Following the instructions of the titular "Mama", the player uses the stylus or their finger to perform different kitchen tasks, including chopping vegetables, slicing meat, flipping food in pans, and arranging the final items on the plate.

Each minigame represents a different activity in the meal preparation, such as mixing, frying, or chopping the provided ingredients.

The minigame mechanics themselves range from quickly drawing parallel lines in order to chop items, to a rhythm game where ingredients are added to a skillet or the heat is adjusted at precisely the right time.

If the player makes a serious blunder or time expires without sufficient progress being made, that step in the cooking process is considered a failure.

Depending on the final score, the game may award the player a bronze, silver or gold medal.

For example, to make a sandwich, the player would first be required to chop a cucumber into slices before the time limit elapses.

When cooking a recipe which has previously been mastered, the player sometimes has the option to change the dish being made "on the fly" between two minigames.

"[17] Detroit Free Press also gave it a score of three stars out of four, calling it "a game best played in small bursts.

"[12] However, The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a score of three stars out of five and said it was "A lot of fun but unlikely to satisfy your gaming appetite.