How Can You Crush Jelly Anyway

    It's the final summary of my Candy Crush compendium.  This time the focus is on Candy Crush Jelly.  Of the three games, it is the one I have really played the least, as it has the most differences between the three games.  First, it only has three modes, although with two versions of each.  There is the normal challenge mode as well as a competitive mode against a computer-controlled character for each of the three. Next, there are much fewer tools available.  Many of the ones I heavily rely on in the other two games are pretty much absent here. Sure, one or two have been available for free, but for the majority of the time, they are locked behind a paywall. Therefore, I have to rely on the boosters that are free each day.

    That is a hallmark of this game.  For every consecutive day you log in, you get one in a cycle of bonuses that last two hours.  On the first day, you get nothing.  By the seventh and last day, you get two bonuses running at the same time.  I try very hard to advance as much as I can on that day.  Then, the cycle repeats. I must admit that I have missed days over the years, due to such things as a three day power outage and the death of my first MacBook. Still, I've managed to maintain my streak for the most part, even when an unexpected refresh has ruined my chances for utilizing these daily power-ups.

    To get the most out of these bonuses, I have developed a unique playing style. First, I log in for the day about the same time each day, so I can make sure the bonuses are steady. This doesn't really matter much on the first day, but it is crucial for the others. Next, I play until I am down to just two lives.  Depending on the difficulty, this can take a little as three tries on one level or beating up to four or more levels at one go. Then, I stop. Each life takes thirty minutes to refresh. I wait the ninety minutes for those lives to come back before I start playing again. I usually have just under thirty minutes left on the bonuses by the time I start back, depending upon how much I have to do in the ninety minute waiting time. This is usually enough time to fully enjoy playing before the daily bonus expires. Sometimes, the lives are used up before the bonus is over.  At other times, the opposite happens, and the bonus ends just before I run out of lives.  While it sucks to have to stop playing early, it also helps me to limit my playing time overall. (On the day without any bonuses, I usually just play one level.  If I lose, I'm done for the day. If I win, I might play one more level, but I usually stop after just one.)

    And that's all for my Candy Crush collection. Next week I'll be talking about something completely different. 

When the Candy Won't Stop Crushing You

    This week, I am continuing the Candy Crush discussion with the original game. As I mentioned last time, I have only played the game through Facebook; never on a mobile device. This has caused me to develop an unusual playing style over the years. When I first started the game, I didn't have my own computer. As such, I couldn't play regularly, and when I did, I needed to get as much out of the game as I possibly could. That's when I discovered a glitch. If I was losing a match, I could simply leave the game before it ended by switching to another page on Facebook.  Usually, it was the home page, but I remember maybe starting a different game instead. I would then return to Candy Crush. For some reason, the game would think I was just starting it for the first time that day. My life total would be full, and the daily bonus for just logging in would trigger again. Since I couldn't play on a daily basis back then, not getting beyond the first day of bonuses didn't matter much.  However, it did allow me to play well more than through five lives without having to worry about waiting for the lives to refresh.

    I continued doing this after I finally got my own computer, as the glitch worked on it as well.  On the down side, it meant that I would never get beyond the first day (or second if I was playing around the reset time, which was around eight back then) of bonuses. On the positive side, I was racking up hundreds of the basic bonus, which was an extra striped and wrapped candy that I could put on the board before the start of a match. I think I wound up with over a thousand of these benefits before the game started to get updated. 

    Most of these updates didn't seem to be much of a big deal, until I realized that the glitch was no longer working.  I almost lost out on a lot of wins before I found out. I began having to use extra bonus pieces for most matches.  At least the game now had winning streak bonuses giving free bonus pieces at the start of a match. I was soon on great winning streaks, as more and more features were added, and as game modes and other bonuses were removed. As this was happening, I missed one subtle change. Originally, the game would list how many of the bonus pieces one had available at the start of a match.  The exact number. In the updated game, the total would still be shown in the inventory screen, but the pre-match screen would only list the exact total if it was under ninety-nine.  Otherwise, it just shows 99+. I wasn't paying attention to these totals for a long time, and my stash of hundreds fell to around seventy-eight before I noticed.

