Candy Crush All Stars crowns 2026 champion: 10 contenders, hardcore levels and $1m on the line
- Candy Crush's esports competition All Stars has wrapped up with Luana from Brazil named the 2026 champion.
- PocketGamer.biz was invited to the finals, watching the world's 10 best Candy Crush players compete.
Candy Crush All Stars sits at the rare intersection of casual mobile games and hardcore, elite-level play. After months of remote competition and millions of players vying for a spot in the global top 10, the Live Final unites the best of the best, the Candy Crush pros, for a showdown.
Every year, players compete not only to be crowned the best Candy Crush player in the world, but these days, for a share of a $1 million prize pool too. From millions of candidates, just one winner can take home the $500,000 grand prize.
PocketGamer.biz attends All Stars 2026, and immediately the sense of glamour and celebration is clear. Giant screens await inside Piccadilly Lights, covered in Candy Crush iconography. Podiums are poised with players’ names, depicted as though they're sports emblems. Phones are stationed in preparation for each contender, ready to display gameplay on the big screen.
It’s clear that to King, every competitor here is a winner. These 10 best players are flown to London from the US, Brazil, Germany and more, treated to a stay in a posh hotel, and each one of them is promised a share of the prize pool.
They come from across the globe and all walks of life: a stuntwoman, a singer, an anti-fraud worker, even a husband and wife. And, it's clear that King champions this diversity of ages, professions and life stages.
“It is actually a very major moment for us during the year. It's a celebration of Candy Crush.”Luken Aragon
"Mobile gives you access to millions of players and also, for many of these players it will be the first time they actually play a competition," King chief marketing officer Luken Aragon tells us.
It's unconventional in esports, which tends to attract and be led by younger players. The nature of a mobile match-3 esport means contenders can emerge anywhere.
One thing every contender has in common is that drive to win. For the 20-somethings, $500,000 could set them up for life. For others, the money could mean an early retirement, lavish holidays with the kids and more. And there are sizeable prizes for everyone.
The runner-up can still expect $250,000, while bronze gets $100,000. Worst-case scenario, even the bottom five are going home with $15,000 each - because being bottom five here still means being among the best in the world.
Of course, everyone wants to win. Beyond the cash prize, there’s a unique ring tailor-made for 2026, containing a spinning candy at its centre. Then, there’s also the honour of calling oneself the best Candy Crush player in the world.
At the end of All Stars 2026, it’s Luana, a young woman from Brazil, who is crowned the champion.
Ready, set, go
Candy Crush All Stars receives a significant rebrand this year to emphasise its sporty edge. It’s the most competitive part of the brand, so the new logo takes inspiration from American sports and esports with sharp shapes, strong colours and bold typography.
"We started with this idea to create a competitive event in Candy Crush without really having an idea on the brand direction," Aragon admits, thinking back to All Stars’ origins during the pandemic.
"Actually, the whole point was to prove, if you create an event for competitive players, will they enjoy it? The answer was yes. So what we've been doing is, little by little, we've been evolving the experience but also we've been growing the brand."
The competition started out online-only but has expanded in scale and ambition each year. The 2025 finals took place in Los Angeles, and in 2026 they're in London. Candy Crush Saga general manager Paula Ingvar tell us this year's location has been chosen for its games culture and connection to King, home to the studio’s co-headquarters and an important part of company history.
"It's also an incredibly accessible international destination, which is important when you're bringing together players from around the world. We wanted a location that felt exciting and iconic, while also making it as easy as possible for finalists and their guests to attend."
We ask about the strategic benefits of All Stars, and learn the campaign serves as a UA initiative while also helping retain interest from the existing community. The prize pool creates "a lot of appetite", and as All Stars continues to establish itself as a yearly tradition, some players are already beginning to look ahead to each new edition.
For King, work on the next All Stars begins as soon as the previous tournament ends: reviewing player feedback, analysing performance data and identifying opportunities to improve next year.
"The tournament design and player experience always come first, because everything else needs to support that. From there, we work on everything from level development and competitive balancing to event production, creative identity, venue selection and the fan experience. Bringing together a global competition of this scale takes months of planning, testing and coordination across the business," says Ingvar.
“The tournament design and player experience always come first, because everything else needs to support that.”Paula Ingvar
"We're always exploring ways to evolve the Candy Crush All Stars Live Final and keep the experience fresh for players. Different locations and venues can help us create unique moments and showcase the truly global nature of the competition.
"At the same time, we look at every event individually and make decisions based on what will create the best possible experience for players, fans and guests."
