If you are a brand new starter or an experienced player starting a brand new account here are my best tips from my own experience of playing levels 1-200.
King change difficulty of these levels frequently. Some weeks are better than others, so the first lesson is: Pick the right time to start. In between major leaderboard tournaments is good, at the end of a season is good.
Some accounts are easier than others. King run test groups, the game is "bespoke". Some players get an easier start than others. If you don't like what you get in the first 200 levels, then delete the app and start again. Chances are your game will be different.
There are some detailed starters' tips in this thread if you scroll back to the earliest posts.
Here is my summary of the most important points:
- The first 50 levels are tutorials to introduce the basic concepts of the game. All of these can be passed without the use of boosters. The game introduces boosters at specific points in the game. Make sure these are unticked and do not waste boosters.
- From level 51 the episode race and some events start. The episode race is the best way to earn gold bars. Every player can win every episode race. Ignore the other players completely, they are not real but recordings placed in the game by King to scare you. In reality this is a timed event and the first three races give you at least one day or longer to win the gold.
- Each player gets a bespoke game and our events differ. Use the events you see wisely. Many will give you timed boosters. It is possible to get to level 200 with 300 gold bars if you use the timed boosters given for free in the game to your best advantage. Please note that timed boosters follow the clock of your device, so never change the clock forward while you have timed boosters active because you will lose them. Make sure you do not claim timed boosters when you are low on lives or do not have the time to play. Time management is an important feature of Candy Crush.
- Some levels will deliberately cause you to fail on your first attempt no matter what moves you made. This is part of the game, which is trying to trick you into spending your gold bars. Do not fall for the tricks: Do not spend gold to pass a pre 200 level on a first attempt. Try the same level again before deciding to pay. There are two reasons: Firstly the level may be passable on your second attempt. Secondly the game will offer us 15 extra moves for 10 gold if we fail second time, which should always be enough to pass easily. Paying 10 gold for one level per episode will still see you keep a healthy gold balance. Another way to get past the hardest levels is to use pre level boosters. Don't use these on your first attempt since we earn so few of them. But they do help pass some of the hard and super hard levels. Level 90 and 114 probably require us to spend gold bars to get past at the moment (Nov 2025)
- Using the above methods means that the best way to get through the early levels is to take it slowly. One or two episodes per day gives the best chance to both win the episode races and have enough boosters from events. It is the most efficient way to play and personally I find it also the most enjoyable way. In my recent experiences the game will give us enough boosters and enough time to get to level 200 with 300 gold bars. We do not need to buy any boosters this early on in the game.
Edit December 2025:
At the moment the first 200 levels of the game are gruesomely difficult compared to those that come after it. There are three strategies that work:
- Play slowly and no more than one episode per day. Follow the advice above and do not spend any gold. You may need to wait for lives to refill since at the moment some levels do not allow players to pass within 5 lives and you won't yet have any lives from friends
- As above but use gold wisely to get past the impossible levels that hold you up. Replay the levels you fail but make sure you don't run out of lives completely by paying 10 gold when the game offers you enough extra moves to pass with one single payment.
- Play quickly and get past these horrible levels from 51-200 as fast as you can: You will have to play the first episode race normally using either boosters or replaying the levels that hold you up (level 55 and 59 usually). Once you have won the first episode race purchase 6 hours indefinite lives. Play no boosters and do not use any gold. Play for as long as you can stand it and quit each level that does not give you a chance to win as soon as possible, until you get a lucky board. Win all the episode races and fill the chocolate boxes. This is now probably the best method if you value your sanity and have the time to play for several hours at a time.
From level 200 the game gets easier: The win streak and super charger get introduced. The app is designed so that players learn to value the super charger and the top win streak, so it actively lets players win most of these levels, which in the past used to be very difficult.
Enjoy your journey to level 300 and beyond. It should be possible to get there with a few hundred gold bars. Don't let the game trick you into spending it all. You need to make sure you always earn more gold per episode than you spend.
Enjoy!
