Rolling Guide | Candy Crush Saga

One of the key things I do to get a leg up on some of the more challenging Candy Crush Saga levels is what I call "rolling." I covered rolling in my guide, and I also talk about it frequently when I bring up challenging levels. However, some people seem to be having a hard time understanding the concept, and why it's important.

Candy Crush Saga Rolling: The Concept

First, let's talk candy. Every time you start a Candy Crush Saga level, the starting candy on the board is random. On certain levels there are certain things that are always in the same place, but generally speaking the candy you see is randomly colored and arranged. This starting candy arrangement can be good for you, or it can be bad for you.

Since the number of moves you have is very limited in most levels, and there are certain obstacles that get worse the more moves you make, it's vital to start with an advantage. In some cases, without this advantage, you are very unlikely to win. Thus, rolling saves you lives and time by letting you skip the starting candies that are unlikely to let you win.

Rolling a level means to come into and back out of a level repeatedly until the random assortment of starting candy is advantageous to you. In each of my level guides, I will tell you if I used rolling in order to win, and specifically what candy setup I preferred.

Candy Crush Saga Rolling: Requirements

In order to roll a level, you must:

  1. Be playing on Android or iOS - if you play through the Facebook website on your PC, this will not work. You will lose a life every time you back out of the game, which defeats the purpose.
  2. Play a level without a timer - levels with a timer start as soon as you load them, and you can't back out without losing a life.
  3. Don't make a move first - Once you've made a single move, you've committed a life to this level and you can't back out without losing it.

If you can't seem to roll without losing lives, make double sure you're following these directions.

Candy Crush Saga Rolling: How-To

Once you've loaded a level, and you don't like the candies you see, you can back out one of two ways:

  1. Click the yellow arrow in the bottom left, and then press the red "door" button that shows up
  2. (Android Only!) Click the "Back" soft key in the lower left hand corner

This will take you back out to the map screen, and if you do it right, you shouldn't lose a life.

Candy Crush Saga Rolling: General Tips

When you roll, focus on a few things:

  1. Do I have a lot of good matches near my objectives? For instance, if you need to clear jelly near the bottom of the screen, are there good 3-in-a-row matches near the bottom?
  2. Can I quickly clear Chocolate or other obstructions? If there's only a few starting squares of chocolate, you can sometimes start out with matches that will immediately destroy the chocolate without having to fight it and waste half your turns. Or, you might be able to clear a bomb very early with the right starting candy combos.
  3. Are there good special candy matches I could make early? Sometimes you can get a 5-in-a-row right from the start, or a wrapped or striped combo from the beginning. This can make a big difference!

Candy Crush Saga Rolling: Conclusion

Rolling can really make your life a lot less frustrating. Nothing ruins your day worse than running out of lives on a bunch of impossible-to-win levels. Through rolling, you can get an advantage, waste less lives, and significantly improve your chances of winning. It takes a bit of patience, but so does running out of lives! Give it a shot the next time you're stuck on a particularly hard level.