The train is arriving. Your noodles aren't ready.

Bento Express is a first-person kiosk sim set on a quiet island platform in rural Japan. You run one wooden stall by yourself, and every hour a train rolls in and hundreds of tired passengers need breakfast, lunch or dinner on the go.

Prep every dish

Nothing here is a one-click recipe. Tip the sack, pour the water and flick the switch to start the rice. Season the miso pot. Boil the noodles. Flour and fry the karaage. Hold your pour and release on the gold band for a perfect batch that cooks faster.

Serve against the timetable

Trains arrive exactly on schedule, and passengers who are boarding can't wait. When the bell rings, anyone who hasn't committed to an order runs for the doors. Passengers who have already bought a ticket or reached the till can still finish, but they will miss the train.

Two ways to sell

• Soba at the side window. Customers buy a meal ticket at the machine and wait at your counter for a fresh bowl. Wrong or missing toppings mean they pay less. Dirty bowls pile up until you wash them.

• Bento at the till. Take the cash, count out the change and close the drawer.

Make the numbers work

Ingredients, boxes and rent all cost money. Unsold food is thrown out at closing, and every day ends with an honest summary of what you served, missed, wasted and earned. Use your profit to upgrade the ticket machine from a coin slot to a touch panel with IC card support, so soba customers clear the queue faster.

A platform that feels alive

• Watch the sun move across the sky from morning to night.

• See rice paddies and hamlets stretch out under Mt. Fuji.

• Hear a day-long soundtrack that changes between the opening, the day and the closing.

Features

• First-person stall simulation with hands-on cooking

• Timetable-driven passenger waves, with boarders and arrivals

• A cash register with change counting and a meal ticket machine with upgrades

• Daily costs, waste and profit that make every day a real decision

• Dynamic time of day, light and sky, and a countryside backdrop

Hang the noren. Open the stall.