Level 734

Level 734 is the ninth level in Marshmallow Mountains and the 196th ingredients level. To pass this level, you must bring down 1 cherry and score at least 10,000 points in 20 moves or fewer. When you complete the level, Sugar Crush is activated.

Due to the restricted board space combined with six colours making it hard to create the special candies required to obtain the isolated sugar keys, only 20 moves available which decreases the opportunities to create sufficient special candies, cherry which drops only when five moves are left decreases huge sugar crush bonuses and a high three star target score makes it hard to pass and earn three stars. It is available to be voted as the hardest level in Reality and the hardest level in Reality to earn three stars.

Difficulty

 * You only have 20 moves to bring down a cherry, which requires collecting all of the keys.
 * A striped candy is provided, but it is under a liquorice lock and is very hard to reach due to the layout of the board.
 * Also, a single shuffle can ruin everything if the lock has been destroyed, since the striped candy underneath it is most likely your only hope in reaching all the sugar keys.
 * The layout of the board and the fact that six colours are present makes it difficult to create special candies, plus it can confuse the player.
 * The cherry comes out when you have only 5 moves left, making it extremely hard to bring it down in that time.
 * In conclusion, this level is highly dependent on luck since the cherry comes out when there are only 5 moves left. Hence, you will need to open the sugar chests before the ingredient comes out.
 * The ingredient is worth 10,000 points (1 ingredient x 10,000 points per ingredient = 10,000 points) which is equal to the one star target score.

Strategy

 * Try using colour bomb + coconut wheel boosters. The colour bomb can be used on the same colour as the striped candy to free it from the licorice lock, then the coconut wheel can be rolled horizontally (side to side) to activate it, to harvest the keys. Once the locks are opened, concentrate on getting the ingredient down to the bottom, using a hammer or hand switch booster if needed.
 * For those who do not want to use boosters, two vertical striped candies, two wrapped candy + striped candy combinations and two wrapped candy + wrapped candy combinations on the square directly above or below the locked striped candy must be used to unlock and activate the vertical striped candy.

Earning More Stars

 *  difficulty: Very easy
 *  difficulty: Insanely hard

Reason

 * The presence of six colours make it hard to create special candies even though they are necessary to obtain the isolated sugar keys.
 * The ingredient is worth 10,000 points. Hence, an additional 10,000 points for two stars and an additional 35,000 points for three stars have to be earned through matching of candies.
 * The player is required to earn an additional 500 points per move (10,000 points / 20 moves = 500 points per move) for two stars and an additional 1,750 points per move (35,000 points / 20 moves = 1,750 points) for three stars. However, the ingredient will only drop at move 5. Hence, under the most ideal conditions, a maximum of 17,700 points can be earned from sugar crush ((3,000 points per striped candy + 540 points if the striped destroys nine candies) x 5 striped candies = 17,700 points). Note: the amount of points earned by the striped candies during sugar crush may be higher or lower. If the striped candy causes cascades after detonation, the amount of points is increased. If the striped candy destroys a blocker or less than nine candies which is the greatest number of spaces in this board and does not cause cascades, the amount of points earned will be less than 3,540 points.
 * With the above point in consideration, the player is not required to earn additional points per move ((20,000 points - (10,000 points + 17,700 points)) / (20 moves - 5 moves) = - 513.33 points per move) for two stars and an additional 500 points per move (35,000 points - (10,000 points + 17,700 points) / (20 moves - 5 moves) = 486.67 points per move) for three stars. Note: this is under the most ideal condition. In practice, the player is more likely required to earn more than that amount of points per move.
 * The sugar keys are hard to clear will likely take more than 15 moves to clear all of them.
 * The restricted board layout will cause shuffles to occur quite frequently. If the striped candy is unlocked and a shuffle occurs, it will drastically increase the difficulty of clearing all the sugar keys.
 * The conveyor belt may help or hinder the creation of special candies.
 * With respect to the three star target score, 20 moves are insufficient to boost the score by a huge amount of points to meet that target score.

Trivia

 * This is the 9th level in the thread starting at level 422 which states that every 39th level is graded as hard or higher.