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Bots in the All Start Tournament

AppleCa

I'm currently at the top of my leaderboard with 250K blue candies.

The second place is around 130K.

But I noticed the second place person stops playing the moment I stop playing.

-I went to shower, they stopped play.

-I want to eat some breakfast, they stopped playing.

-I did 30 minute work conference call, they stopped playing.

-I take a nap, stopped playing.

The timing of their playings kinda weird. With real players, they will play continuously for long stretches or stop for long stretches. They rarely align with my play period.

Anyone else think there are bots in the tournament?

I suppose the bots could be use to inspire me to use my boosters or buy boosters to keep the distance.

Thoughts?

@Nobody1 @christinewupp @cookiemae

To join the Conversation:

Comments

Alienscar

I am not seeing anything like that in my game @AppleCa

I joined the knockout at ten (ish) last night and for the whole two hours that I played no other player in the top ten on my leader board played.

There were only 37 people on my leader board for the entire time I played

jennipaow

A mí me paso exactamente lo mismo. Y solo hasta que use mi ficha dejo de seguirme el ritmo.

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3510105#Comment_3510105

At this point, it doesn’t feel like a fair or transparent competition, especially when people are spending real time and money expecting it to be legitimate.

If the players CAN gain different levels of advantage by spending different amounts of money in a competition, how can this competition be fair?🤔🤔

Many players complain their opponents do not sleep, they keep crushing while they are sleeping, they think this is not fair.⤵️

Now you crush, they crush

You sleep, they sleep

You use token, they use token

You don’t use token, they don’t use token either,

Not fair?😂🤣🤣🤣

Chichigreen

Christine, I read what you said and that’s exactly the issue.
If no one here represents King and no real answers are coming, then what exactly are players supposed to rely on? Because right now, what we’re seeing and experiencing doesn’t match what’s being explained, and that’s the problem.
If this is just a player forum and no one from King is addressing this, then that makes it even more concerning. Players are investing real time and money into something that doesn’t make sense, and we’re left with theories instead of answers.
Let’s be real, what I experienced wasn’t random or something hard to understand. It was consistent, repeated, and documented. That’s not something you explain away

it’s something that needs proper attention.
So at this point, the question isn’t who represents King, it’s why something this serious isn’t being clearly addressed. Because what players are experiencing does not feel fair or transparent.

sweetcandyline

It's going to be chaos. Wait for all the people to complain the app slowed down as soon as they played their multiplier to stop them scoring so much 🤔

I can't promise I won't fall into that group as the app does seem temperamental and sometimes seems a lot slower than normal or more jolty. Don't know if its just me as it goes through phases and can't see any logic in it.

christinewupp

Who do you think I am? Some King representative? You won't get any responses from King here and hell no, King are definitely NOT transparent.

I am a player like yourself. We all are. This is a player forum.

I have been trying like you to make sense of the odd behaviour in these leaderboards. I have made some theories and speculations about why the leaderboards are showing this weird behaviour. I have written a lot about this, so you could check some of my other posts if you like.

christinewupp

It supports the VCR theory. I can't look at all the screenshots as they are separate. But it's what I have been observing and trying to work out how it is done.

christinewupp

The next round should be just all players against one another in real time. It's a 24 hour round of fierce and continuous crushing. I can't see any reason to manipulate that.

Chichigreen

christinewupp, what is the benefit of not being fully transparent with players about how this tournament actually works? Your responses are not addressing what many of us are actually experiencing, and they don’t match what is happening in real gameplay.

People are investing real time and money into this, and they deserve clear, honest answers—not explanations that leave us confused or feeling misled.

At this point, it doesn’t feel transparent at all. What players are experiencing does not align with what is being communicated here, and if there is more going on with how the system works, it should be clearly stated instead of leaving people in the dark.

Chichigreen

@AppleCa

Screenshot_20260403_164739_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260403_164731_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

I’m glad you posted this because I experienced something very similar and even more concerning during the All Stars tournament.
What you described about the timing is real. In my case, it went further than that. Each time I increased my score, the same player would increase theirs almost immediately, like it was reacting directly to me. When I stopped, they stopped. When I resumed, they resumed.
Because it felt unusual, I started paying very close attention. Since the beginning of the tournament, I had been in first place, so I was already watching the leaderboard closely. I began taking screenshots and recording videos to make sure I wasn’t mistaken.
At some point, I even tested it adding points multiple times while watching closely and the response pattern continued exactly the same way.
I’m attaching some screenshots here. This shows the player’s profile and the current leaderboard. I’m currently in second place because I stopped after documenting everything. It became clear to me that I couldn’t compete fairly under these conditions.
I also noticed that players behind me (like third and fourth place) seemed to follow similar patterns, almost as if their activity was connected.
Earlier in the tournament, I had already reported concerns because I noticed something wasn’t right, but I didn’t get a response. After this experience, I’m even more convinced that something is not working properly.
I’m not just repeating what others are saying this happened to me directly, and I made sure to document it carefully before saying anything.
At this point, it doesn’t feel like a fair or transparent competition, especially when people are spending real time and money expecting it to be legitimate.

Chichigreen

@christinewupp

Your explanation does not match what I experienced during the tournament.

Since the beginning of the tournament, I have consistently been in first place on my leaderboard. Because of that, I paid very close attention to how other scores were changing, and what I observed was not normal.

Each time I increased my score, the same player would increase theirs almost immediately. This happened repeatedly and consistently. It felt directly reactive, not like independent gameplay.

