Barbershop Inc. — Play Free Online

Barbershop Inc. is a salon-management sim, and it is a long way from the bouncing and climbing that most of this site is about. You run a small barbershop in a blocky, isometric world: customers come in, you get them seated and served, the money you earn goes back into the shop, and over time the place grows into a bigger business.

It is published on Poki and the pitch is simple: hire staff, serve customers, expand. A session is calm and incremental rather than twitchy. You are watching a queue, deciding where the next upgrade goes and keeping the floor from backing up. It suits someone who wants a break from the reflex-testing games around it.

If you came here for Doodle Jump, the link is the loop of small, repeated actions that slowly build momentum. Here the progress shows up as a busier shop instead of a higher score.

How to play

Move with the arrow keys or WASD, and use the mouse to aim at things and select them. On a phone or tablet, tap and swipe instead. Nothing needs installing; the game loads in the frame above and runs in the browser.

A round is a steady cycle: head to where customers are waiting, serve them, collect what they pay, then spend it. The aim is to turn the shop into a larger operation by hiring help and expanding, so the work shifts from doing everything yourself to managing the space.

Tips

• Do not let the waiting area fill up. A queue that grows faster than you can clear it is the main thing that slows the early game.
• Spend earnings as they arrive. Money sitting unspent does not help the shop grow.
• Once you can afford staff, let them take the repetitive jobs so you can keep the customer flow moving.
• On a touch screen, short deliberate taps are easier to control than long swipes.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you want to stay on the site but switch back to action, Bird Jumper, Helix Jump and Ovo 2 are all about timing and reflexes, and Fireboy and Watergirl swaps the business setting for puzzle-solving with a partner.

Barbershop Inc. fits short breaks well, since you can stop at any point, and it is just as comfortable with a mouse and keyboard as with a phone.