Difficulty

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Difficulty is a system on Candy Crush Saga Wiki to measure how difficult a level or episode is. This system was introduced in 2013 and is inspirational to many other game wikis (especially King games).

Table of all Reality levels by difficulty (Note: large page size)

Difficulty code usage

There are 12 types of difficulty, ten of them sequential, two of them peculiar. They are:

	0	None (white)
	1	Very easy (cyan)
	2	Easy (teal)
	3	Somewhat easy (green)
	4	Medium (yellow)
	5	Somewhat hard (orange)
	6	Hard (red)
	7	Very hard (maroon)
	8	Extremely hard (black)
	9	Nearly impossible (navy)
	V	Variable (purple)
	?	Impossible (gray)

Episode means

An important thing that comes with level ratings is episode means, the indicator of how hard each episode is on a scale of 0 to 9. The overall difficulty of the episode is also determined with it. However, the difficulty of most episodes are tentative, especially those with the recently released/redesigned levels.

It may take around a month for the changes to officially take into effect.

The average difficulty level of an episode is the mean of the values of its levels with determined and non-variable ratings. Note that the calculation of means involve the total number of determined non-variable levels. Variable and undetermined levels are counted as if they do not contribute to the mean even though variable levels are considered hard. Episodes with more than 5 undetermined levels are undetermined. Episodes with an impossible level have an undefined value.

Calculating episode means

To calculate the mean of each episode, we must first remember how to convert each difficulty level into its given number (Noted above, in the "Difficulty code usage" section. It's different for variable levels, explained below). The higher the difficulty, the higher its number.

The difficulty of a level can be determined by taking a large random sample of players who completed the level and taking a sample mean. A large sample is necessary to minimize the effects of fluctuation errors due to lucky players, as smaller samples have large variability. Sometimes a player will get stuck on an "easy" or "medium" level, and sometimes a player will beat an "extremely hard" level on their first attempt.

Then, we must add up the 15 (usually) numbers (in other words, calculate the sum of the 15 numbers) and we must divide the number we'll get by 15 (usually). The final number we'll get, which is rounded to the hundredth decimal place, is the arithmetic mean of that episode. (Note: In the first two episodes, we must divide the sum by 10 instead of the usual 15).

NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS:

• Variable levels. If an episode contains variable levels, we must subtract the number of variable levels from the size of the population (Aka the number we have to divide by during the final operation). Variable levels are also not included in the sum that we have to divide to calculate the episode mean, as if the episode has <15 levels.

• Impossible levels If an episode contains an impossible level, the difficulty of the episode is also impossible and the mean cannot be calculated, the episode has an undefined value.

• Undetermined levels. If an episode has more than 5 undetermined levels, the episode itself has an undetermined difficulty.

Translating the mean of the episode to the overall difficulty. The names of the episode difficulties are identical to those used for level difficulties. Each episode difficulty has its own cutoffs ("Borders"), which is noted below, in the "Usage criteria and examples" section. Note that if the mean is lesser than the cutoff mean by 0.01 to 0.1, the episode is considered to have split difficulties (For example, if the cutoff is 6, an episode with a mean of 5.9 to 5.99 has split difficulties).

Examples

Example 1: An episode has 4 somewhat easy levels, 8 somewhat hard levels and 3 hard levels.

Remember, the number assigned to each somewhat easy level is 3, the number assigned to each somewhat hard level is 5 and the number assigned to each hard level is 6.

1. Calculation of the sum: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 70

or (3 × 4) + (5 × 8) + (6 × 3) = 70

2. Division: 70/15 = 4.(6) ≈ 4.67

The mean of the episode is 4.67

Example 2: An episode has 2 very easy levels, 6 medium levels, 5 extremely hard levels and 2 variable levels.

Remember, the number assigned to each very easy levels is 1, the number assigned to each medium level is 4, the number assigned to each extremely hard level is 8 and variable levels are not assigned any number.

