The best strategies to help you beat Candy Crush

In my last post, Life Lessons Learned from Candy Crush, I mentioned that the game has a way of transforming you and training you how to be a better player the higher you advance. This article is a collection of my advice based on what I learned from playing the higher levels. These strategies, mixed with a little luck and a lot of persistence, should help you get past any level in the game.

 

Go Big or Go Home

If I can impart ONE piece of advice, applicable to almost any board in the entire game, it would be that big moves win.

Okay, I’ll elaborate. Sometimes the game will tell you exactly what it wants you to do. I.E. combine a bomb with a striped candy twice. You have 35 moves to “collect all orders” and if you do it, you win. If not, you lose. It’s pretty straightforward.

 Other times it will give you an objective and leave the method up to you. One example would be to create 20 striped candies. Technically, you could just try to connect four candies a total of 20 times, but wouldn’t it be much easier if you focused on combining a bomb with a striped candy and in so doing created 15 striped ones at the same time? That’s what I mean by go big or go home. Creating a bomb is more challenging than a striped candy, but it pays bigger dividends if you’re patient and look for your opportunities.

The same holds true for clearing all the jellies. Sometimes you stare at the jellies in the corner and think “oh this is so hard I’m just not getting the right candies to fall in that spot, it’s just not my day.” Guess what? If you combine a bomb with a striped candy or a packaged candy, things will happen. Which brings me to my next point:

 

Don’t focus on individual jellies until near the end

Initially you’re going to have a ton of jellies to clear. This isn’t the time to individually target them and clear them. Instead, spend your earlier moves looking for opportunities to make big things happen (go big or go home), then when you only have a few left you can look for ways to clear them individually – but don’t lose sight of the chance to create big moves.

 

Ignore the colors

Okay, don’t ignore ALL the colors ALL the time, but, on those levels when you have to create 12 striped candies and 12 packages and clear 40 blue candies, forget about the blue ones until you only have a handful of moves left. Why? Because the more blue candies you clear three at a time, the less blue candies will be available to clear when the chaos happens as a result from your big moves. In other words, if you create big moves, those colors will be cleared anyway, along with every other color, thus making more room for more blues to drop down – and that’s the key – in order to clear that many you need the game to give you that many. If you were to track the number of candies dropped and cleared on games where you win vs. lose, you’d find that in order to clear any given number of a specific color, you’re probably also clearing that many of every other color as well! So, ignore the colors.

 

Look Down!

So perhaps I was listening to the Les Miserables soundtrack while I wrote this, but the advice holds true! If you are presented with a large board and have the chance to make a move near the top or the bottom, and everything else is equal, make the move near the bottom. This improves your chances of what I like to call “benefitting from the chaos.” When candies are crushed near the bottom of the board, more things move, increasing the chances that some other candies happen to line up just right and surprise you with exactly what you needed. Sure, it’s luck, but your skill and decision making can influence the chances of a lucky thing happening. (It’s how I defeated my final level[link to first post].)

 

Don’t ignore the time bombs, but don’t let them distract you either:

You’ll have to decide how you prioritize time bombs depending on the circumstances in each level. If the time bomb gives you 35 moves before exploding, but you only have 40 moves total – it’s more likely than not that they’ll end up taking your focus away from what you should really be doing. On the other hand, if you have 40 moves but occasionally a 5-move time bomb shows up, you need to drop what you’re doing and handle the threat! Jack Bauer style! Okay, I’m getting carried away, but so should you. WHERE IS THE BOMB???

By the way, the same advice can be said for chocolates. You need to do what you can to keep them at bay, but if you only focus on suppressing the infiltrating chocolates, you might lose sight of your objective. Hey, maybe Candy Crush is like counter-terrorism with Jack Bauer.

 

Figure out what you’re doing wrong

 One great thing about playing this game with the time-machine I gave you[link to the post on getting more lives] is that you can afford to lose a few rounds in order to get to know what the challenge is. Like Seneca Wallace, sometimes the gamemakers are crafty and the real challenge might not be obvious at first. If you find you’re struggling with one specific aspect of a level, decide to focus only on that element, even if it means losing the board for another reason. Two things will happen – first, you’ll become a better candy crusher by overcoming your weakness. Second, you might surprise yourself with a victory.

 

Time is on your side…. usually

 Depending on what kind of crusher you are, the timed levels will either be the easiest or the hardest ones. Look for bonus time candies and do whatever you can to get them. Usually it doesn’t take an entire 5 seconds to find a way to clear the bonus time candy, so you come out ahead by focusing on them.

 The timed levels can be challenging when time bombs are involved. On a few occasions I noticed that I had one move left before the time bomb went off, but I had already reached the minimum level of points. In this case, just sit back, relax and watch the time tick away. You’ve earned a rest anyway.

 

Switch your swiping finger

Like any addiction, playing Candy Crush can take over your life. If you’re not careful you can end up with a sore knuckle, and if, like me, you depend on your hands for a living, this can be kind of scary! I found myself making a big push to finish and the last couple of weeks I could definitely feel it. I didn’t want to end up like the major league pitcher who injured his hand playing guitar hero, so I began swiping with my middle finger instead of my index finger. Sometimes with my left hand.

 

Slow down, think about it

If you’re absolutely stuck on a level try this: Slow waaaaaaaaaay down. Before you make a move, analyze every single move available, try to anticipate the consequences of each move and ask yourself which would be the most beneficial. This makes the game not as “fun” because you have to think A LOT, but it can hone your ability to see the most beneficial moves quicker.

 

And finally, my parting advice, be persistent

Sometimes you’ll play a level over and over and over and over and you’re convinced that anyone who’s ever passed that level payed for special help or extra moves. DON’T GIVE IN TO THE TEMPTATION! Unless you hate money and the feeling of victory. Seriously, they make enough money already. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-candy-crush-makes-so-much-money-2013-10

 

Is there anything important that I’ve missed? Sometimes you get playing and find a strategy for success without even realize what you’re doing, so please let me know in the comments section what has worked for you in the past. Also, any specific questions? I’m not really a full-time mommy blogger but I’ll try to check back frequently and keep the discussion going.

Want to try something new?

Try Candy Crush Soda or my husband’s latest obsession Clash of Clans.