Candy House Game Review

Candy House Game Background

Candy House is a candy-themed match 3 game. Swap candy gem around and form rows of 3 or more identical ones to remove them from the grid. Clear candies under grayed-out cells within the grid to open them up. Open up the target number of grayed-out cells to finish each level.

This game was developed by Zygomatic.

How to Play Candy House

To select, left click with your mouse or tap on the touchscreen with your fingers. On the welcome screen, select Play at the upper right side to begin.

Select a candy gem, then select its neighbor to have them swap places. If one of them forms a row of 3 or more identical gems, they will stay put. Otherwise they will snap back to their original positions. Once the gems form a row, they will be cleared from the grid.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Basic Rules

You begin with a grid with candy gems and cells that contain grayed-out cells (blocks). Clear gems by forming rows of 3 or more identical ones. Remove a block by clearing out the candy gems above it. Finish the level by clearing the required number of blocks before the timer expires. If you run out of valid moves, the game will automatically shuffle every candy gem onscreen.

The blocks have different levels of strength. Blocks that are dark gray take only one row to clear out. Light gray blocks must be cleared twice. Chained blocks take multiple rows to unlock. A block with a single chain takes one row to unlock, blocks with two chains take two rows. Candy gems in chained blocks cannot be moved and must be added to rows where they stand. Some candy gems are frozen, though they may not be in blocks themselves; these also take two rows to remove.

Chained blocks and frozen gems are equally affected by activated power ups.

Levels

The game has 50 levels, which are unlocked sequentially. You cannot play a level after you’ve finished it. Every time you reload the game, you have the option to resume from the last level you’ve unlocked or clear your progress and start from the first level.

Each of the levels have a 5-minute time limit wherein you must finish the entire level. If you run out of time, you will fail the level. You can replay the level or quit. Quitting will clear your level progress and allow you to save your final score on the leaderboard.

Scoring

You earn 3 points for every candy gem you clear (or between 9 and 15 points per move). In addition, you also earn a combo bonus each time you clear multiple rows in a single move. Moreover, you receive 5 points for every second remaining on the timer.

You can save your score to the leaderboard after finishing all 50 levels or by quitting after you fail. View the leaderboard by selecting High Scores on the welcome screen.

Power Ups

The game offers four types of power ups, which you can use to your advantage. They are especially important in the later levels of the game, where locked blocks and frozen candy gems are more common.

Power ups are defined by their effects and by how they’re formed. You create power ups in-game by clearing 4 or more gems at once. These usually clear blocks and gems in the direction their stripes are oriented.

• Horizontal power ups clear horizontal rows and are formed from a row of 4 horizontal gems.
• Vertical power ups clear vertical rows and are formed from a row of 4 vertical gems.
• Plus power ups clear both a horizontal and vertical row at once and are formed from clearing 5 gems in an intersecting L shape.
• Rainbow candy jewels will clear multiple jewels of a single color. They form from clearing a horizontal or vertical row of 5 gems.

Unlike other match 3 games, you can move power ups without needing to form a full row with them.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

The main challenge of the game’s later levels in the geometry of the grid. The irregular shape of the grid can make it difficult to form rows around the unmovable gems. To remedy this situation, consider forming rows of 4 or 5 gems from afar and create power ups, which you can activate in the direction of the tiles that are harder to reach.

Take advantage of the fact that you can freely move the power ups by moving them closer to where the target blocks are.

Try to activate every power up onscreen before finishing a level. This will add considerably to your score by clearing more rows of gems at once. At times, you may even be able to use a power up right as you beat the level, allowing you to earn more points even when the level clock has stopped.

Educational Aspects

This game encourages the development of a player’s spatial and strategic thinking skills.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is suited for players school-aged and above. We recommend it for players who enjoy match 3 games.