Aragon adds: "It is actually a very major moment for us during the year. It's a celebration of Candy Crush. It's a celebration for players. We have teams coming from marketing, from production, from very different areas in the business who are all together trying to imagine how can we create an even better experience.
"We're inviting players to actually play in a different way. They get a chance to access this unique competition, and we want to invite many people to this kind of party. It's a gaming party."
Crafting a challenge
Ahead of the finals, we got a taste of a challenging All Stars level - given three minutes to collect as many blue candies as possible, matching them in vast quantities in the aim of a high score. With blockers across the board, strategy and trade-offs meant deciding on the fly whether to spend time clearing room for more candies to fall - and potentially more blues - or to focus on earning points from the offset.
During the competition, we see this model in play across many All Stars levels, testing competitors’ abilities under time pressure and with a move limit.
Many boards award bonus points for clearing the level within these restrictions, meaning one player could win on blue candy count but be surpassed by someone with fewer matches who actually cleared the bonus objectives.
We learn that each round, all players are presented with an identical level, meaning the board starts with the same candies in the same positions, and the new candies that fall are pre-determined. Identical moves would therefore result in identical outcomes, though of course everyone plays differently - and everyone's boards look quite different by the end of three minutes.
“When we design and we imagine levels, we obviously take into account that Candy Crush is evolving, so we try to take the best of what we've been creating in levels.”Luken Aragon
It’s an effort to reduce randomness and reward strategy.
The number of returning players from last year would suggest skill truly plays a crucial role, as All Stars 2025’s champion Tiago makes a return in 2026, as does Cole for his fourth consecutive appearance at the finals.
All Stars levels are also crafted for the occasion, specifically designed to find the best player. New to this year is a bonus round, a marathon of 10 levels to clear in a row, designed to reward endurance, consistency and focus. Ingvar notes that by varying the format, King can create a more "complete" competition that reflects a broader range of skills.
Whether hatching dragons, battling blockers like the Gumball Machine and Mall-O-Matic, clearing candy floss, or making multiple matches up against Candy Skulls, every skill in a player’s repertoire gets tested somewhere.
"When we design and we imagine levels, we obviously take into account that Candy Crush is evolving, so we try to take the best of what we've been creating in levels. We try to extract that to really adapt that to a competitive final," Aragon adds.
For glory
The first round begins with all 10 players competing at once. German competitor Max establishes an immediate lead, the only player to spot an early move to make a Colour Bomb, and ranks at the top of the leaderboard across every level.
Meanwhile, Camilla demonstrates an early lead isn’t everything: firing up the leaderboard from 10th place on the first level to second place by the end of the phase. The ultimate goal is to rank in the top four to advance to the semi-finals.
“Candy Crush Saga is designed to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone, but that doesn't mean it lacks mastery.”Paula Ingvar
When all is said and done, Max and Camilla are joined by Cole and Luana, each acquiring over 1,000 points from clearing levels and collecting blue candy. They advance to the semi-finals and tackle new levels dripping in challenging blockers. Max bests Cole, Luana triumphs over Camilla, and the finalists are decided.
One last three-minute game decides who wins $500,000. And, after sweeping every round throughout the day, Max falls at the final hurdle. Underdog Luana is crowned 2026 champion.
"I know it sounds cliché, but the final level I played was the most challenging of the entire competition. Not just because of the level design itself, but because of everything that had built up to that moment," Luana shares with us.
"Knowing that one level could decide the outcome, the tension was high. The design demanded complete focus and precision, but managing my nerves was just as difficult. Looking back, it was the perfect final challenge because it tested both my skill as a player and my ability to stay calm when it mattered most."
It’s a day full of drama: smiles, tears, laughter and jokes between competitors. We see players celebrate each other’s wins and offer comfort after a tough round.
Max brought his wife practically straight from their honeymoon. Luana’s mother rushed to the stage to congratulate her on her win.
These aren’t just esports competitors here for a UA campaign and they aren’t camera-trained professionals putting on a show. They’re here because they’re expert Candy Crush players, assembled through the power of mobile games.
"It’s a celebration of the most competitive players - if they joined Candy Crush before or they are joining for the first time," says Aragon.
Ingvar concludes: "Candy Crush Saga is designed to be accessible and enjoyable for everyone, but that doesn't mean it lacks mastery. What we've seen through All Stars is that players develop incredibly sophisticated strategies, deep game knowledge and remarkable consistency over time.
"Seeing returning competitors, family members and even couples competing at such a high level speaks to the social nature of the game. People share tips, compare strategies and challenge each other. In many ways, Candy Crush Saga has become something that brings people together."
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