Candy Clicker

How an incremental game works

The loop is simple enough to explain in a sentence: click to earn, spend what you earn on things that earn for you, repeat. What makes it compelling is the arithmetic underneath.

Why everything gets more expensive

Each upgrade costs 15 % more than the last one of its kind. Buy ten of something and the eleventh costs roughly four times what the first did. That exponential cost curve is what stops any single upgrade running away with the game, and it is the standard design across the whole genre.

cost = base × 1.15^owned

Because production grows linearly with each purchase while cost grows exponentially, there is always a point where a cheaper upgrade you have ignored becomes better value than the expensive one you have been saving for. Working out where that point is, rather than always buying the most expensive thing available, is most of the strategy.

A rough rule

Compare cost divided by production rate across everything you can afford. The lowest number is the best value per sweet. It will surprise you how often that is the cheapest item on the list rather than the newest one you have unlocked.

How to play

1. Click the sweet to earn your first few.
2. Buy the cheapest upgrade as soon as you can afford it. Early production compounds.
3. Keep buying whatever has the best cost-to-rate ratio, not whatever is newest.
4. Leave it running. Your sweets keep accumulating while the tab is open.

Common uses and tips

• Your progress is saved in this browser, so you can come back to it. It will not follow you to another device.
• Clicking matters early and stops mattering quickly. Once automatic production passes a few per second, your finger is no longer the bottleneck.
• Do not hoard. Sweets sitting unspent earn nothing. Buying earlier compounds for longer.
• Nothing is lost by closing the tab, but production stops — there is no offline earning here.

What this tool can and cannot see

Everything here runs in your browser. Nothing about your keyboard, mouse or keystrokes is sent anywhere, stored, or logged — the page has no server to send it to.

What the browser gives a web page is also limited by design. It can see that a key was pressed and which one, but not what kind of switch it uses, its firmware, or anything about the device beyond what the operating system reports. A web page cannot tell a mechanical keyboard from a membrane one.

Questions people ask

Why does everything get more expensive?

Each purchase of the same upgrade costs 15 % more than the last. It is the standard curve in incremental games, and it stops any one upgrade dominating.

What should I buy first?

Whatever has the lowest cost divided by production rate. That is usually the cheapest item, not the newest one you unlocked.

Is my progress saved?

Yes, in this browser. It will not appear on another device, and clearing your browser data will clear it.

Does it keep earning while the tab is closed?

No. Production only runs while the page is open.

Does clicking faster help?

Early on, yes. Once automatic production is running, your clicking becomes a rounding error.