Feeling guilty about the hours you’ve wasted on Candy Crush Saga? Relax. A mathematical analysis of the notoriously addictive video game reveals that it belongs to a class of fiendish computational problems – and playing it might one day help solve them. Launched in 2012, the Candy Crush Saga game draws a staggering 93 million players per day either via Facebook or a smartphone-specific app. For those who have somehow resisted the candy’s clutches, here are the basics. Players are presented with a board of different coloured candies and have to swap adjacent ones to make three or more of the same colour line up horizontally or vertically. There are restrictions, such as the number of moves allowed or the score you have to reach at the end of a level.
