Candy Wars Game Review

Candy Wars Game Background

Candy Wars is a 30-day trading game which features toys and candies. It was inspired by Dos classics like Dope Wars, though with an intent to be far more family friendly.

Players move from zone to zone buying and selling goods, with a goal of paying off their debts and making as much profit as they can in a month.

How to Play Candy Wars

Press the blue and white PLAY button at the bottom of the welcome screen to start the game, or tap on the pink and white GUIDE button to see the game guide. The game guide shows the best spots to buy or sell various goods and is also included in our images below. Five tips from the game guide:

• Debt never sleeps. Interest piles up at 12% daily. Clear it fast before it eats you.
• Every step costs time. Plan your moves. One wrong trip can waste a whole day.
• Don’t get greedy. Carrying too much makes you an easy target for criminal elements.
• Know your hotspots. Some places always hid the best deals. Learn them!
• Keep a stash. A few coins in your pocket can save your skin when luck turns.

Players start with $20 in funds from grandma, but $150 in debt from the Candy King.

Across the top of the screen the game shows the current day, your money on hand, and your current location.

Next there is an inventory list, highlighting how many goods you have in inventory, along with your current stock, and the transaction price for various goods.

Right of the inventory list is your bank savings (if any) and current debt (if any). Beneath them is the zone selection menu where you can choose to visit the Neighborhood Fair, Schoolyard, Shopping Center, Birthday Party, School Bus, Library, or Grandma’s House.

Along the bottom there are buttons to increase your bag size (so you can hold more inventory), the bank so you can pay off debts or deposit excess cash, a buy/sell button to purchase or sell goods, and buttons in the lower right corner. The buttons in the lower right corner allow you to restart the game, give up / quit the game, and go to another zone. The LET’S GO button remains grayed out until you select another zone location.

Basic Gameplay Advice

Days

The goal of the game is to earn as much as you can through smart transactions. Players have a total of 30 days they can play through.

Each day exists in a particular zone, which has certain goods for sale at randomly set prices. Each time you switch zones a new day begins.

Locations

The game features 7 locations.

• The Neighborhood Fair is a great place to buy many types of goods.
• The School Bus, Shopping Center, and Grandma’s House are a great place to sell many types of goods.
• The Library is a great place to buy some expensive goods like cell phones and portable gaming systems.

The following table highlights goods to buy or sell in each area.

Luck

There are luck elements to the game beyond item pricing and availability. Some examples would include

• finding money
• returning a lost item and winning $35 for an album to $80 for a baseball
• rescuing a pet, helping an old lady cross the street, or interacting with other city folk to earn bonus ranging from $2, $5, $10, or $20
• a quiz on the best candy type to win a chocolate bar
• gifting an item like ice cream by a friend or stranger
• getting items stolen from your inventory
• events which make certain items exceptionally cheap or expensive that day.

Buying & Selling Goods

To buy or sell a good tap into the BUY/SELL button. When the deal menu is open you can use the arrows in the upper center to scroll through the goods. When you have a good you want to transact in tap on the plus or minus number buttons on the left side, then when you have the appropriate number tap on the buy or sell buttons.

If a good is not available in a particular zone you can “fire” sale it using locker sales, which sell the item for 20% of its typical retail price. This sort of transaction typically is not advisable unless you see another good of greater value which is on sale and you need to use the inventory space for the better good.

Items and Destinations

The following table highlights optimal purchase options for a variety of goods.

Banking

You can go to the bank many times each day as needed. From your funds on hand you can deposit 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, or 100%. As you deposit funds the buttons adjust to the amounts remaining in your hand. Deposited money does not earn interest, but can’t be stolen.

Likewise you can pay down debts by the same sums, though each day your outstanding debt grows by 12% from an initial base of $150.

You can withdraw money from the bank using the same 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100% options, then deposit remaining funds after purchasing your inventory.

Bag Upgrades

Initially you can hold 25 items. Periodically you can run into people with spare bags, fanny packs, or similar to get additional holding spots. You can also purchase bag upgrades starting at a 10-slot upgrade for $20, then a 25-slot upgrade for $40, then a 50-slot upgrade for $75, and an 80-slot upgrade for $110, with the maximum holding space of 25 base slots, 100 upgrade slots, and how many event slot upgrades you come across during the game.

Advanced Playing Tips & Strategy

It is worth playing this game on dual monitors or with dual web browser tabs open so that you can have a picture of the game guide or our item purchase details menu open to know what to buy and where to sell it. You can use the shelf sales amounts and multiply them by 5 to get an average good price to evaluate if a particular good is currently cheap or expensive.

Initially when you have limited money and limited bag space it is worth buying whatever goods give you the highest percentage return, so long as buying them uses up most of your available cash.

As you progress through the game it makes sense to pay off the debt fast, increase bag size, and shift over to more expensive items as your total savings increases.

Educational Aspects

This is a simple buy and sell game which also acts as a fun way to practice addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

Player Age Recommendations

This game is fun for players of all ages. Using our item table makes the game much easier than guessing your way through the game and learning the item patterns more slowly.