# Candy crush **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 24, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572 "2013-09-24T11:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bibitte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bibitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibitte)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/1 "2013-09-24T11:07:43Z")
Is the game Candy Crush Saga rigged? People says you have to pay to succeed, but I am at level 409 and have yet to pay a cent. I think you need a mix of strategy and luck. But about the luck needed, have they rigged it so it’s easy, or hard, or even are they helping you out a little when you’ve been stuck on a level for a few weeks? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/2 "2013-09-24T11:50:45Z")
Moving this to the GAMe Room from General Questions. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/3 "2013-09-24T12:12:28Z")
I’ve made it to 125 thus far without paying anything (or linking to Facebook to annoy all my friends). A lot of the times you have to get a decent combination of candies in order to succeed (the luck factor) and it can take a long time to get one. Paying for the extras improves your odds of succeeding with a given combination but I’ve yet to reach a point I thought impossible. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/4 "2013-09-24T14:34:44Z")
I stopped at exactly 125. Couldn’t get it after 2-3 days and just lost interest. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/5 "2013-09-24T14:43:52Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > I stopped at exactly 125. Couldn’t get it after 2-3 days and just lost interest. I’m doing the quests immediately after, but 125 took me about a week and I did think about giving up as well. If it stops being fun there’s no need to keep going, say I. Usually I get the free games Starbucks gives away, play until finished or bored, delete and move onto the next one. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/6 "2013-09-24T17:28:59Z")
I am at 210. I have encountered 3 levels that took me \>3 days to pass each and my partner is convinced that the game is rigged as suddenly after days of frustration adn just as I or she are about to quit the game, a level becomes passable. In one example there is a level around 160s that has to get a stripe+stripe, a stripe+explody, and a stripe+sprinkled\_doughnut in 40 turns. I spent a week and a half and got 2 many many times, but just couldn’t get three. And then on my 300th attempt, I got all three combinations in 9 moves. I don’t think it is rigged- there is just no way to put in the AI to adjust the game to make it suddenly winnable to a player’s specific tendancies. I spent $0.99 on level ~30 and not a penny since then. My strategy is: 1. Look for 5s a. do everything possible to combine a stripey & sprinkled\_doughnut (this has set me up to win many many levels 2. find the lowest combination on the board 3. vertical 3s are always preferential to horizontal combos Lastly, at the end of each round, evaluate where my strategy failed (i.e. where is jelly left, etc.) and adjust priorities to address the previous game’s shortcomings. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/7 "2013-09-25T12:35:11Z")
My name is **Dead Cat** and I am a Candy Crush addict. Also yet to spend any money, helped my wife get to level 286 and currently stuck for weeks on level 165 myself. I suspect you are right about the AI, I think with some levels it’s just a case of playing it many, many times until you get lucky. For example, level 165 requires you to clear 100 blues in 60 moves, while chocolate is constantly generated. We have done 99, 98, 97 a few times, but it often seems you just don’t get enough blues coming down to succeed. I think you just need to clear a lot of candy with 5-4 combos to get there. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/8 "2013-11-07T23:01:21Z")
My mom said she saw a report on the news that reported people going into massive amounts of debt because of Candy Crush. WTF?!? I didn’t see the item in question, but I’m up to 320 and have never paid a cent. I do the quests and am patient, and while I have experienced that some levels take a week or more, and often seem unsurpassable, at some point candies (and planets) align and I clear the level, as well as several more after that. My vote is not rigged, but some levels can be easily cleared with pure strategy, but some require a good set of candies to play (and usually, open), and without those, you’re automatically hosed. I enjoy the game, and am glad to hear that it goes up to 409 (at least; I don’t know anybody who plays IRL). ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/9 "2013-11-07T23:12:08Z")
I can understand why people would be paying quite a bit of money; there are times when you go through levels quite easily and then there’s that one level where you haven’t solved it after a week - “Well, maybe one more of those pink lollipops is what I need…okay, I only needed two more jellies removed, so that seems to be working…and again…and _again_…” Right now, I am at level 50, without spending anything. Meanwhile, my Cash Calf on FarmVille has just started turning a profit… **Related question:** what’s the longest (in terms of number of times failed) that you have spent on a level? ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/10 "2013-11-07T23:22:18Z")
