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Stage 4 Day 3 Results

Thought I'd make a thread for today's results. Please feel free to post your own here. Mine today:

Screenshot_20260329_001020_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

The Greek player (Hellas?) apparently used a token while I was playing, and played just enough to pass Mayara by a few thousand points. Then about an hour later, Mayara woke up and played enough (without a token) to get back ahead of Hellas. Mayara kept playing for a few minutes at a time over the next several hours as if she was checking to make sure she was still ahead. The behavior certainly looks as if I have been "VCRed" on their boards. It really doesn't make much sense unless they don't see my recent scoring.

To join the Conversation:

Comments

Ivyunruh

I hit 94k points organically with NO multipliers at level 13.6k+. I've been playing since 2014 and I'm losing to a 2025 bot with 577+ color bombs. This is a total lack of competitive integrity!

Nobody1

I didn't really need to do anything yesterday, so I just played casually. An interesting move happened in the last few hours - do you think maybe 4 players in my board qualified?

Screenshot_20260330_064715_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260330_075850_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260330_090136_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Looks like Player tried to catch up without a token, but eventually gave up and used one to get ahead of Mayara in the final 2 hours.

michimune

More flowers advance to Stage 5, more players could see the flowers.

If Nobody1 can get ultra high scores in this Stage, maybe he will be a common blocker appearing in DIFFERENT flower’s leaderboard 😁

christinewupp

You are right. That's a good example you brought up there.

"Fair" in the true sense of the word it is, but it isn't fair on those of us who want to have some fun with these leaderboard competitions by challenging our skills and strategies against others. I don't want to wait until stage 6 to have a challenge: Stage 6 is a grind and physically hard, that round is not fun for anyone if you are in it to win it.

Maybe what I should do is get the whole bouquet into stage six by burning all my tokens and then sit and watch the final round and take notes and analyse what's going on. Analysing has been all the fun I've had over the past year with Candy Crush. So maybe that'll be what I'll do right to the end.

__MULLIGANACEOUS__

Best score so far. I bet you slogged your way to the top!

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3506707#Comment_3506707

I believe you. It’s so boring because you are competing with the system not real-time random players. It becomes very boring after you know how to beat the system.

Deal_One think Weekly Contest is so exciting and he has to pass many levels to get the chest, he would release a post about this achievement, but I know how to use inaccurate data to mislead the system, so I pass more than 4 levels can reach the podium. It’s so boring regarding a contest, but it's funny for earning the rewards easily 😆

In our last post, we are talking about the fairness.😁

Token players vs token players

No token players vs no token players.

A bespoke leaderboard makes the event be fair. No random just tailor made opponents.

Anac0501

Olá pessoal,

Quero compartilhar minha experiência e o resultado até aqui, confesso que me surpreendeu rsrs...

A jogadora Michelle é excelente tivemos bons momentos na troca de liderança, muito disputado, até que comecei a liderar ontem e segui, minha preocupação para próxima rodada são a falta dos multiplicadores...

Seguimos e boa sorte a todos!

Screenshot_20260329_151935_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

christinewupp

Believe me it's just so boring. Strategy just got real? I don't think so.

I am so, so bored playing this event. I am playing five accounts simultaneously and nobody is playing or moving, I could get the entire bouquet into the next round without using a token if I spent all day crushing. I didn't think I'd have so much time to kill while I wait to see if there will be a sprint or not.

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3506586#Comment_3506586

This token fight is real and I don't like it. It seems UNFAIR that those who play tokens are seeing opponents who also play tokens (a bespoke feature perhaps) while those who take it slowly, such as this one below, still have an easy ride:

Is this because I am using a translator?🤔🤔

It sounds very fair.

A player who plays token is competing with other players who also play token— token vs token

A player who take it slowly are competing with other casual players— no token vs no token

This is also a win-win situation:

If a player wants to win a big prize in some Stages, he can achieve it easily by using some tokens

If a player wants to save all tokens for the Stage 6, he can achieve it easily too.

Strategy just got real.

teenybee

I feel the same way you do about the tokens, @christinewupp and I posted my feelings about them last night in the Day 2 progress thread started by Samaria. It doesn’t feel like a fair fight and I don’t like being put in that position. I hope the playing field gets levelled again in future contests.