1. Calculation of the sum: 1 + 1 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 66

or (1 × 2) + (6 × 4) + (8 × 5) = 66

2. Division: Remember, the episode has two variable levels. Therefore, we must divide 66 by 13 instead of 15.

66/13 ≈ 5.08

The mean of the episode is 5.08

Comparing episode means

• If the difference between the means of two episodes is 0, we say that they are of the same difficulty/one episode is of the same difficulty as the other.
• If the difference between the means of two episodes is at least 0.01 and at most 0.09, we say that they are of similar difficulty/one episode is of similar difficulty to the other.
• If the difference between the means of two episodes is at least 0.1 and at most 0.19, we say that one episode is slightly easier/harder than the other.
• If the difference between the means of two episodes is at least 0.2 and at most 0.49, we say that one episode is easier/harder than the other.
• If the difference between the means of two episodes is at least 0.5, we say that one episode is much easier/harder than the other.
  • Note that 0.5 in the last bullet point is a debatable number and may change.

More examples

• Episode A1 has a difficulty mean of 4.8, while episode A2 also has a difficulty mean of 4.8. Therefore, A2 is of the same difficulty as A1.
• Episode B1 has a difficulty mean of 3.2, while episode B2 has a difficulty mean of 3.27. Therefore, B2 is of similar difficulty as B1.
• Episode C1 has a difficulty mean of 7.4, while episode C2 has a difficulty mean of 7.53. Therefore, C2 is slightly easier than C1.
• Episode D1 has a difficulty mean of 5.33, while episode D2 has a difficulty mean of 5.67. Therefore, D2 is harder than D1.
• Episode E1 has a difficulty mean of 4.6, while episode D2 has a difficulty mean of 4. Therefore, E2 is much easier than E1.

Notes for convenience

• If the sum has to be divided by n, adding or subtracting a number from the sum changes the mean by 1/n.
  • If n=15, the mean changes by 0.0(6).
    • Better numbers for this case exclusively - adding/subtracting 3 numbers specifically changes the mean by 0.2.
  • If n=14, the mean changes by 0.0(714285).
  • If n=13, the mean changes by 0.(076923).
  • If n=12, the mean changes by 0.08(3).
• Length between cutoffs:
  • 2 for very easy and nearly impossible.
  • 1 for easy, very hard and extremely hard.
  • 0 for none (Unused episode difficulty).
  • 0.5 for the rest.

