I 49'S WELL PAST MIDNIGHT ON A TUESDAY, andi'm chasing a Candy Cruskhigh again /- Staring at my iphone, Jam trying to de- | cide which of the game's neon yellow _gurndrops to swipe nto oblivion. 'vebeen Tearranging the same pieces of candy on thesame square grid for three days, and] amfinally about to score enough points to ‘win, My pulse quickens. My finger licks *Sugar crush” booms a voice from the ‘hone as rainbow colored fireworks ex- plode onscreen, Thirty-six levels down— andseveral hundred to go. Tmay be addicted, but at east 'm not alone. In the past year, Candy Crush Saga hhas been downloaded some 500 million times and played more than 150 billion times, The game got of toa slow start as an online game two years ago, but after some design changes expressly intended ‘to thwart players tempted to put it down, it has become a global phenomenon— popular everywhere from Brazil to Hong Kong. It isthe first game of the smart phone era to top the most-downloaded Charts for Applei0, Google Android and Facebook simultaneously. ‘The rules of play are simple: line up three candies of the same color and re peat. But within that basic premise, Candy Crusis maker, a London-based software company called King, has devised an appa ratus thatis almost frighteningly effective at turning new players intofanatics—and making money too. Which isa particu Ianly sweet trick considering that Candy ‘Grushis free to download and ree to play. “Heres how King doesit Players getfive lives-—or attempts to solveeach board —to start,Oncea user runs ut of lives, atimer begins counting down, and after half an hour the game gives them another free admission ticket. (You can also beg your Facebook friends to donate their extra lives) But for the impatient there’s a cash shoricut, Players can spend money—in ‘99¢ inerementsto improve their perfor sance or skip the halfhour wait to play ‘gain, Candy Crush has an eerie knack for asking you for money just atthe moment. youre most willing to pay. King, ofcourse, is hardly the first com: 26 ‘pany to come up with a hit app. Rovio, creator of Angry Birds, and Mojang, maker of Minecraft, have spawned lucra tive franchises based on their popular games, Worldwide mobile-game revenue through Apple and Google platforms is ‘expected to exceed s10 billion this year, according to Eilers Research. But King’s ability tomakemoney from free gamesin an industry littered with firms that have failed to translate popularity into contin- ‘uous profit is unique. The privately held ‘company doesn't release sales figures, but ‘analytics firm Think Gaming estimates that Candy Crush alone rakes in nearly $900,000 every day. “Angry Birds’ claim to fame is number of downloads? explains ‘Michael Pachter, an analyst at research firm Wedbush Securities. “But King? ‘They're making money” But it's more than that. In the age of binge media—think full television sea sonson Netflix—Candy Crushand its 500 levels are a diversion seemingly tailored to our times, a phosphorescent Rubik’s Cube with 2 coin slot. Candy Crush is by no means the world’s most popular vvideo game, but it may well be the most habit forming. Consider Andy Jarc, who 47'S ALO SMALL, SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT DESIGN DECISIONS THAT REALL) MAKE IT WORK.’ TOMMY PAL, Kings mobile bead on what makes Candy Crush adie ( ™ 2s has made it to the upper echelons of the game, level 440. (King adds more levels every twoweeks) I started, and at first ‘waslike, Whatever’ But as played more and mare, it got addicting." says Jarc, a 22-year-old financial adviser in New York, who adds that, like many users, he often finds himself thinking about ‘the game even when he's not playing. “Eventually, my life began running in 3o-minute segments.” ‘CANDY LAND ‘10 UNDERSTAND WHY CANDY CRUSH 1S 50 hypnotic, you have to talk to the man | ‘whom King employees now as the gure. ‘Tommy Palm, a 39-year-ld Swede, isthe chief architect of Candy Crush’ success. Palm began programming asa hobby in 3986. He founded his own mobile-game studio, Fabrication Games, in 2009, Three years later, King acguired the company foran undisclosed sum to getits handson Palm's expertisein mobile games. Candy Crush had been a simple beat- the-lock game on Kingcom without any ingame extras to purchase. A later Face- | book version aineda somewhat argerfol- lowing. King executives knew they would hrave to make the game available on hot selling mobile devices to get bigger. But the company had run into problems mak inga version ofanother ttle, Bubble Witch ‘Saga, for phones saysSebastian Kmutsson, King’s co-founder and chief