Jejsta123

All of a sudden Fang sprints from 6th/10,252 points to second,.passed 2nd and 3rd place then stopped. I played 1 episode race then stopped. I'll probably wait until a bit later then "put in my hours" 😀

dia_candy

I won't be able to play tomorrow, but the rewards for 2nd place are fine. I received the rewards for 1st place in the previous round, having played only with tokens in game 2. Good luck!

christinewupp

I have a similar experience to @dia_candy with my spare game that qualified through the last second chance rounds using 3 tokens.

I started off playing using a token straight away, thinking this would put me out of reach.

On my no token leaderboards I had seen players stop playing at 18,000 or 20,000 after playing for half an hour, and expected this to happen here. But apparently for players who play a token early on themselves their leaderboards do NOT slow down and stop. The next day when I came back to check I saw that others had played a lot to overtake me:

I played my remaining two tokens eventually just to see if two tokens might be enough to catch up this enormous lead. It was almost. I was just behind Jeannine on around 100,000 after playing the two tokens but she kept playing, apparently without tokens, to try stay ahead of me. I decided to see if I could overtake her normally, like one real player without tokens against another real player without tokens. Jeannine put up a brave fight but I was just a little faster than her. After two more normal episodes I had just got past her.

At this point I packed up and went to bed. I won't be using this account any more, and I admired her persistence so I have decided to not play that account any more now. It wouldn't be fair on a deserving opponent. Jeannine is now on 130,000 and I hope this will be enough.

This token fight is real and I don't like it. It seems unfair that those who play tokens are seeing opponents who also play tokens (a bespoke feature perhaps) while those who take it slowly, such as this one below, still have an easy ride:

I could easily catch this up using no token, but I'll sit and wait. I might do a late hex in the assumption that the other two will not see that happen on their board and also go through if I do hex in the final hours of the round.

The lesson to be learned from this token experience is this:

1. Don't play a token too early as you will be punished.

2. These tokens are altogether an awful idea. I won't be playing any future competitions with this feature.

dia_candy

I played with the activated tokens from the first level, of course, except at the start of the competition when they were activated immediately after I entered the leaderboard. I played the same number of tokens in all three games. In the third game, I used them all up because I had played in the previous round. The difference in candies is due to the level itself and the boosters used (including super color bombs - I only had it in games 1 and 3).

christinewupp

This is very interesting! I think all three of your leaderboards are more challenging than mine because you yourself played tokens early. Do you remember if you played your tokens straight away at the beginning, such as after one or two levels? May I also ask if you did play tokens for the third game? You did not mention if you did, but looking at the score you must have played some? Did you play three? @dia_candy

dia_candy

Hi! First of all, I don’t have much experience with leaderboard competitions, but since my main game (+20k) has almost a month a glitch that’s preventing me from playing normally (I’m waiting for Candy Crush to crash, sorry (!), but not during All stars), I’ve been focusing on my secondary games and keeping an eye on the leaderboards.

The game that reached level 1235 (started 5 days before All Stars, I have 4781 GB): I played 8 races, 2 races/token, playing efficiently to maximize the token’s value, and had a comfortable lead from the start.

The game that reached level 2480: I played 8 races, 2 races/token, playing efficiently to maximize the token’s value; the same, I had a comfortable lead from the very start.

The game that reached level 3140: I played very quickly, I had boosters, including from Daily stamps. When I closed the game last night, I had 86k, a lead of about 40k over second place. When I opened the game today, I was in 2nd place, with Silvia in 1st at 106k. The moment I caught up to her, she started playing. She’s still playing right now (reached at 108k). She’s an end map player, and I won’t be upset if she overtakes me. I’m not interested in the next stage of All Stars.