Usage criteria and examples

Grading	Description	Concrete examples
None	Impossible to fail in any method save glitches, pressing the quit button, or in a Dreamworld level, using lollipop hammers to unbalance the scale. You win 100% of the time no matter how you play. (Note: level 3749 has this difficulty despite being theoretically failable). No episodes have this difficulty. As of March 2023, only two levels have this difficulty. This is reserved for only a few levels. Levels which you can certainly guarantee a win should you play properly, but can be failed if you play improperly are not included.	*Exclusive to a few levels* The 2nd HTML version of Level 1 This level was impossible to fail unless you click the quit button. Level 39 There's no way to avoid clearing the jellies due to the number of spawning jelly fish.
Very easy (Episode means of 1–1.99)	Can be done in one (most of the time) or rarely two or three attempts. There is a very high possibility of succeeding the level. Your chance of winning is about 15/20 to 19/20, or 75% to 95%. Blockers should not be hindering the success of finishing a level or contributing the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty should take no more than 30 minutes.	*Common difficulty in early episodes, rare in high episodes* Level 236 (old version) Even though the number of yellow candies to be collected was huge, it could still be done by making simple matches and combos. Level 1000 Though there are 1500 candies to collect and there are a lot of blockers present on the board, there are 81 spaces (a lot of room) and the blockers are very easy to clear with 4 colours.
Easy (Episode means of 2–2.99)	Can be done within 3 attempts, and often in a single try. There is a high possibility of succeeding the level. Your odds of winning is around 7/10, or 70%. Blockers should not hinder too much the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 1–2 hours.	*Common difficulty in early episodes, rare in high episodes* Level 173 The board is easy to open up since 5 coconut wheels are provided at the start. Players are also given 27 moves, which should be more than enough. Level 8032 As a tutorial level, there are just a few blockers to be removed in order to hit the sour skulls. With 35 moves given, this is very manageable.
Somewhat easy (Episode means of 3.0–3.49)	Can be done within 5 attempts. There is a moderately high possibility of succeeding the level. Your odds of winning is around 1/2, or 50%. Blockers are starting (not too much) to hinder the success of finishing a level; some of them can be also quite difficult to clear. Episodes with this difficulty can take 2–6 hours.	*Common difficulty in early episodes, not very uncommon in later episodes* Level 50 Even though a major part of the board is locked, it is still easy to open up as a 3-coloured level. Level 8580 As a 2-coloured level with the highest number of bobbers in the game, clearing the jellies in this level is a breeze.
Medium (Episode means of 3.5–3.99)	Can be done within 10 attempts, but usually require multiple tries. The possibility of succeeding is somewhat low, but reasonable. Your odds of winning is around 1/3, or 33%. Blockers can be threatening here. They may hinder moderately the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 6-12 hours.	*Common difficulty in early episodes, not very uncommon in later episodes*
Somewhat hard (Episode means of 4.0–4.49)	Can be done within 15 attempts, but usually require multiple tries. The possibility of succeeding is rather low. Your chance of winning is around 1/5, or 20%. Blockers are threatening here, so be sure to handle them as fast as possible. Episodes with this difficulty can take 12 hours to 1 day.	*Common difficulty in early episodes, not very uncommon in later episodes*
Hard (Episode means of 4.5–4.99)	Can be done within 20 attempts, and will usually consume at least a whole set of lives. The possibility of succeeding is low. Your odds of winning are around 1/8, or 13%. Blockers are threatening and can be difficult to remove. The shape of the level can be awkward and hinder the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 18 hours to 1 day.	*Common difficulty*
Very hard (Episode means of 5.0–5.99)	May take up to 40 attempts, and will usually consume few sets of lives. There is a very low chance of passing the level. Your chance of winning is approximately 1/15, or 7%. Blockers are pretty challenging to remove and are threatening. Levels above this difficulty are frustrating enough to probably make players quit. Episodes with this difficulty can take 1 day to complete.	*Common difficulty, especially in high episodes* Level 580 As a 5-coloured level with 17 moves only, the bombs may not be easy to remove and the jellies are hard to clear. Level 8704 The initial board is very restricted. The frostings at the lower corners are guarded by liquorice fences and are very hard to clear completely. The jelly fish is not helpful at all since it is made not to hit the frostings.
Extremely hard (Episode means of 6.0–6.99)	May take up to 100 attempts, and will usually consume many sets of lives. Your odds of succeeding are extremely low. They are approximately 1/50, or 2%. Blockers are a very large hindrance. Many levels of this type require pure luck to complete. Episodes with this difficulty can take up to a whole 2 days to complete!	*Somewhat common difficulty in early episodes, very common in later episodes* Level 971 With a lot of blockers, only 14 moves, and the possibility of instant game over since the required candies could be consumed by chocolate, this level is extremely hard. Level 8681 It is extremely troublesome to clear the jellies in the lower part of the board as they are blocked by liquorice curls and fences. The ingredients are also difficult to be collected since they have to travel a long path.
Nearly impossible (Episode means of 7.0 and above)	Theoretically winnable. However, the chances are so low that the level should be largely nerfed. May take up to 1000 attempts and will almost always consume countless sets of lives. Your chance of winning is similar to getting a four-leaf clover! This will definitely take lots of tries: imagine odds of 1/300, or 0.3%. You have jackpot odds of winning this level. These levels are extremely frustrating without boosters. Usually, over 85% of players have to use boosters on them! Levels with this difficulty are becoming more common. Later in the game however, these kinds of episodes appear very frequently. Nearly impossible episodes become common later in the game, and primarily contain extremely hard-nearly impossible levels. They can take 2-7 days to complete!	*Becoming increasingly common* Level 2005 It is almost impossible to clear all the blockers (including the magic mixer) in the restrictive space with a mere 13 moves. Level 4154 It's very troublesome to clear multiple layers of liquorice swirls in a mere 17 moves. Players also need to handle the 4-moves bombs. Level 5115 Collecting non-spawning colour candies inside candy cane fences is already not easy, but you have to collect fifty yellow candies in only 21 moves. Level 6252 It is almost impossible to clear all the jellies when the cannons spawn up to 18 liquorice swirls when possible.
Variable	Number of attempts vary because of high difficulty and the impact of random chance. One may finish a variable level in 1 try while some may take hundreds. Usually assigned to levels whose outcome is based on its initial or near-initial board outcome, such that it is purely luck-based. The probability of succeeding is hard to tell but unfavourable, and is dependent on the frequency of getting unfavourable outcomes. Some may say a level in this difficulty is easy while others say it can be one of the hardest. Blockers may or may not hinder process, depending on where they are, and what they are. This is the only difficulty rating that is not counted as part of the episode mean. This is a rare difficulty level.	*Rare difficulty* Level 2882 To collect a total of 800 candies in a board as small as 4x4, you need to have a lot of cascades but that would be a matter of luck. You also need to hope you aren't killed by 2-move bombs. Level 7428 The initial candy colour arrangement can decide if you could pass or not - if you cannot remove some of the crystal candies in the first move, it's very likely that you're going to fail the level.
Impossible (Episodes with this difficulty have at least one level which is rendered unplayable.)	Proven to be unwinnable without any boosters, cheats, and glitches. These levels are the result of design or mechanics errors which render the level unplayable through normal means. An update usually follows soon after fixing the design error. The use of impossible levels is deprecated and it is not shown in the legends. They have an undefined difficulty value in calculating the average difficulty; if an impossible level exists in an episode, the entire episode is rendered unplayable. This is the rarest difficulty level. Most impossible levels have been fixed immediately or shortly once identified. These levels are becoming less rare, but they continue to be fixed quickly (most of the time). Many impossible levels lately have been caused by insufficient orders.	*Extremely rare difficulty level* Level 578 and Level 380 (Dreamworld) (Before correction) There was a jelly behind the chocolate fountain since you can't destroy a chocolate fountain; the only way to clear the jelly was to use a Jelly Fish booster. Early versions of level 615 (Flash only) and 1780 The order required colours that never spawned on the board, and there were no lucky candies to assist the order. These are caused by the wrong colour scheme. Level 1352 (Before correction) The ingredient cannot slide into the exit area since new candies always spawn from above. The only way to clear is to use a free switch to snatch the ingredient out of the dead zone. A variation of level 1535 on HTML5 (Before correction) An ingredient usually spawns in the area without exits. Unless in extremely rare circumstances, this version cannot be cleared even with boosters. A past version of level 1601 on HTML5 (Before redesign) Due to different mechanics of magic mixers on HTML5, there will not be enough chocolate for the order within given moves, even at the best scenario of clearing chocolate.

