Shuffle (phenomenon)

A Candy Shuffle is when all the candies on the board are shuffled. The colours of the candies don't change, but their position on the board does. A shuffle can be brought on when a player runs out of possible switches on the board. It was possible to use the Shuffle booster to get the same effect before, however it's not available now.

When a player runs out of possible moves, all the candies go into a pink bag in the centre of the screen and are then shook and then they come out of the bag shuffled randomly. All candies are shuffled, including special candies, but they will still be special after shuffling. At the top of the screen during a shuffle it will read, "No more possible switches, shuffling." (Note: The bag doesn't appear on Android and iOS versions, it just simply read that there are no possible switches.)

Objects that are excluded from shuffling include Sugar Keys, Candy bombs (does not tick during a shuffle), Mystery Candies, Jelly Fish, Ingredients, Liquorice Swirls, Lucky Candies, Coconut Wheels and Colour Bombs. In the case of Coconut Wheel and Colour Bomb, they have to be stuck among blockers or ingredients, since a free Coconut Wheel or Colour Bomb can always make a move.

Shuffling doesn't cost anything, but on Facebook prior to the release of Sour Salon, it used to cost 5 seconds for timed levels or one move for other types of levels. If a shuffle occurs with only 1 move left, the player will lose a life without seeing the shuffle animation and the reason for failure will be: "No more possible switches". Similarly, in timed levels, the player would automatically fail the level if there is no more viable switches when the time remaining is less than 5 seconds.

After a shuffle, there would be a possible move, unless there are not enough candies to form a single move, in which case player will fail the level.

Trivia

 * Sometimes a shuffle can be very useful, for example when there are no possible switches were all the jelly is, then after shuffling the jelly can be reached.
 * The bag that is used for shuffling in Facebook version has the logo of "Candy Crush Saga" on it.
 * It is possible for a double shuffle to occur, but this is very rare indeed. What has to happen is that the first shuffle happens and after the shuffle, the only possible move is then blocked by a chocolate, bringing on a second shuffle. Double shuffles can also happen with Chameleon Candies, where in the second shuffle happens after the Chameleon Candies change colours following the first shuffle. In that case, there are still no possible moves after the first shuffle because the Chameleon Candies have changed their colours. What can also happen is that the shuffle causes a combination to occur, upon which no other combinations can be made, and the shuffle happens again without any moves being used. This does not happen on mobile version since shuffle only occurs after every other object (chocolate, tornado, rainbow candy) has taken action.
 * However, there is a small chance that a shuffle causes a small cascade, and after that, there are no more moves again, causing another shuffle.
 * Although rare, shuffling may also occur immediately after the level starts, most notably in levels such as Level 303 and Level 472.
 * On Facebook, candies are put into different places after a shuffle, sometimes matching 3 of the same kind. This can make you furious. For example, if it match with 3 of the same kind including the wrapped candy. The bomb may explode with a striped candy nearby. The striped candy may be reserved because you want to match it with the wrapped candy and vice versa. However, shuffling may rarely give you colour bombs, which may be useful.
 * Before the candies are shuffled, they briefly appear as if they had already been shuffled, hence allowing the player to make a rough prediction as to the shuffle's usefulness.
 * In iOS and Android devices, it is extremely unlikely to gain a match as the candies are always put in a fashion where another match is needed. However, it gets more common in recent updates.