I became concerned and started intentionally observing and testing the pattern. At one point, I waited and watched carefully, then increased my score multiple times in a short period

Screenshot_20260403_082851_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260403_071226_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

20260403_070743.jpg

20260403_070419.jpg

and the same player responded right away. When I stopped, they stopped. When I resumed, they resumed.

I also began to notice that players ranked behind me (such as those in third and fourth place) appeared to follow similar patterns, almost as if their activity was connected or moving together. From the very start of the tournament, I observed how these movements happened, and it did not feel like normal, independent competition.

Because of how unusual this was, I began documenting everything. I have screenshots and videos showing these patterns, and I will be sharing some of them. The images I am attaching here are part of that documentation.

I also noticed this issue earlier in the tournament and reported it, but did not receive any response. What I experienced afterward only confirmed my concerns.

This situation is extremely frustrating and disappointing. Players are investing real time, effort, and money expecting a fair and transparent competition. I personally spent significant time observing this closely, even adjusting my schedule to participate seriously, only to feel that the competition was not operating fairly.

At this point, I stopped putting more money into the game because it became clear that I could not compete under these conditions.

I’m not making this statement lightly I carefully observed, tested, and documented what I experienced. Based on that, I genuinely believe something is not functioning as it should, and it raises serious concerns about fairness in the All Stars tournament.

I strongly believe this needs to be properly reviewed and investigated, and I would appreciate this being escalated.

Nobody1

I feel the same way. I don't have nearly as comfortable a lead as you do, but I am seeing similar behavior. It seems like the last round is likely to be quite different; at that point there should be few enough players that King won't care as much about making money and will be actually focused on selecting winners. For now, with at least 50,000 people playing, there's enough here for King to still make a lot of money from the remaining players.

AppleCa

In the next round, do you think the leaderboard has bot or is all real players?

My gut says the 6th round on April 7 is all real human players and they get rid of the bots.

christinewupp

This effect seems to be part of how the tournament is run by the app's computer. What you are describing is what I call the VCR effect. I have seen this throughout the competition @AppleCa . What I believe is happening is that when we start the round the app groups us with other players matched to what the app thinks will be a challenge for us. The computer seems to then record the leaderboard to replay it at a speed bespoke to each individual player. So if you play really slowly the app slows down your opponents/the entire leaderboard in your game only. The other players may be carrying on at the same speed and see your score in a different point in time. It is all rather complicated and quite frankly I think this system isn't working as well as it is supposed to but yes, the app is changing the speed according to how we play. When I stop my leaderboard goes into slow motion. I recognised this and now play accordingly. So your observations are spot on, and I am surprised there aren't more people reporting this, because it is really weird.

Comments

Alienscar

I am not seeing anything like that in my game @AppleCa

I joined the knockout at ten (ish) last night and for the whole two hours that I played no other player in the top ten on my leader board played.

There were only 37 people on my leader board for the entire time I played

jennipaow

A mí me paso exactamente lo mismo. Y solo hasta que use mi ficha dejo de seguirme el ritmo.

michimune

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3510105#Comment_3510105

At this point, it doesn’t feel like a fair or transparent competition, especially when people are spending real time and money expecting it to be legitimate.

If the players CAN gain different levels of advantage by spending different amounts of money in a competition, how can this competition be fair?🤔🤔

Many players complain their opponents do not sleep, they keep crushing while they are sleeping, they think this is not fair.⤵️

Now you crush, they crush

You sleep, they sleep

You use token, they use token

You don’t use token, they don’t use token either,

Not fair?😂🤣🤣🤣

Chichigreen

sweetcandyline

It's going to be chaos. Wait for all the people to complain the app slowed down as soon as they played their multiplier to stop them scoring so much 🤔

christinewupp

Who do you think I am? Some King representative? You won't get any responses from King here and hell no, King are definitely NOT transparent.

I am a player like yourself. We all are. This is a player forum.

christinewupp

It supports the VCR theory. I can't look at all the screenshots as they are separate. But it's what I have been observing and trying to work out how it is done.

christinewupp

The next round should be just all players against one another in real time. It's a 24 hour round of fierce and continuous crushing. I can't see any reason to manipulate that.

Chichigreen

People are investing real time and money into this, and they deserve clear, honest answers—not explanations that leave us confused or feeling misled.

Chichigreen

@AppleCa

Screenshot_20260403_164739_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260403_164731_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Chichigreen

@christinewupp

Your explanation does not match what I experienced during the tournament.

Each time I increased my score, the same player would increase theirs almost immediately. This happened repeatedly and consistently. It felt directly reactive, not like independent gameplay.

I became concerned and started intentionally observing and testing the pattern. At one point, I waited and watched carefully, then increased my score multiple times in a short period

Screenshot_20260403_082851_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

Screenshot_20260403_071226_Candy Crush Saga.jpg

20260403_070743.jpg

20260403_070419.jpg

and the same player responded right away. When I stopped, they stopped. When I resumed, they resumed.

I also noticed this issue earlier in the tournament and reported it, but did not receive any response. What I experienced afterward only confirmed my concerns.

At this point, I stopped putting more money into the game because it became clear that I could not compete under these conditions.

I strongly believe this needs to be properly reviewed and investigated, and I would appreciate this being escalated.

Nobody1

AppleCa

In the next round, do you think the leaderboard has bot or is all real players?

My gut says the 6th round on April 7 is all real human players and they get rid of the bots.

christinewupp