Note: It is becoming common for levels to be rated also by how frustrating they are, their candy colour amounts, move count and blockers, rather than by attempt count.

Amendments to difficulty scales

There are two notable changes to the difficulty nomenclature throughout CCSW history.

2016 Difficulty System change

Since 2016, there were additions to the difficulty system:

Key Points

• The "Nearly Impossible" difficulty was introduced as the new top difficulty, above "Insanely Hard". This applies to levels which are almost unbeatable without the use of boosters. Special request is required for such a level to be regarded as "Nearly Impossible".
• The "Insanely Hard" difficulty was renamed to "Extremely Hard". This is the second-highest difficulty, below "Nearly Impossible" but above "Very Hard". However, "Extremely Hard" is nowadays strictly below the original definition of "Insanely Hard".
• Levels originally are "Insanely Hard" were changed to "Nearly Impossible", unless the level does not receive 70% votes for "Insanely Hard" ("Nearly Impossible"), which will result in an instant downgrade to "Extremely Hard".

Change map

The following tables illustrate the colour codes and changes for each difficulty rating.

• The first column shows the new colour codes, ie. those currently in effect.
• The second column tells you whether/how this difficulty colour was changed.
• The last column shows the old colour codes.

New Colours	change	Old Colours
undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard extremely hard nearly impossible variable impossible	(same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) renamed from introduced (same) (same)	undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard insanely hard (new) variable impossible

Color change

Effective August 7th, 2015, the difficulty colour coding in the wiki was changed. The new colour codes used were thought to be more intuitive, as they form a gradual progression through the colour spectrum from light and cyan to dark and red.

Key points

• The new colour for hard (red) was previously used for very hard.
• The new colour for very hard (maroon) was previously used for impossible.
• No colour coding is added to levels whose difficulty is undetermined.

Change map

The following tables illustrate the colour codes and changes for each difficulty rating.

• The first column shows the new colour codes, ie. those currently in effect.
• The second column tells you whether/how this difficulty colour was changed.
• The last column shows the old colour codes.