    I started to watch my resources more carefully after that. However, all of the changes began to really hurt my playing style.  I went from almost having to take a break from the game because I had almost caught up to the new levels being released, to barely playing once a day if I was having trouble with a level. What's worse is that some of the newest features only show up if I refresh the game while in the middle of a playing session. This sometimes happens without me doing anything as my browser sometimes refreshes itself for no reason. (My Safari app got messed up in an update last year, and further updates haven't always helped it.) This wouldn't be a problem, except one glitch still remains. If I leave a match before it is over, say to go to a different page on Facebook, my winning streak remains where it was.  This allows me to keep a rather large set of bonuses going at the start of a match, as well as getting other bonuses at set times. If I continue playing though, after one of these resets, the winning streak disappears, but I can now access the newest features. I have to close out the browser now before playing again, or I lose the winning streak bonuses. This is too much work just to play one game for a longer session, so I usually just play once or twice a day now, until I lose or a page refreshes.

    I hate not being able to get as much out of the game as I used to.  I can spend days just trying to beat one level now. I can't win often enough to qualify for special competitions. I miss out on so many special events just so I can keep up bonuses just to play.  It is almost just going through the motions right now instead of being fun. If the right set of bonuses come up though, the game is almost the same again. Just enough so that I can have a little more fun.

When the Candy Starts Crushing You

    Like many people, my first encounter with Candy Crush was on Facebook.  It took me a few tries before I really started to get into it, but it since become a daily fixation between the three games that are currently available. Sure, now that I have a phone, I could start playing on it instead, but I already have a game on my phone that takes up too much time that I don't want another one. Now, there are three Candy Crush games on Facebook, plus two others that are not. These two I could start on my phone, but one is basically a version of solitaire, so that one is a definite no-go. Still unsure about the other. 

    For those who do not know much about the series, the goal is to combine three or more identical pieces of candy to clear them off the board to accomplish one or more goals for the level. These goals have evolved and changed over the years, but the main mechanic of connecting candy pieces remains the same. Candies drop from the 'top' of the board, depending on where the top is. Depending on the goals, one has to clear the candies to get to finish the level. There are special candies and other tools that can help finish a level. In the earlier days of the game, the goals were simply get enough points or finish the game within a certain time limit. However, with each new game and update,  these challenges get more difficult.                 

      In particular, it is the second game in this series, Candy Crush Soda, that has been holding my interest lately. Of the three games, this is the one that has the most different game modes as well as the most unique features not found in the other games. The main mechanic is the soda element found on many levels that allow candies to enter the field in directions other than just straight down. This changes how one would normally play the game. While I originally played this game whenever I could, I got into the habit of playing it first thing in the morning when I opened Facebook. As the game updated, new features and mechanics were added. At first, I enjoyed such things, as they were usually added things for my benefit.

    Then, somehow, the features disappeared. I'm not really sure if it was just the Facebook version of the game the was affected or if it was because they got hidden behind a higher level or paywall type situation or whatever. All I knew was the game became much harder without these extra benefits. It would take me many tries to complete levels now. Just last fall, I was stuck on one level for weeks until I was lucky enough to use the right combination of starting candies to break free. Unfortunately, I spend almost all of my in game resources to do so, leaving just enough special candies in reserve in case I had another level I couldn't easily crack. Still, I was barely playing the game.