I’ve been stuck waiting for level 501 for a couple weeks. I feel slightly better about my life. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/11 "2013-11-08T01:38:34Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > **Related question:** what’s the longest (in terms of number of times failed) that you have spent on a level? I don’t know how many times I failed, but I spent a solid month on 147. That’s the longest I’ve been stuck on any level. I’m on 258 now. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/12 "2013-11-08T01:56:00Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I don’t know how many times I failed, but I spent a solid month on 147. That’s the longest I’ve been stuck on any level. I’m on 258 now. 147 is the sonofabitching level I’ve been stuck on for over a month now. Getting frustrated, but it’s such an easy ‘sitting on the toilet game’ to whip out. I have spent 99¢ on the game. There was one level that was frustrating me and I was clearly only one move away from winning when I ran out of moves, so I paid for the extra moves. Honestly, for as much as I’ve played the game, I really didn’t mind giving them a buck. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/13 "2013-11-08T02:04:42Z")
I was hooked for a while. Got to Level (checks) 201 before I got bored of it. I didn’t pay any money but I did make a fake FB page and made “friends” with a bunch of other people with fake FB pages to get tickets and lives as needed. Some levels took me a few days and then there were days that I did several in a couple hours. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/14 "2013-11-08T22:14:48Z")
I’ve been playing for a month or so. I’m up to level 117, have not paid a penny and don’t plan to. (My SIL, on the other hand, said she had to quit playing because she was spending too much on it.) There have been a couple levels where I’ve just about thrown in the towel, but patience and luck got me through. The levels that irk me are the “clear all the jelly” but also have a high target score. If you clear all the jelly and haven’t hit the target score, the turn is over even if you have moves left. I think it should let you keep playing until you are out of moves. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/15 "2013-11-08T22:38:10Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > I have spent 99¢ on the game. There was one level that was frustrating me and I was clearly only one move away from winning when I ran out of moves, so I paid for the extra moves. Honestly, for as much as I’ve played the game, I really didn’t mind giving them a buck. I did the same, but got bored of the game pretty soon after and stopped playing at level 90. I hate hounding my friends for tickets, and I hate that you can’t earn power ups, they must be purchased. I’d be happy to pay a one-off fair price for the game, but this model they’ve chosen to go with is clearly lucrative so they have no incentive to stop doing it this way. ---
**Author:** ![Allecher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@Allecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Allecher)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/16 "2013-11-09T00:53:12Z")
I’ve noticed that some levels are much easier to play on the desktop or on the mobile version. If you get stuck I suggest you try the other version to see if it helps. I have linked it to my Facebook but the permission I gave it was just where **I** can see the posts. I’m still able to coordinate with my friends who are playing but no one else sees the annoying posts in my timeline. ---
**Author:** ![Fluke\_Starbucker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3e96dc/32.png) [@Fluke\_Starbucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluke_Starbucker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/17 "2013-11-21T22:30:16Z")
I’m stuck on 455 because that’s as far as the mobile version goes at the moment. Never paid a cent. The only frustrating thing IMO is when it seems the board only allows you one option for a move… over and over agian… as if the game is being dictated somehow. But I strongly doubt that’s truly the case. ---
**Author:** ![SerafinaPekala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/18 "2013-11-21T22:34:54Z")
I played it for a month, got bored and moved on to “PapaPear” that requires some spacial skill at least. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/19 "2013-11-21T23:28:06Z")
I’ve been on 140 for a while now but I went from being a multiple times a day player to forgetting to play for multiple days in a row. I’ve spent $.99 a couple of times when I was just one move away and didn’t want to start over. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572/20 "2013-11-24T19:26:17Z")
You guys were right about level 147. I’ve been stuck on that sumbitch for about a week now. The closest I’ve gotten to completing it is 49 out of 52 jellies. Most times it seems I get one of those stupid bombs trapped in a corner until it explodes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candy-crush/669572.md?page=2)