It's hard to believe that Candy Crush Saga has been around for more than five years. For many people, that's five years of addiction to one of the best puzzle games on the planet.

While it's best played on mobile, Candy Crush Saga is free to play on Facebook too, so it's a nice break for your work day. No matter how you play it though, the challenges remain just as difficult.

Download -- Candy Crush Saga on Android | iOS | Windows 10 (Free)

Play -- Candy Crush Saga on Facebook

The Basics of Candy Crush Saga

The game's premise is simple. You have a level full of candies. Match three similar candies to destroy them. Use special candies, boosters, and other tricks to fulfill the level's objective. Level objectives change all the time -- they range from removing all candies to grabbing ingredients and more.

All of this is pretty easy to understand. The game starts with a tutorial that will teach you these basics. But for the sake of clarifying, let's lay out the special candies.

Striped Candy

  • How to earn it -- Match four special candies in a straight line.
  • What it does -- Destroys all jelly and chocolate in the line that the stripes point in.

Wrapped Candy

  • How to earn it -- Match five candies in an L or T shape.
  • What it does -- Destroys all eight pieces surrounding it.

Color Bomb Candy

  • How to earn it -- Match five candies in a straight line.
  • What it does -- Destroys all candies of one color.

But you didn't come here to learn these basics, did you? You came to find tricks and cheats for the game. So let's get into those. By the way, huge fans should check our Candy Crush Friends Saga tips as well.

Tip #1: Know the Best and Worst Combos

When you have two special candies in adjoining slots, you can match them to create a special candy combo. But not all combos are particularly useful.

Combos to Use

  • Striped + Wrapped -- Clear three lines vertically and three horizontally.
  • Striped + Color Bomb -- Turn all jellies of the striped candy's color into striped candies, and explode them.
  • Color Bomb + Color Bomb -- Clear the whole level.

Combos to Avoid

  • Wrapped + Wrapped -- Destroy adjoining blocks twice.
  • Color Bomb + Wrapped -- Turn all jellies of the wrapped candy's color into wrapped candies, and explode them.
  • Striped + Striped -- Clear everything in vertical and horizontal lines.

The combos to use are the most effective at clearing large sections of the level, while the combos to avoid take up good candies and do little.

That said, don't always avoid Striped + Striped. It can be useful, but if you have limited striped candies, it's better to save one of these till you get a wrapped candy or color bomb next to it.

Most importantly, don't use a special candy as soon as you see it. Figure out further moves so you can create a combo.

Tip #2: Make the Right Striped Candy

Of all the special candies, the striped candy is the easiest to make. You'll often see opportunities to line up four candies. The question is how you use it.

You'll have noticed that striped candies burst to take out the line in which the stripes point. So if the stripes are horizontal, it'll take out the row, while if the stripes are vertical, it'll take out the column. But did you know that you can control how the stripes appear?

Striped candy patterns are all about opposites. If you line up four candies horizontally (left to right), you will get a striped candy with vertical stripes. If you line up four candies vertically (top to bottom), you'll get a striped candy with horizontal stripes.

This is one of the most important strategies to plan in Candy Crush Saga. Often, the striped candies will determine if you can pass the level or not. For example, in any level where you have to collect the acorn and cherry ingredients, you need to clear columns, not rows. Line up four candies horizontally and you'll get a vertically-striped candy that will destroy the whole column for you.

Tip #3: Use the Three-Move Rule

If you don't play a move for a few seconds, Candy Crush Saga will help you out by highlighting a possible move. Far too often, especially when you start out, it is tempting to use this suggestion. Don't fall for it! The game doesn't always highlight the best move -- it's completely random.

Instead, take a pause and look at the whole board, then use the three-move rule. It's simple. At the start of the level or at any difficult situation, figure out what your next three moves are going to be, and play according to that.

Thinking three steps ahead is a basic training exercise for chess beginners. Candy Crush Saga is all about strategy, much like chess, so take a leaf out of the classic game.

Tip #4: Restart a Level Without Losing Lives

Every time you start a new level, the order of the jellies is completely randomized. And sometimes, this leads to a bad arrangement when you start out. What do you do when you get one such bad puzzle?

Here's a secret: you can restart the level without losing a life! Before you play any move, exit the level. Then start it again, and you'll get a new arrangement. This only works if you haven't played a move.

This restarting trick is also a good reason to take some time at the beginning and strategize your next three moves.

Tip #5: Be Stingy With Boosters

Candy Crush Saga rewards with you boosters every now and then. These boosters can do everything from starting you off with a Color Bomb to clearing up all blockers. Again, you should know which boosters to use and which ones to be stingy with.

  • Sweet Teeth -- It looks like a set of dentures, but this is probably the best booster of them all. Sweet Teeth clears up all blockers on a level. Save it for a level with far too many blockers that you can't seem to get rid of.
  • Bomb Cooler -- Some levels of CCS have bombs, ticking down with each move. If the bomb explodes, it's game over. Unfortunately, you'll often find that the bomb is going to explode just one or two moves before you can finish. At that time, the Bomb Cooler booster is brilliant. It adds an extra five moves to all bombs in the level, saving you from having to solve it again.
  • Lollipop Hammer -- Save these! Always, always, always save these. The Lollipop Hammer is the "in case of emergency" hammer for Candy Crush Saga. It will destroy anything you want, and is massively helpful.

Tip #6: Get Unlimited Lives Without Waiting or Begging

Yup, there is a way you can get unlimited lives on CCS without waiting. And no, you don't need to beg your Facebook friends for lives either. This is a major cheat and works only on mobile phones. It doesn't work on the Facebook version of Candy Crush Saga.

  1. Close the Candy Crush app on your phone.
  2. Go to your phone's Settings, find the Date & Time menu, change it from automatic to manual, and set it to tomorrow.
  3. Start Candy Crush Saga, and you will see that you have five lives again. Start a level, and then switch back to Settings.
  4. Go back to the Date & Time menu and change it from manual to automatic so you are back to reality.

You can do this as many times as you want to fill up your five lives without having to wait. But if you're doing this often, you might want to check yourself for signs of gaming addiction.

Which Level of Candy Crush Saga Are You On?

With these hints, tips, and cheats, you should hopefully be able to progress quickly in Candy Crush Saga. In no time, you'll be climbing through the levels and leaving your friends in the dust.

For more gaming tips, check out the best speedruns packed with tricks.

I'm on level 111 right now. What level are you on? And which is your favorite level of CCS so far? Tell us in the comments below!