    Last month, something happened. I lost the first level I played that morning. Afterwards, I got an offer for either some free bonus candies or unlimited use of a certain candy at the start of match for a certain length of time. I chose the latter, and it made the level a little easier. Anyway, I decided to play Candy Crush Soda Saga again later one that day, as that bonus would still be in effect. I played, and lost, a level, and I got another offer for either free candies or unlimited use at the start. This glitch kept happening to me whenever I started a game session.  I'm thinking I should have only gotten one bonus per day, but I somehow was able to get multiples. I think it has something to do with my messed up Safari web browser. Last year, during an update, the browser got compromised. Safari became unusable. Further updates 'fixed' the problem, but it still takes a few seconds to either start or sign off from and I have to make a run-around to get things to work. It also makes random page updates due to "issues" with power fluctuations. I have lost many games due to such refreshes. Strangely enough, these updates rarely occur when I'm streaming videos or with general web browsing.

    Anyway, I started to make great headway in the game, after flailing for so long. I even somehow got all five possible bonuses going at once for many levels. I would even get offers for a choice between a special breaker tool or in-game gold to buy back a life. I soon had over a hundred for each bonus candy, over a hundred gold bars, and a lease one of each special breaker tool from winning so much. I was milking the game for all it was worth. Then, last week, the bonuses ended. It must have been just a month-long promotion or something. I kept forgetting to check on what was happening on social media. Now, I have to play the game on 'normal' mode again as the last of the multi-day bonuses end later on today. Yes, I managed to rack up over seven days of one bonus before the offers ended, and it was the special candy that was the last of the offers to show up during the start of the cycle.

    I'll probably go back to playing this game only in the mornings again soon, but at I least I was having fun playing it again. I have totally different, but related problems with the other two games, but that is a topic for a later post. Maybe even next week. 

Skeletons Coming out of the Closet

    About two weeks ago, a house I drive by every day put up their new giant skeleton to go along with their Sasquatch silhouette that they have had up since last September. The silhouette has small lights along its outline whose color can change. For Christmas, the lights were red. The silhouette stayed up until this spring, but it was still seen standing against the house. Yes, this house kept a Halloween decoration visible all year long. Now, they also have this giant skeleton that can barely fit in their small yard. First, where do people buy giant skeletons this time of year? It is kind of early for stores to start selling this type a thing.  Or not. Barely a day or two later, I saw Halloween candy and decor out in stores. In late August. That is way too soon for such things. Any chocolate candy could melt if another heat wave pops up. In general, any candy bought now might not survive through October to be handed out on Halloween. Second, why are people putting up Halloween decorations before Labor Day?  

    For the past few years, people have been starting to put up their Halloween decorations earlier and earlier. This house with the giant skeleton hasn't been the only one with their decorations up.  Other houses started putting up theirs about the same time.  Sure, some have just decided to put up basic fall decor, but others have gone all out so very early. I've seen pumpkins, of course, but there are also giant inflatables too. How much power is it going to take to keep these things running for over two months? 

    And those were just the people who just put their stuff out recently. Some have had things up all year long, like that Sasquatch in the first paragraph. I guess if you spend hundreds of dollars on a giant skeleton, you want to get as much use out of it as possible. One house put garlands on their pari of skeletons for Christmas. (They kept those up until quite recently.  The people may have moved in the last few weeks.) This past summer, on a trip to Lexington, I saw a giant skeleton dressed up like the Statue of Liberty for Independence Day. Not to be outdone, one local house that always has a huge tableaux for Halloween, kept a pair of regular skeletons up all year long, sitting on a bench.  They were dressed up as Santa and an elf for Christmas. Since June, they have been in patriotic headgear. There's even a teensy little skeleton hanging out in the garden behind the bench, but it doesn't get dressed up. (This house also has a bevy of mannequins they dress up. This summer, they have had a pair by the front porch since Easter or so.  Just regularly dressed, no particular holiday.)

    As of the day I write this post, I haven't yet put up the fall decorations for my store.  I have taken down the spring/summer decor and brought out all the orange for autumn. This afternoon, I will probably start putting this stuff up. Some of it is technically just for Halloween, but I usually hide those aspects by placing those decorations backwards until October. I want to get the most of my decorations too, after all.