Candy Crush Saga - 15 essential tips

Are the candies crushing you?

Candy Crush Saga is scientifically engineered to infuriate. King has taken the tried-and-true match-3 formula that made Bejeweled famous and refined it into a maddening--and maddeningly addictive--demon thats rocketed to the top of the mobile charts. As a work of free-to-play monetization, Candy Crush may be without peer--every aspect has been honed to get the player to plop down cash for the all-too-important boosters.

One of the most frequent ways King tries to encourage gamers to buy in is through frustrating difficulty spikes. Once every ten levels or so, youll come across a level King has crafted into an exquisite instrument of pain. The trick is going to be getting past those levels without shelling out your hard-earned GP. Its dangerous to go alone; take these hints!

Special Candies

King only gives you 5 attempts at a level each day before forcing you to wait. With so few attempts, youre going to need all the help you can get if you plan on plowing through Candy Crush--and thats where we come in. Ive collected a few tips and tricks to help stretch your valuable lives.

Special! If you want to get far in Candy Crush, youre going to have to learn to use create special candies. They come in three flavors:

Striped: These striped candies are created any time you line up four like-colored candies in a row. When theyre used in a match, theyll either clear an entire row or column, depending on the directions of the stripes. Vertically striped candies are essential for high scores on ingredient-clearing levels.

Continued...

More Special Candies!

Wrapped: These candies are still in their wrapper! You can create them by matching 5 like-colored gems in a T or L shape. Wrapped candies detonate, clearing the 8 squares surrounding them.

Color Bomb: Created when you clear a line of 5 like-colored candies, Color bombs are very powerful. When you switch a color bomb with a regular candy, it will destroy all candies of that color on the map. Switching it with other special candies has even more potent results, but be careful--never let your color bomb near a chocolate square! The chocolate will spread, destroying your lovely little bomb.

Tricks and cheats

Bottoms up: When youre looking for moves, consider starting at the bottom of the screen. The bottom few rows of a Candy Crush board tend to languish, for lack of fresh candies. Matching items on the bottom can refresh a stagnant board by bringing down fresh candies. Whats more, matches on the bottom are more likely to cause secondary cascade-matches, as the rows above cascade down.

Lets Try that again: Levels in Candy Crush are created randomly each time you load them. Sure, they have certain characteristics, but the placement and color of the majority of candies on the board is randomized each time the level is played. But dont worry--with a bit of patience, you can make this work to your advantage! When you first load up a level, give it a good, long look. Look for ready-made 4 or 5 candy combos, useful special candies, and the chance to deal with obstructions. If you find a board that doesnt have some advantage, back out of the level and restart. So long as the level you chose doesnt have a timer and you never made a move you wont be charged a life!

Extra Lives: If youre still having a bit of trouble, theres one more big tip. Candy Crush limits you to five lives per day--if you run out of lives on a level, youll have to wait until tomorrow to try again. Or you can cheat. Simply adjust the date of your smart phone or device, and youll get a whole new set of 5 lives. You can do it as often as you need to, in order to crush Kings saga.

Beat... Level 17

Level 17 isnt the exactly the hardest level out there, but its definitely a step up from everything surrounding it. In order to move on, the player has to drop at least 4 ingredients (they look like hazelnuts or chocolate buckeyes), and score at least 40,000 points. Unless youre fiending for a three-star finish, you really dont have to worry about the point total--just get the ingredients down and youll be fine. That makes the level sound easy, right? Well...the catch is that youve got less than 20 moves to get it done.

With such a limited moveset, you really need to plan your moves if you want to successfully bring down the ingredients. The flared bottom of the board means youll have limited options when it comes to making combos, expect a difficult time dropping the ingredients on the periphery. With that in mind, youll want to start on the periphery and work your way in. Also, be on the lookout for four- and five-tile combos--striped candies and color bombs make dropping the ingredients a whole lot easier.

Beat... Level 23

While certainly not the hardest, Level 23 can be tricky if you go in unprepared. The bottom of the map is dominated by columns of meringue, blocking you from making easy matches. If you want to succeed, you need to make sure that you can quickly destroy the meringue. Resetting the map will be a big help--any map worth trying should have at least one easy match down among the meringue.

Once youve cleared a bit of meringue, you should look for any chance to combine special candies. Mixing striped and wrapped candies will destroy whole rows and columns, allowing you to easily clear the jellies from this wide map.

Beat... Level 29

After getting through the easier stretch of 10 levels or so, youve reached a real challenge. Your goal in level 29 is to clear the map of the gray jelly blocks. Easier said than done--most of the lower half of the table is covered in frosted jellies that restrict the amount of candies you have to work with and take two hits to remove. If thats not hard enough, youve only got 60 moves to work with.

The key to beating this level is to work your way from the bottom up. Easier said than done, but youll have to get rid of the frosted jellies if you want a chance. Taking out the frosting means youll have a lot more options. Once youve got most of the frosting removed, you can get to work on removing the remaining jellies. Youll even save moves, since youre likely to have some of the jellies on top removed when random drops create matches.

Beat... Level 30

An old enemy returns in Level 30. The dominant feature of this board is the pyramid of meringue blocking the bottom of the screen. If you want to pass the level, youll have to break through that obstruction so your ingredients can reach the bottom. It can be a bit tricky to approach, so be sure to reset the level until you find a board that gives you some advantages.

Once youve cleared most of the meringue, its vital to start looking for your ingredients. Special candies can be a great help. Look for combinations that will create them, since theyll easily bring your ingredients to the bottom of the map.

