Candy Crush Saga Moves Levels

Perhaps the most basic game type in Candy Crush Saga is the humble Candy Crush Saga Moves Level, sometimes referred to as a "Target Score" level. Like every other game type in CCS, these start out fairly simple and quickly move on to abusively difficult. Target Score also begins to play a role in higher levels as it more frequently becomes possible to achieve other objectives like clearing Jellies or bringing down all Ingredients, and still fail because you don't achieve the Target Score.

One has to wonder how many mobile phones and tablets have been shattered in frustration as Candy Crush Saga players complete a difficult level only to see the crying face of that child/she-beast mock-crying about your defeat. Understanding the CCS scoring system is incredibly tough, and even after hours of studying it I don't know all the answers (if you do - please share in the comments) - but what I do know, I'll share with you now.

Combos

One of the first and most simple scoring systems in CCS to understand is the "combo" scoring system. Each match you make results in 60 points added to your target score. If that match causes a second match, the second match will net you 120 points. A third match will net you 180 points, and in that way each additional match gets you 60 points more. This means that for any given number n of matches, your score will be equal to: n! x 60.

When you work through the numbers, you find that generally speaking, combos aren't worth fretting about for score. Getting a combo that chains 3 or more matches together is fairly hard to set up, and your moves could be better spent elsewhere. One slight side note is that combos are important in timed levels, but we'll talk about that another day :) .

Pricey Obstacles

Certain obstacles offer a fairly substantial point value. In particular, jellies are each worth 1000, and color bombs are worth 3000. Ingredients also offer a fat 10k each. It is hard to call this much more than trivia though, because in any given jelly level you have to clear all of the jelly to win anyway, there is no way to avoid bringing down ingredients, and clearing bombs is also rarely optional. It still may come in handy when you have very few moves left, and you are having to make tough choices to meet both the objectives and target score goals.

Special Candies

Things get interesting when we bring up the topic of special candy score (for more info on forming Special Candies, see this article ). Determining these took quite a lot of experimentation and reverse calculation, and I still believe there could be holes in my equations, but here they are:

Striped Candy

Forming a Striped Candy will award you 120 points. Using it will net you n x 60 points, where "n" is the number of candies you clear.

Wrapped Candy

Forming a Wrapped Candy will award you 200 points. Using it will net you 1080 points, regardless of how many candies it clears.

Color Bomb

Forming a Color Bomb will award you 200 points. Using it will net you n^2 x 60 points, where "n" is the number of candies which are the color you matched it with.

The net result is that even Striped Candies will net you more than a triple combo, and Wrapped and Color Bomb can score significantly more. When using a Color Bomb for score, be sure to pick a color to match it with that is plentiful. It may even be worth making one or two unrelated matches, to try and increase the number of candies of that color on the screen.

Special Candy Combos

Here is where things get unpredictable. Even after quite an extentive amount of study, I can't definitively derive the formulas for these combinations.

Striped + Striped

This combo seems to score similarly to 2x individual Striped Candies, and thus will net you in the neighboorhood of 700-1500 points. This makes it very underwhelming from a score standpoint. About the only benefit is that it save you the extra move of using the second Striped. If you can afford to save your Striped Candies to match with a better special candy - do so.

Striped + Wrapped

In my analysis, I found this combo can net you anywhere from 6k-12k points. It is probably the best use of the Striped Candy, and probably gets the runner up spot for best combo for points. Also, given the ease of creating Striped Candies, this is also one of the most attainable. This combo will do work for you when score is important.

Wrapped + Wrapped

Luckily - the combos aren't all rocket science. The Wrapped + Wrapped combo seems to provide a straightforward and consistent 3600 points. When you add in the 200 points you get for creating each Wrapped Candy, this rounds out to 4000 points total. It's nothing to sniff at, but considering your other options for Wrapped, I'd normally gamble on another choice if I was going for score. You may recall from my article on Special Candy Combos that I'm not exactly a huge fan of this combo - so be aware of my bias.

Striped + Color Bomb

Like some of the other options, this combo can be highly random. It seems based on my analysis, to merely score as the sum of many Striped candies. This means you could get roughly 1k - 3k points from this match. Assuming you are only thinking about points, you'd be better off trying to save your Striped and Color Bomb for a match with a Wrapped.

Wrapped + Color Bomb

This combo is the big daddy of all special candy combos. In the scenarios I looked at you net > 10k, and sometimes significantly more. I speculate of course that this depends on the number of candies you clear with the two matches, but it seems impossible to determine the exact formula. If you are going for points - this, in my opinion, is the best combo.

Color Bomb + Color Bomb

Following up the best combo, is among the worst - and easily the biggest let down. Given how incredibly difficult it is to match two color bombs, you'd think it would be an instant win - but anyone who has done it can tell you that it is not. Testing reveals that clearing the entire board of candies nets you only a few thousand points. If you are down on points, try to save your Color Bombs for better matches. Based on my testing you may even be better off using them individually.

Conclusion

Meeting the "Target Score" in Candy Crush Saga Moves Levels and even other objective levels can be extremely difficult. Considering all of the numbers, your best bet is to focus on getting special candies, and if you are really desperate to put points on the board, try for a Striped + Wrapped or Wrapped + Color Bomb combo. Obstacles like Jellies and Bombs will help a little - but you generally have to match those anyway to win, and they usually aren't enough to reach the Target Score by themselves.