New Colours	change	Old Colours
undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard insanely hard variable impossible	removed (same) (same) (same) new new new new new (same) new new	undetermined none very easy easy considerably easy medium considerably hard hard very hard insanely hard variable impossible

Trivia

• The system originated from the list of levels, in which the difficulty of levels were once graded as "considerably hard for some", "considerably hard", "hard", and "extremely hard".
  • No one knows who actually created the difficulty system.
• The colour for "Medium" was once between blue and purple, but since the colour was too similar to purple, it was then changed to the colour salmon. Currently, the colour of medium is amber.
  • This was also the case with the colour for "Variable", which was formerly yellow. It was then changed to green to make it easier to see on a white background. Currently, the colour for variable is purple.
  • It also happened with "Impossible". The former colour of impossible was white (it was specially designed for April Fools). However, once this difficulty was officially implemented, for the the glitched version of level 578, it was changed to dark red. Currently, the colour for impossible is gray.
• There was no "Impossible" difficulty at time time the system was devised. It was first given to level 1 as an April Fools Joke, represented by the colour white.
  • In the same year all very easy levels were reassigned "extremely hard" and the rest of the levels were reassigned "very easy".
  • When level 578 was found out to be impossible without jelly fish, the impossible difficulty was still white.
  • level 276 of Dreamworld was once given the impossible rating. It was downgraded since it was still theoretically possible to be completed.
• The first "very hard" level rated was level 30, but it got downgraded afterwards.
• The first "extremely hard" level rated was level 35, but then it got downgraded and then redesigned.
• The term Hell's Cluster was formerly used on the wiki to denote a long consecutive range of very hard levels.
  • In particular, it referred to levels 180, 181, 182, 183, 184 in Cupcake Circus. Level 181 is conventionally considered the hardest of the five.
  • Later Flash-era levels are consistently rated very high, and their trivias often refers them as belonging to other, much longer Hell's Clusters lasting dozens of levels.
• The hardest levels (and impossible levels) in the game have shifted throughout the process of making this game.
  • First having level 35, then moving on to 65, considered by majority to be the hardest level.
  • After that, the infamous 147 was released. Being the first ever nearly impossible level, maintained to be the hardest level in 2013. Its Dreamworld counterpart was also the hardest in its realm until they were both nerfed.
  • Then, 350 was released and took over 147.
  • With the nerf of several hard levels on 28 May 2014, level 578 became the hardest level in the game, and initially it was even impossible without using boosters.
  • With the nerf of level 578, early versions of level 276 Dreamworld became the hardest since getting 300 blue candies with limited moves and blockers was an excruciatingly difficult job, almost impossible.
  • Level 276 of Dreamworld received a nerf in June 2014 and (possibly) the hardest level in the game became level 289 of Dreamworld.
  • When level 380 of Dreamworld was released, it was impossible without boosters, like 578 in reality.
  • With the nerf of 380 Dreamworld shortly after its release, 289 Dreamworld again became (arguably) the hardest level before being taken over in September 2014 by 677, because, like 276 Dreamworld, it was almost impossible without boosters.
  • 677 was nerfed in October 2014. Later that month, 735 was released and arguably became the hardest level in the game before being nerfed in November 2014. 289 Dreamworld was once again considered the hardest level after both of said nerfs.
  • 829 was released in January 2015 and became the hardest level in the game before being nerfed the following month.
  • After a yet another reign of 289 Dreamworld, it was taken over by 1330 in January 2016.
  • On October 20, 2016, 2069 was released. It was considered the hardest level due to its incredibly low amount of moves.
  • 2069 was arguably taken over by 2741 in August 2017, also due to its insanely low number of moves.
• The hardest level in the game is subjective to every player. However, the levels that most players consider insane are level 2523 and levels in the 13000s.
  • King marks these levels as "super hard", "nightmarishly hard", or "legendary" in the game.
• In Dreamworld, more extremely hard levels were released alongside challenging episodes starting with Funky Fortress, which continued until the end of the realm (expect a few episodes in between). Later episodes of Reality also contain tons of extremely hard levels.
• It is theorized that the recent "surge" of impossible levels is because of oversights caused by the increased release rate of episodes.
  • Notable formerly impossible levels include: 1949, 2598, 3348, 3455, 3615, 4550, 5344 and 6196.
• The number of attempts for a specific player may not always represent the overall difficulty of the level as the player can get lucky.