Tips and Tricks for Candy Crush Saga

If you’re here for level 201, see this post. If not, here’s the original that applies to all levels:

The first step is admitting…

that you, too, are playing way too much Candy Crush Saga (CCS). Whether it’s on your phone or your facebook, you know this game is slowly ruining your productivity, and maybe even sort of ruining your life.

Well, friends and fellow addicts, I dedicate this post to you. As of this post, I’m on level 201 (yes, 201). To anyone who plays, it should be obvious this means I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on the game–way more than I should have. But now you can profit from my being a degenerate. All of this info, and much, much more, is elsewhere on the web (I’m sure). But hey, you’re here! So dive in:

1. How to Get Infinite Lives:

Never pay for lives. You can show support for the game other ways (buying tickets, boosters, etc.), if you really want to. To get infinite lives:

– On your phone: close out CCS; go to your settings and find the date and time section; disable automatic date setting; change the date to tomorrow’s date. Now open CCS and go to the game board/main screen; your lives should be full. Now CLOSE CCS, reopen your date settings and fix the date to today’s date. When you reopen CCS, your lives will still be full, but now your phone knows what day it is and this trick will work again (and again and again and again) without messing everything else on your phone up.

– On your computer: this is admittedly a bit dicier (and obvious), but in case you didn’t know, you can just buddy up with another person’s facebook to do this…or a dog’s. Dusty already had an account for Marnie, our Jack Russell, so Marnie signed up for CCS and supplies me with lives, tickets, and moral support at the click of a log-in. I’m not saying to create a sham account using your old hotmail address; I’m also not saying not to. You be the judge. Edit: if your facebook is replacing the “Ask Friends” button with a “Claim Offer” button, click “Home” (leaving the CCS game on facebook), then re-load CCS from the home screen. Before the game finishes loading, click the blue “+” at the top left corner next to the clock. The “Ask Friends” button should be back.

For those who don’t know, the two apps only sync your progress in the game, NOT your lives or boosters.

2. How to Pass that *One* Level that You Can’t Pass:

First, look it up on YouTube. I like skillgaming’s videos because they tend to have useful comments, and he actually responds to questions, too; but you can just search “Candy Crush Saga [level number].” This way, you’ll know if you’re missing any tricks to achieving the level’s goals. It’s also helpful in figuring out complicated feed patterns (where candies drop into a holding bin from another holding bin that isn’t obvious). You might also find out…

That sometimes the phone version and facebook version are slightly different. On some levels, for whatever reason, the scoring is higher on the mobile app than the facebook app. On other levels, striped and wrapped candies do more damage on the facebook app than on the phone app. Sometimes, beating that seemingly impossible level is as simple as changing your device. Also, occasionally the actual goal will be slightly different. So, if you do play on both platforms, double-check your trickiest levels for any possible advantages.

Being patient and trying a bunch of times are obvious. But you might also give your brain a break by (1) doing something other than play CCS, or (2) playing a different type of level on CCS. I particularly like to do timed levels when I’m stuck on a tricky one because they’re short and generally involve a lot of satisfying mass destruction that isn’t always possible on the hardest puzzle levels. With endless lives (see 1, above), you don’t have to worry if you don’t meet the goal every time.

Finally, if you really can’t pass one, you can always use a booster. Remember, you always have to  pay for boosters on your phone, but you can get some for free on facebook. For this reason, unless a hard level is known to score better or play better on your phone, play the hardest levels on facebook. That way, if it’s down to just that one last stinkin’ jelly, you can lollipop that sucker outta’ there and move on!

3. How to Score Big

If your goal at any given point is points (whether because you need X number of them to pass the level or because you want stars/glory), keep in mind:

– Special candies are great and are your friend in point-making, BUT timed levels sometimes require you to just keep going!

– You can watch the end of the level on YouTube to determine whether having lots of moves left over at the end will yield mega points, as some levels end with fish, others with free striped candies, and others with simply blowing up any special candies left on the board at the time the level ends. This may also depend on how many moves you have left.

– One excellent way to rack up points is by combining a “color bomb” (the brown spheres with multi-colored sprinkles) with a striped candy. One excellent way to regret your move is to instead trade the color bomb with a wrapped candy, which really doesn’t do much that’s exciting, point-wise or destruction-wise.

4. How to Maintain Your Dignity

I hope anyone actually reading this post has already done this (because I assume you’ve already been playing the game for quite some time), but please:

– Don’t invite your friends to play CCS unless you really think they might want to/they’ve asked you about it/you’re intentionally trying to avoid being invited to their parties in the future.

– Adjust your facebook app settings so that posts by CCS can only be seen by you.

– Never share that you passed someone on the board or out-scored them; no one likes a gloater.

– Generally try to maintain other interests and some semblance of knowledge about current events, despite your new favorite pastime.

And finally…

5. Some Basic Tips/Info.:

– Before you start a level, know what the goal is (getting X points in limited time, destroying jellies, collecting “orders” [e.g., destroying 99 orange candies, or swapping two striped candies three separate times], bringing down ingredients to the bottom of the screen) and devise a plan. If it isn’t timed, assess the board before you start. No number of special candies and high scores will help you if you repeatedly only destroy the middle of the screen and miss one jelly in the corner.

– Your best wrecking ball is almost always swapping a striped candy with a wrapped one. This swipes through three rows horizontally and vertically from the swap. Before you do attempt to create this pattern, try to check to make sure you won’t set one of them off with cascading candies before you get the chance to swap. It’s really frustrating when all your hard work explodes! Swapping a color bomb with a striped candy is even better, but it’s harder to create, so I think this one is best overall.

– Swapping two color bombs (spheres with sprinkles, for those who didn’t read above) will zap all candies in the same “holding bin,” but it won’t affect other bins in some situations (but it does in Level 201, at least on facebook). This isn’t always a good tactic for reaching far-off jellies.

– Swapping two wrapped candies sometimes creates two giant explosions, but sometimes only creates two normal-sized ones. I have no idea why.

– Striped candies are vertically striped and destroy in a vertical line if they are made from a horizontal row of 4 candies. They’re horizontally striped and destroy in a horizontal line if they’re made from a vertical row of 4. Because why would they make it easy, right?

– Timed levels only “Sugar Crush” by setting off any special candies you already have on the board when the clock runs out; they will not create fish or new striped candies to help you reach the target score, so you can’t count on that to help you get there.

– The “saga” itself doesn’t make any sense or matter at all. But that little girl is sure cute and helpful.

Enjoy! And don’t think less of me. Or at least not much less.