Nobody1

This also fits Christine's theory. The idea is that she speculates you might have scored enough (so far, beware you may need more by the end) that they have decided to hide your scoring from the other players. The theory is that you are still on their leaderboard, but King has paused or slowed down your scoring on their version of the leaderboard. If that is true, then player 2 on your board thinks it's a race between player 2 and player 3, and you probably look in third place on player 2's leaderboard. So player 2 is waking up and checking, deciding they still have a slight lead and are in first place, and therefore not playing any more for now.

teenybee

Fantastic scoring, @Nobody1. Especially without using a token! 👏

Good luck with the rest of the competition 🤞🤞🤞

Jejsta123

Here is my leaderboard from this morning. Haven't played since last night. Most players out of the 20 and at 5k or less so maybe just people playing their normal game not really competing in the tournament. Player 2 appears to go live every now and again but only scores a couple hundred then stops. Not sure what to think.

christinewupp

Yes, yes, no need to rub it in @teenybee 😁😥 With Poppy being black-listed last year I just didn't think it was worth it. Poor poppy….

In memoriam

teenybee

Thanks Christine, I get it now. Bit slow on the uptake! I felt I was just observing a lot yesterday but I suppose in retrospect I was playing a few levels now and then when I saw that others were.

By the way this is my board after I played my penultimate token at my normal slowish speed. And sorry, I know I said it before but alas poor Poppy. With all tokens intact she’d have had an absolute ball playing the Star Tournament in the final knockout round.

christinewupp

Most players won't see the VCR effect @teenybee for the same reason you are not seeing it: Only players who either crush an unusually high score (like Nobody1) or who just sit and observe for ages instead of crushing (like myself) will notice this effect. The majority of players who either use a token or crush at a normal rate will see a board like yours: Players evenly spaced and competitive. Don't forget that these players are real, and they are all competing in the same round. If nobody plays multiple tokens or zooms ahead because of unusually hight activity, then the board will look like yours. Your players probably all are playing at the same time and are seeing identical leaderboards, as the app has seen no need to pause or slow down any of them. I hope this makes sense?

Thanks for sharing this as it makes me rethink my earlier comment that there might be two qualifiers per leaderboard. This would only happen on a VCR manipulated leaderboard and it is now clear from your experience that probably most players don't see this at all and on those boards like yours there will only be one qualifier. This also makes sense as we have heard few players complain or question odd behaviour on their leaderboards during this round. (I did see just one Portuguese comment in the main thread which was describing a VCR type effect)

I now think that the app factors in the use of one token per round, which makes sense as all players were given six. So if a player obviously plays a second token the app then slows the leaderboard down to make sure it does not become uncompetitive. If someone was allowed to play all their six tokens in one single round then that would just ruin that leaderboard for everyone and be seen as unfair by the other players (although it's of course not against the rules), but this explains why the app does this. It's not at all a bad thing! And I am counting on it being the case again in Final Knockout Round 2, or else we will all be in huge, huge trouble!

teenybee

I don’t know what you make of this @christinewupp but I can’t see any obvious evidence of the VCR-effect on my leaderboard, unless I’m not understanding it correctly.

This was how it was last night when I stopped playing:

Checked the board 30 mins later and the two other European players had also stopped playing - that made sense as it was 1am.. Only the US player («Player») in 3rd had continued playing, and by early this morning was up to 2nd. Timewise this makes sense too, and they do seem to be reacting as if they were playing in real time.

Now:

Another US player has made a big move into 2nd, presumably with a token. So I’m now going to play another one, since I’m blowing them all on this stage anyway. I guess I was being pretty naive to hope that most of my opponents didn’t have any left.

christinewupp

I am convinced you are right @Nobody1 . I think chances are you have already reached the target score for this round and probably won't have to do any more. So be careful you don't hit the 10x button by mistake!

The highest apparent target scores I am seeing at this point of the round in my five games are just over 20,000 and around 40,000. It is likely that this will increase before the end of the round, maybe to 60K or 100K, so we do all need to be vigilant. I continue with the theory that the app slows down the leaderboards once players approach these maximum target scores. This is to stop players from running away too quickly either by cheating, using tokens, or crushing at top speed for long hours, so the only players who can see these high scorers are themselves. For those of us who have reached beyond the target scores it looks like the other players on our leaderboard have slowed down. For those in second and third place they see a tight battle for first place. If this is correct - and we have so much evidence now that it must be, surely? - then there must be two qualifiers on each leaderboard. It is likely that one player who has used tokens plus one player who has not used tokens will go through to the next round.

