Moves levels (also known as Target score levels) is one of the seven level types in Candy Crush Saga. This level type's icon is
orange with two white left and right arrows. Moves levels first appear in Candy Town, the first episode, with the first
moves level being level 1.
Outside of the tutorials and the latest episodes, moves levels are sometimes very rare. In Reality, they make up 5.9% of all levels, at 472 moves levels out of the 8000 levels currently. The first 14 often show special significance within an episode, before facing a long appearance drought. However, many timed levels have been changed to moves levels, and since World 22, these levels are much more common, with many later episodes with 3 or more moves levels.
In Dreamworld, they make up 3.76% of the 665 Dreamworld levels, at 25 moves levels overall. 7 timed levels in Reality have been converted to moves levels as their Dreamworld counterparts.
The reason for the rare presence of Moves Level is that it is highly associated with tutorials and it is the simplest level type. This is no longer the case since later episodes regularly feature moves levels. This status remained for about 3-4 years, until level 6822. After that, moves levels mysteriously disappeared in appearing from succeeding episodes.
Because of this, the current trend is 0 moves levels per new episode.
To win moves levels, the player has to get a certain number of points using a set amount of moves. All the moves must be used. Except when you are playing for the first time. When there are no more moves left, Sugar Crush will activate all special candies on the board.
A recent update on HTML5 caused all moves levels to be affected. Instead, when you reach the set target score on a level, Sugar Crush is automatically triggered (just like the first five levels before). Special candies will be triggered, then per remaining move, you get 3,000 points. However, this is only triggered if it's your first time completing a certain moves level, not replaying.
You have a limited number of switches before running out of moves. If you use up all your moves before reaching the score required to earn at least one star, you will fail the level.
However, a majority of later moves levels are considerably complex, often utilising bombs to prevent you from completing them even if you have reached the target score. With moves levels, you must truly reach the end of the level (0 moves left) to pass; if you reach the target score but don’t reach the end of the level due to a candy bomb exploding or running out of possible switches, you will still fail the level. Some of the later moves levels may also require extremely high scores to pass.
If you reached 1 star, sugar crush will be activated. At first, it will destroy all special candies on the board, then the left moves will be turned into striped candies and each will score you 3000 points that will increase the chance of getting sugar stars.
Moves levels are the easiest types in Dreamworld. There are no extremely hard moves levels. However, there are some very hard move levels, but not too many, unlike other types. Levels 43 and 114 are hard moves levels. They are considered to be hard due to candy bombs on level 114 and 122. Also, as with Reality, you need to reach the end of the level to pass; if the game ends by Odus falling off the moon scale, you will still fail the level.
Level 182 - The first quadrant moves level. It was also a hard timed level before it was changed to a moves level. This is now the first hard moves level.
Level 189 - The first moves level with marmalade (official release).
Level 223 - The first moves level with liquorice swirl cannons (official release).
Level 683 - The first level with mystery candy dispensers (unofficial release). The first official level to contain mystery candy dispensers is level 2034 in the 137th episode, Cavity Cave.
Level 1394 - It is the first to have no regular candies spawn on the board (despite being a level where sugar drops are supposed to spawn) and having the one-star target score of more than one million points. It is ironic that this level has four colours yet it remains extremely hard to complete and extremely hard to earn three stars.
Level 1433 - The first moves level with locked chocolate.
Level 1438 - The moves level with the second most moves (47).
Level 1590 - The first level with locked magic mixers.
Level 2045 - Was the level that requires the second-highest target score for one star - 3,800,000 points, and the second-highest points-per-move rate at 253,340 points per move required for one star.
Level 2100 - The first and only milestone moves level.
Level 4993 - The highest target score for one star: 8,000,000 points. Also the highest points-per-move rate at 333,340 points per move required for one star.
Salty Canyon has 4 moves levels, the second-highest in the game. This is topped by Candy Town, Spicy Shop, and Pastry Peaks with 5 moves levels. Currently, the episode with the most number of moves levels is Icing Islands, with seven.
The first 5 moves levels used to be subtly different than all subsequent moves levels. These levels are all tutorial levels.
Upon reaching the one-star target score, Sugar Crush starts automatically, giving at least 3,000 points per move remaining, and the Sugar Crush is identical to ingredients, candy order, and mixed levels Sugar Crush. All subsequent replays do not have the early Sugar Crush; you must use all your moves. This may be to allow players to attempt the two-star and three-star scores should players revisit such levels.
Nowadays all moves levels are affected, giving striped candies during Sugar Crush.
The distribution of moves levels was variable. They became progressively rarer as you progressed through the episodes. Oftentimes, the player would see streaks of episodes without any moves levels, and at other times, they would appear as much as twice per episode.
They were somewhat uncommon up to World 5, but rare since World 6 and so on.
Up to Sweet Surprise, around 1 in 8 levels were moves, and episodes had an average of around two moves levels.
After Sweet Surprise, it decreased to 1 in 15. Episodes had one moves level each until Licorice Tower.
After Licorice Tower, the abundance of moves levels dropped so that there is only one moves level after Licorice Tower (433). There was a long stretch of episodes without this level type after Rainbow Runway, for 176 levels.
However, at Cereal Sea, this level type made a short reappearance, but further on, it became very rare; most later episodes from Cereal Sea up to the 100th episode (Delicious Dynasty) did not feature even one moves level. Additionally, most episodes that fall into this category were (and still are) dominated by jelly levels, with some ingredient levels, few (one to three) candy order levels.
However, after the 100th episode, Delicious Dynasty, they became more common. Episodes with 2 moves levels were present for the first time after Toffee Tower (698 and 701) and the second time after Sweet Surprise (204 and 211) at Biscuit Bay (1538 and 1544). Episodes 116 (Pinata Park) through 162 (Bouncy Bayou) feature three or more moves levels.
Moves levels have been declining since the 200th episode, Festive Fiesta. They are very rare in the 3000s. Most later episodes contain only 1 moves level. Booty Bay and Delightful Desert contain 2 moves levels. Luscious Landing contains 3 moves levels, the most of any episode in the 3000s. There are also very long gaps between individual moves levels.
This changed a little in the 3700s and the early 3800s, after Episode 250, Pudding Patch, where there is 1 moves level in every episode, and thus increasing the frequency of moves levels.
Level 619 used to be a moves level, but it was a duplicate of 609. It was later changed to a jelly level.
This and timed levels are the only types of levels where Sugar Crush can happen more than once. This happens if the player buys Extra Moves or Extra Time after failing to reach the target score.
This is the first level type introduced in Candy Crush Saga before the jelly levels.
After the release of the new candy cannons, this is chronologically the last level type where mystery candy cannons appear.
This is currently the only move-limited level to have no level starting with 51 moves or more.
Most timed levels have been changed into this type.
On mobile/HTML5, after the player gets more scores than the one-star target score, the game will choose that score as a target for the next time they replay. However, this does not affect to the one-star target score.
Since June 2019, some HTML5 players can activate sugar crush on moves levels by reaching the one-star score, as opposed to using all moves. The sugar crush effect is the same as ingredients, order, and mixed levels (This should make level 1394 easier). However, it is not available for the Flash version.
However, when you replay move levels, it comes back to its original mechanism, like Flash version.
When the scoring system changed in September 2020, upon release of 1.186, that made almost all moves levels much harder.
While Level 6822 is the last moves level to date, and no new moves levels came out recently, it may be phased out in the coming updates, due to the scoring system change.
As such, it is highly likely that liquorice curls, liquorice fences, order locks and sour skulls will ever appear in moves levels. Also, it's unlikely that moves levels and rainbow rapids levels will ever coexist in the same episode.
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