Beat... Level 33

Level 33 is one of those levels--the ones that make guides like this so necessary. Like with Level 29, the goal is to clear the map of gray jelly tiles. Two things make this one hard: first, the odd shape of the map. Second, the tight turn limit--youve only got 14 moves to work with. There isnt really a definitive strategy that can be used to power through this map--youll just have to make sure that youre creating striped candies that can destroy whole rows at once. Be sure to plan out your moves carefully--if you arent getting a match with every move, youre setting yourself up for trouble.

Youre probably going to hit a wall on this one. Dont worry, thats normal. Just keep at it until you blast through. If you need more lives, there might just be a helpful tip for you at the start of this gallery... It's on the Tips and Cheats page.

Beat... Level 45

Level 45 looks like another simple jelly-clearing affair, but one feature makes it devilishly tough--the central jelly is surrounded by empty squares. Its impossible to attack that square with a conventional match. To clear that square, youll need to hit it with a striped candy or a color bomb. it might take a few tries, but resetting the level will help you get a good start. Look for easy 4 or 5 square matches before starting the level.

Once youve cleared the middle, you can start working on the rest of the map. You dont have to worry about the licorice cages, since theres no jelly beneath them. That said, clearing a few of the cages will make room on the board for bigger combos. Youll have to find the right balance to match your board.

Beat... Level 65

Well, here you are. Youve reached one of the hardest levels Candy Crush can throw at you. Its another destroy the jelly level, but unlike the previous entries, this one gives you a generous 50 moves to work with. As with level 33, this one is almost certainly going to take you a few (dozen) tries before you pull through. However, unlike the previous entry, you can increase you chances with some strategy.

Like all maps, you should always be on the lookout for the chance to match four or five candies--the striped candies and color bombs youll create will make your life much easier. The biggest trick, though, is to make sure that you ruthlessly destroy the chocolate and licorice squares. If you can clear the map of those obstructions, youll have a lot more room to work with, and more options to create matches.

Beat... Level 70

After a brief lull, were back at the summit of Mt. Difficulty with Level 70. Its another strange map, split into halves linked by portals on the bottom of the left side. Matching candies on the right causes the blocks on the left to fall--it sounds complicated, but its easy to crush once you see it in action.

If you want to beat this level, the most important rule is this: dont touch the liquorice candies on the right! If you do that, the chocolate squares will spread out over the map, leaving you in a tight spot. You need to get rid of them with striped candies or color bombs on the left side of the map. Actually, as a general rule, if you ever get the chance to match 4 or 5 candies on the left, its imperative that you make that your priority--if you match something on the right, the falling blocks will probably eliminate the better match.

Beat... Level 79

Beating 70 gives you a few easy levels before you end up reaching this doozy. Youve got a lot to contend if you want to clear all of the jellies: chocolate blocks, locked candies, double-tough jellies and a candy-teleporting portal restricting access to the center of the map. And youve only got 50 moves to get it done.

The best possible scenario is managing to manoeuvre a vertically striped candy into the central column. Detonating that candy will remove the annoying chocolate blocks and break down the protected jellies protected by the portal. If you dont get that lucky, make sure you focus your attention on destroying the chocolate--if you dont get rid of them fast, theyre going to cause you problems later. Once you get rid of the chocolates, focus on creating matches at the bottom of the map--the matches created by cascading tiles will really help out in the long run.

Beat... Level 86

With its central pyramid of obstructions, Level 89 looks and feels an awful lot like that dastardly level 30. The difference is that must destroy all the obstructing liquorice if you want to clear the jelly below. Doesnt seem so hard, right? Well, youve only got 35 moves to work with.

Because of the tight move limit, youre going to want to make sure that you get a good start--dont bother with any map where you cant quickly attack the liquorice chains in two or three different places. Once youre through the chain-gang, youll need to work quickly to eliminate all the liquorice wraps. Wrapped candies will go a long way here--especially if you combine them with a striped candy, so try to create them if you get the chance. Once youve cleared nearly all the liquorice from the board, you can start worrying about clearing the jelly.

Beat... Level 97

And here we are: the last great roadblock on our journey to level 100. In a nice change of pace, you dont have to worry about clearing jellies--but you do still have your hands full. To beat the level, youll have to rack up 115,000 points in a mere 25 turns...and King threw in a bunch of game-ending bombs. You know, just to keep things interesting.

Its essential that you remove the bombs as fast as they appear. Trust me, you do not want to end up dealing with a bomb on your last few turns. If at all possible, try to remove the bombs with special candies--destroying whole rows or columns of candies at a time is essential if you want to keep on pace to the required score. Planning is crucial, since you absolutely cant rely on simple 3-tile matches to win--they just wont bring you enough points.

Beat... Level 130

Level 130 seems straightforward; all you have to do is match two striped candies together five separate times. The catch? Youve only got 40 moves to do it. Getting a fast start is vital to success, so dont even bother with a board if it doesnt let you create a striped candy on the first turn. Just keep resetting the map until you find one more amenable to your goals.

Once youve got a fast start, youll have to keep the momentum going. It should be fairly easy to score matches--you only have to deal with four colors instead of the usual five--but you should keep an especially sharp eye out for the 4-gem match that will generate a striped candy. Dont even bother with color balls or wrapped candies--theyre of no use on this level. One last warning: be careful when matching candies below the a striped candy you were planning on using--if you arent careful, you might waste the striped candy to clearing ordinary candies!

Candies Crushed

Want to play something else? Check out the Biggest Mobile Games of 2014