I’ve spent the last couple of days playing Candy Crush. My mother is currently sitting pretty on level 35, and she hasn’t paid a dime. So, how do you do it? How do you play in such a way as to never spend any real cash? Well, there are a couple of tricks you can use to save yourself some walletache. I’ve been playing on Facebook and have found a couple of ways to keep my score high and my cost… well, nonexistent.
Use Your Turns Wisely
This may be common sense to some, but others may not even look at the number of turns they have remaining. So here’s the trick: save your objective for the last ten or so turns. In the beginning, you may not have ten turns–as such, keep your objective for last but don’t miss it completely. Set yourself up to have a combo ready, and then complete your mission once you’re down to single digit turns. This will allow you to have a pretty decent score without missing your objective. Example: save one jelly for last in the “clear the jelly” levels.
You Don’t Need Boosters
They’re shiny, and they’re pretty, I know. But it is possible to beat every level without the use of those boosters, and they do cost money. The lollipop hammer gives you three free uses before it goes away. If you really need to use something, then I suggest saving the hammer for emergencies, but otherwise steer clear of them. They’re not necessary to complete levels.
Keep An Eye on Your Lives
Your lives are what cause you to have to wait 30 minutes between games. You start out with 5 lives, and once you’re out of lives, you have to wait half an hour to play. My suggestion to you? Play right before bed if you need a fix. If you run out of lives, no biggie–you go to sleep, and in the morning, you’re back up to full. Buying more lives is really how they get people.
Don’t Sacrifice for Score
It’s more important to complete the level than it is to get a high score on it, simply because failing a level costs you a life, even if you go back to a level you completed previously to try and boost your score. If you feel confident that you can beat a level with more stars, then by all means, go for it, but don’t sacrifice your life for a higher score.
Time Reset for iPad
Obviously, this method won’t work for Facebook users on PCs. However, this video shows you how to reset the time on your iPad so that you always have 5 full lives.
Stay Away from Downloadable Programs
Seriously. For a mobile/Facebook game, viruses, spyware and other malicious programs can really sink you in terms of security. Downloading programs (as we all know) that are not from a trusted source is really risky, and the money you may be trying to save on Candy Crush can go into buying yourself new hardware. Please stay away from programs that advertise cheats and hacks–some of them are really shady.
Update: Train Tickets (Level 35)
Train tickets, unfortunately, are a mechanism that require you to either pay money ($0.99), or ask your friends for help. There is no way around a train ticket–but there is a pretty easy way of getting one.
The easiest thing I’ve found is to only ask people who play Candy Crush. They tend to be less annoyed by requests from games, and if you have direct contact with any of them (texting, etc) you can always say “Hey! Send me a ticket and I’ll give you extra lives!” or something along those lines. You’ll need three friends to send you a ticket in order to reach the next level.
Again, I wouldn’t ever pay for a ticket. I ask friends, and only the ones who actually play the game.
