What is it about this game that keeps people on their toes, constantly mesmerized by each and every level even when you think they would start getting bored?
This phenomenon is explained in easy broken down terminology in this paper.
Human beings are known to be addictive creatures but there are some chemical and biological factors that play into addiction as well.

- Firstly, the addictive gene could be dominant in the human, passed down through genetics, and it could aid in quickly and strongly getting addicted to the game.

- The game is simple. Matching 3 or more candies of the same color in a row. But the simplicity of the game is what makes it addicting, the wins give the brain a strong sense of satisfaction, and that feeling of getting rewarded releases dopamine, enforcing the action of playing the game even more. Dopamine is the happy chemical released in the brain. The bright colors also play a role in activating the brain’s reward system.

- The game’s intensity increases and the levels get harder as you keep playing on, because of that, the dopamine bursts become more intermittent. (effective)

- In the game there’s a strategy used called variable ratio schedule of reinforcement which basically means you can never predict when you will win as the game is mostly made of randomly placed candy in a 3D array matrix and the amount of losses are more than wins so the random hit of dopamine also keeps the person constantly craving more, hence making them play on.

- Moreover, the limit of time (lives) given to play strongly affects the brain, because it is never fully satisfied with the amount of dopamine it gets after winning (if any) and keeps the person craving more. This effect is called hedonic adaptation.

- Humans also have been known to hate leaving their goals incomplete therefore they have the urge to complete all the levels of the game to gain a sense of mastery.

- In Candy Crush, when you complete one goal, you are met with another, in a seemingly endless series of goals you can never fully complete. This is known as Zeno’s paradox.

- Candy Crush is considered to help in escaping the stress of reality, hence addicting people to the stress free moments it provides. And they channel all that raging mental energy into playing the game all whilst distracting themselves from their thoughts and emotions.

- It has been reported that people also feel empowered by completing levels, it makes them more confident, especially when they are struggling with self-doubt.

- The randomized array of the starting pieces of candy on the board are also a way to keep the players engaged, because instead of getting frustrated at the loss they will immediately start over, hoping for a better set of candy pieces.

- Matching shapes and patterns is a basic human obsession, so wanting to arrange the candy satisfies the urge to tidy up messes and resemble a sense of mission and order restoration.

- With the amount of stress the society has inflicted upon us, the stress relievers are more required, and the desire to be stress free even for a little while is what makes people constantly go back to the game.

- The bright colors of the game also heal the inner child within the person, allowing them to get lost in the brightness and the sparkles of the game, it provides a blanket of security to them.

- The mechanisms of the game also work on primary reflexes of input and output, sending stressful neurological stimuli to the brain which act like electric shocks, constantly triggering the person into action (playing the game). Due to this, it also induces a certain amount of adrenaline in the player, and like a drug, they get addicted to this too.

WEBSITES REFERENCED FROM:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/apr/01/candy-crush-saga-app-brain
https://observer.com/2019/02/candy-crush-addiction-real-problem/
https://www.liberty.edu/campusrec/student-activities/blog/candy-crush-a-love-or-an-addiction/#:~:text=Candy%20Crush%20not%20only%20helps,behavior%20at%20the%20same%20time.
https://bydeze.com/candy-crush-to-cope-with-anxiety/#:~:text=Conquering%20multiple%20levels%20is%20uplifting,am%20struggling%20with%20self%2Ddoubt.
https://schoolofgamedesign.com/project/why-candy-crush-popular/#:~:text=There's%20a%20lot%20that%20went,the%20competing%20match%20three%20games.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/behind-online-behavior/201508/why-are-the-candy-crushes-the-world-dominating-our-lives
https://mercatornet.com/why-do-women-share-the-crush-on-candy-crush-saga/21524/ preprocess