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Candy Crush Saga is sweeping the social and casual gaming spheres like a bag of Hershey's through a room full of chocoholics. It's easy to see why - it's massively social, blending elements of "classic" match-3 games like Bejeweled with puzzle and objective elements. It can be tricky, though, and it's super punishing when you fail.
With that in mind, I've been collecting my "secrets for success" and I'm here to share them with all of you out there enjoying this game on Facebook or your iOS/Android devices.
Need Help for a Hard Level?
If you're looking for specific strategies for a level you're stuck on in Candy Crush Saga, check out our Candy Crush Saga Wiki page, which lists all our level guides in one easy to use list!
There's also a list of our general guides, including guides for Chocolate, Mystery Quests, the Dreamworld and much more!
Connect 4
Connecting four or 5 candies in a single go is almost always a good move. If you match more than 3 candies in a single move, before any chain reactions start, you'll create a special candy that is super powered.
- If you match 4 candies, you'll create a special "striped" variant - this candy will wipe out an entire row or column when matched.
- If you match 5 candies, you'll create a special "color bomb" that can match with any candy. Further, it will remove all candies of that color from the board. This can really shake things up and lead to massive combos!
- If you match two groups of candies in an "L" or "T" shape, you'll create a wrapped candy that detonates like a bomb when matched. It will take out the 9 surrounding candies, which can be useful for tricky areas of the board.
Mmmm, delicious points...
When you can, make matches that create these candies, as they can extend your reach to new or tricky areas of the board. Matching these candies can also clear jelly squares in addition to clearing normal candies. So, if you can get a striped candy into a row or column with a tricky jelly, you can take it out by matching the striped candy. Similarly, you can match a color bomb to clear a jelly square that has a candy of the same color on it, regardless of how far apart the color bomb and the jelly square are!
Would You Like Stripes With That?
It's possible to combo multiple special candies together to get extra special effects. For example:
| Color Bomb | Striped | Wrapped | |
|---|---|---|---|
| \*\*Color Bomb\*\* | Clear the whole board | All candies of the striped candy's color become striped and detonate | All candies of the wrapped candy's color are removed, plus one other color of candy |
| \*\*Striped\*\* | All candies of the striped candy's color become striped and detonate | The row and column of the match are cleared | The 3 rows and 3 columns around the match are cleared |
| \*\*Wrapped\*\* | All candies of the wrapped candy's color are removed, plus one other color of candy | The 3 rows and 3 columns around the match are cleared | A large explosion, clearing the area around the match |
Another thing to note is that the colors of the special candies don't have to match and you don't even need a 3-in-a-row match to match two special candies together.
Get Crushed
Even if you're playing Candy Crush Saga for score, focus on the objective - the more turns you have left at the end of the round, the more bonus you'll rack up when the objective is complete. For instance, if you clear all the jelly from a level and have 10 moves left, bonuses will fly in from outside the screen and create mega chain reactions that are worth massive points. The more moves you have, the more massive your end-of-game bonus.
A Sugar Crush in progress - clearing the level early earned me a bunch of striped candies, which will all explode and take out a bunch of other rows, earning me mega bonus points.
Also, any special pieces (striped candies, color bombs, etc) will automatically activate when you win, during the "Sugar Crush" event, which triggers when the level has been won. Thus, if you don't need to match one of these candies in order to win, ignore it! You'll get credit for having matched it, even if it was difficult (or even impossible!) for you to have done so.
Bottoms Up!
The key to getting high scores in Candy Crush Saga is (obviously) matching a lot of candies. The more candies you can match in a single move, the better off you are. It stands to reason, then, that a move that shifts more candies is better than a move that shifts few candies. From this comes a simple axiom - start at the bottom.
Matching the blue and red candies towards the bottom right from the start will give you a leg up - this is especially true here, where some of the squares are blocked until you clear the frosting!
If you can't make progress towards the objective (ie, clear jelly, move ingredients, etc) and you don't have any 4, 5, or 6 candy combos, pick the matches nearest to the bottom of the screen.
The candies at the bottom of the screen tend to be the "stalest" and stay there the longest. However, if you match them, you move the entire column on top of them, making more candies shift position. This gives you a better chance of making a secondary match, which scores double points.
Chances are good that if you're going to lose by failing an objective, you're going to have unmatched pieces near the bottom of the screen. It pays to match early and often down there!