pay. In the later stages of the game, I'd sometimes give the truffles more to students just so they wouldn't be so mad. But I don't usually care about them because they don't give a lot of points.

5) In the end, it's a matter of luck. Like I said, in the end, I think I beat that last stage due to luck. I got the right mix of people and got the right number of points by doing my combos in pairs as much as possible.

6) And for the ultimate cheat to this game...it sure doesn't hurt to play this game on a tablet PC. The game is a LOT easier on a tablet, compared to a regular computer or a laptop. :P (But for the record, I didn't just win tonight on my tablet PC. I won it on my desktop, promise.)