In Atari 2600’s Piece o’ Cake, you play as a chef with the objective of constructing cakes. A conveyor belt is located at the bottom of the screen, with a platter appearing on the left side, moving towards the right. You, at the top of the screen, must take cake layers from the oven and place them onto the platter. Each layer must be the same size or smaller than the one below it.
Once a cake is assembled, it must be topped with a cherry. If you fail to create a properly layered cake with a cherry before the platter reaches the screen’s right side, it falls off the conveyor, and you lose a life. Cake layers of varying sizes emerge randomly from the oven, so unwanted sizes can be discarded on the screen’s right side until the desired size appears.
While cakes can be built in different sizes, bonus points are awarded for crafting a perfect cake, consisting of one large layer, one medium layer, one small layer, and a cherry. As the game advances, the conveyor speeds up, making cake assembly more challenging.