I had been wondering if we will see leaderboards of 100 in the next round, like those I saw during the second chance rounds. That would reduce the field back down to the correct size in the next round so we could have 10 leaderboards again in round 3 like in previous years.

Comments

Ivyunruh

Nobody1

I didn't really need to do anything yesterday, so I just played casually. An interesting move happened in the last few hours - do you think maybe 4 players in my board qualified?

Looks like Player tried to catch up without a token, but eventually gave up and used one to get ahead of Mayara in the final 2 hours.

michimune

More flowers advance to Stage 5, more players could see the flowers.

If Nobody1 can get ultra high scores in this Stage, maybe he will be a common blocker appearing in DIFFERENT flower’s leaderboard 😁

christinewupp

You are right. That's a good example you brought up there.

__MULLIGANACEOUS__

Best score so far. I bet you slogged your way to the top!

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3506707#Comment_3506707

I believe you. It’s so boring because you are competing with the system not real-time random players. It becomes very boring after you know how to beat the system.

In our last post, we are talking about the fairness.😁

Token players vs token players

No token players vs no token players.

A bespoke leaderboard makes the event be fair. No random just tailor made opponents.

Anac0501

Olá pessoal,

Quero compartilhar minha experiência e o resultado até aqui, confesso que me surpreendeu rsrs...

Seguimos e boa sorte a todos!

christinewupp

Believe me it's just so boring. Strategy just got real? I don't think so.

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3506586#Comment_3506586

This token fight is real and I don't like it. It seems UNFAIR that those who play tokens are seeing opponents who also play tokens (a bespoke feature perhaps) while those who take it slowly, such as this one below, still have an easy ride:

Is this because I am using a translator?🤔🤔

It sounds very fair.

A player who plays token is competing with other players who also play token— token vs token

A player who take it slowly are competing with other casual players— no token vs no token

This is also a win-win situation:

If a player wants to win a big prize in some Stages, he can achieve it easily by using some tokens

If a player wants to save all tokens for the Stage 6, he can achieve it easily too.

Strategy just got real.

teenybee

Jejsta123

dia_candy

I won't be able to play tomorrow, but the rewards for 2nd place are fine. I received the rewards for 1st place in the previous round, having played only with tokens in game 2. Good luck!

christinewupp

I have a similar experience to @dia_candy with my spare game that qualified through the last second chance rounds using 3 tokens.

I started off playing using a token straight away, thinking this would put me out of reach.

The lesson to be learned from this token experience is this:

1. Don't play a token too early as you will be punished.

2. These tokens are altogether an awful idea. I won't be playing any future competitions with this feature.

dia_candy

christinewupp

dia_candy

The game that reached level 1235 (started 5 days before All Stars, I have 4781 GB): I played 8 races, 2 races/token, playing efficiently to maximize the token’s value, and had a comfortable lead from the start.

The game that reached level 2480: I played 8 races, 2 races/token, playing efficiently to maximize the token’s value; the same, I had a comfortable lead from the very start.

The game that reached level 3140: I played very quickly, I had boosters, including from Daily stamps. When I closed the game last night, I had 86k, a lead of about 40k over second place. When I opened the game today, I was in 2nd place, with Silvia in 1st at 106k. The moment I caught up to her, she started playing. She’s still playing right now (reached at 108k). She’s an end map player, and I won’t be upset if she overtakes me. I’m not interested in the next stage of All Stars.

Nobody1

teenybee

Fantastic scoring, @Nobody1. Especially without using a token! 👏

Good luck with the rest of the competition 🤞🤞🤞

Jejsta123

christinewupp

Yes, yes, no need to rub it in @teenybee 😁😥 With Poppy being black-listed last year I just didn't think it was worth it. Poor poppy….

In memoriam

teenybee

Thanks Christine, I get it now. Bit slow on the uptake! I felt I was just observing a lot yesterday but I suppose in retrospect I was playing a few levels now and then when I saw that others were.

christinewupp

teenybee

I don’t know what you make of this @christinewupp but I can’t see any obvious evidence of the VCR-effect on my leaderboard, unless I’m not understanding it correctly.

This was how it was last night when I stopped playing:

Now:

christinewupp