With over 500 million downloads on Facebook and mobile devices, and over 150 billion games played since its release, Candy Crush Saga is currently the most popular game on Facebook, as well as the top grossing app in the App Store and on Google Play, according to Time.

Developed by King, Candy Crush Saga was released on April 12, 2012 for Facebook and on Nov. 12, 2012 for smartphones.  While there are currently 544 levels, new levels are released periodically. The goal of the game is to gain as many points as possible, as well as to unlock and beat new levels.

The basic move of Candy Crush Saga is swapping the position of two candies so that three or more candies of the same color are switched next to each other, allowing them to burst and increase one’s score.  To complete a level, users must achieve a high enough score to win at least one star, as well as complete the challenge(s) presented at the beginning of the level, according to about.king.com.

Senior Chloe Jiang said she has been playing Candy Crush Saga since the beginning of the year and plays about once a week or whenever she is bored.

“My friends kept sending me Facebook game requests to play Candy Crush,” Jiang said.  “At first I wasn’t into it, and then one day I decided to give it a try.”

Senior Michael Tam said he also heard about Candy Crush Saga through Facebook notifications and gave it a try since everyone else was playing it.

“I played on Facebook originally, then I thought, ‘Well I want to play at school,’ so I got the app,” Tam said.

Tam said he plays the game for about 30 minutes a day.

“It’s just a fast game that you can stop playing whenever,” Tam said.  “You don’t have to get into a groove first, you can just start and stop whenever you want.”

Jiang said the game keeps her interested because it makes her think.

“It doesn’t give you a lot of lives to keep playing over and over again,” Jiang said. “If you run out of lives, you forget about it for a while, then you go back playing.”

Users begin the game with five lives. If they do not pass a level, they lose a life, but a new life is regenerated every 30 minutes.  Players can also purchase lives in the game shop or ask their friends to send them lives.  One can have a maximum of five lives at any given time, according to about.king.com.

Sophomore Annalisa Smith said she often beats other people’s levels for them. While she initially did not like the game, she soon became very addicted to it.

“I can’t even explain it,” Smith said.  “I can’t stop. You wouldn’t expect it to be, but it’s pretty addicting.”

At one point, Smith beat the highest level of the game at that time.

“I reached some maximum, and then they came out with new levels,” Smith said.

Tam said he likes how the game is challenging and requires strategy.

Jiang said she prefers Candy Crush Saga over a similar game, Bejeweled, because it has more to offer in that it has various challenges and levels.

“Candy Crush gives you more candy power-up options and the levels are kind of mixed up,” Jiang said. “They give you different challenges, unlike