creative off cer “Ttwasn' designed forasmall screen,” he says, “We brought Tommy in because Ihe had mobile experience” ‘That's when Palm and his team began retooling Candy Crush. They started by tweaking the interface, resizing the icons andmaking the game usable in both land- scapeand portraitorientations. That made Gandy Crush playable with one hand—a rminor change but one that helped turn it into a favorite of subway commuters and office workers holding their phone beneath a conference-room table. Says Palm: "Ra lot ofthese small, seemingly insignificant design decisions that really makeitwor Candy Crush also became one of thers price Wace User ean eas <—— ‘sea sve rece sei ers pas ute tengo compl. first gamesin which almost every aspect of playing was synched across platforms. Buy an extra life on your phone, for in- stance, anditautomatically appears ifyou pick up the game on Facebook. What's Tore, users can play offline, without a cellphone or wii signal, and have their progress saved once they have service again. That meansa game of Candy Crush is accessible almost anytime, anywhere. Knutsson credits this feature with amas- sive uptick in the number of players. ‘Then there are the innovations aimed at taking advantage of human psychol- ogy. Candy Crush essentially offers all of itself up front for free. But it also makes players pace themselves, forcing them ‘to wait to replenish their store of lives, or access certain levels—or pay extra to proceed. “That makes you not burn out straightaway.” explains Palm, make ing it more likely players will stay with the game over the long haul. Or as Jar, the player, pus it, “You want what you can't have. I can‘t have more lives, and Iwant them.” (Some high-level players have even taken to gaming the system by changing the clockon their phonesto accrue free lives more quickly) ‘On top of that. there's a surplus of relentlessly positive feedback. When players match pieces, encouragements ke *Sweet!” of “Delicious!” pop up. In THE SWEET SPOTS Why Canay Crash sticks with players fact, nearly every click or tap is met with somekind of ebullient response from the ‘game. "Positive rewardsare the main rea. son people become addicted to things,” says Dr. Kimberly Young, a psychologist ‘and expert on Internet and gaming ad- diction, Palm says the game also alter- nates between difficultand easy levelsto Dalance players’ frustration with asense ofmastery. By January of this year, the design changes had hooked some 70 million players a month. By May, that number of people were playing every day. According to figures provided by King, the vast ma- jority are playing on their mobile devices. ONCE YOU'RE LUCKY [EVEN WITH ITS WINNING FORMULA, CANDY (Crush isn’t guaranteed to stay on top. The fall of once hot Zynga looms over King and other mobile gamemakers’ every ‘business decision. Famous for the success ofits popular Facebook game FarmVil, San Francisco-based Zynga went public ‘in December 2or1 to great fanfare. Since then the company’s revenue and stocle price have slumped. “Investors have soured on the social-gaming category be- cause of one company,” says Steve Swasey, vice president of gamemaker Kabam, re {erring to Zynga. The company stumbled in part because it could not translate the enng ‘haat 0 neh cere nee sues vou ear te gee (ven sch Cady Os pe cee cove be (ees nd abo, success ofits Facebook based gamestomo- bilephones. ‘That has led game companies to look for other sources of revenue. Angry Birds creator Rovio, for instance, now profits from merchandise ranging from lunch. ‘boxes to bedspreads, as wells an animat- ed television show. So far, Candy Crush has not entitselfto these kinds oflucrative ex tensions in the US, save fora line of gum- mies and chocolate balls sold at boutique store Dylan's Candy Bar. ‘King’s Knutsson says the company is | now focused on making games that are mobile fist” and that it has a long tra- dition of finding colorful new premises. “According toreports by multiple financial news sources, the company filed confi dential paperwork for an initial public offering earier this year. A King spokes- ‘person declined to comment. One thing is certain: King must find a way to port the Candy Crush magic to other titles.“ think that all games have a lifespan,” says Palm, In November the company released Papa Fear Saga for mo: Dile devices. Though it differs from its predecessorin some ways,the game bears ‘more thana passing resemblance to Candy Crush. Itis brightly colored, filled with peppy congratulationsand syncs between ‘mobile and Facebook versions. I'm already ‘upto level 2, =)