Candy Crush Saga's Halloween season enters its final…

A few days left to save Candy Town

King is closing the Halloween season in Candy Crush Saga this weekend, and the season's prize tournament ends today. Players who have been putting off the event have a few days left to claim its rewards before the limited-time content is gone.

There is some disagreement about when exactly it finishes. King's help centre says Spooky Season runs from October 12 to November 9, 2026. The press announcement reported by GamesBeat and Gaming Trend gives an earlier date: from today through November 8th, counting from 12 October. Bleeding Cool's coverage gives both dates. Players who want to be safe should treat Saturday as the deadline.

The Gold Heist is more urgent. According to the help centre, it runs from October 26 to November 5 and offers a chance to win 250 Gold Bars, the game's premium currency. That makes today its last day.

Jellynauts on the board

This year's season is built around the Jellynauts, a returning set of villains. According to King's press release, a horde of them has overrun Candy Town, and players are asked to rescue a trapped friend in each Expedition level, building up to a final showdown to save Mr Toffee. King's help centre calls the story event Halloween Horde: players beat Jellynaut levels to rescue characters and earn a reward for each one.

The Jellynauts also change how levels play. GamesBeat reported that the season adds Jellynaut blockers and jelly repellers to the board alongside the time-limited story.

GamesBeat cited the press release as saying that this is the first Spooky Season with a fully themed lineup. As well as the Expedition, it includes collectible Seasonal Pins, a three-stage tournament and a Spooky Season Pass. Bleeding Cool reported that there are 81 pins to collect, and that the pins become available from level 50. According to Gaming Trend, the tournament stages were scheduled as Qualifiers Oct 22, Knockouts Oct 27, Finals Oct 31, with players collecting Striped Candies to beat the Jellynauts and win Gold Bars. King has also flagged the event in its release notes, which carry the line "Spooky Season: The Jellynauts return!"

One season straight into another

Spooky Season is the second themed season the game has run this autumn. In a post on its community forum, King said Music Season ran from August 31 to October 5, with the Saga Map getting a music-themed makeover. The big public launch came later. On 10 September King started a campaign with Shania Twain and Zedd built around a reworked version of "You're Still the One", with a music video directed by Jonas Åkerlund.

You're Still The One (Candy Crush) Official Video | Music Season 2026ShaniaTwainVEVO · YouTube

That campaign went beyond the game itself. Digital Music News reported that the in-game Music Season tournament was live now in-game through October 5, with the Music Season Expedition available from level 11 onward, and that six winners could earn a VIP trip to meet one of the artists on tour. According to the campaign's FAQ, the related code hunt on the Candy Roadhouse site closed on 5 October, and Digital Music News said those rewards were limited to US residents.

Off the board, the studio has had a busy few weeks. Kotaku reported on 24 September that King's Swedish developers had won a collective bargaining agreement with management, just in time to avert a planned multi-union strike. King has also announced a Guinness World Records title: according to its press release, a total of 1,146 employees came together to play Candy Crush Saga simultaneously for five minutes. Seven days after Music Season ended, the Jellynauts arrived for Spooky Season.

31 Aug 2026
Music Season opens in the game, per King's community post
10 Sep 2026
Shania Twain and Zedd campaign launches
24 Sep 2026
Kotaku reports Swedish staff win contract, averting a strike
5 Oct 2026
Music Season and the Candy Roadhouse promotion end
12 Oct 2026
Spooky Season begins
26 Oct 2026
Gold Heist tournament opens
5 Nov 2026
Gold Heist tournament closes
8 or 9 Nov 2026
Spooky Season ends, depending on the source

Candy Crush Saga's autumn events and King news, as dated by King and press reports

What closes, and what carries on

Seasonal content like this has an expiry date, much like a voucher. The Season Pass milestones, pins and tournament prizes belong to Spooky Season, and King presents them as time-limited. Anything not claimed by the weekend should be assumed lost. The help centre's advice is to join the Spooky Season before November 9, and it tells players to check the Candy Crush Community for more.

The regular levels are not affected. In its Guinness announcement King said the game has close to 25,000 levels, with 60 more added each week. The latest update, version 1.340.0.1, is now available on Google Play. Its English release notes only repeat King's line that the game is updated every week, and they name no specific new features.

Matching candy since 2012

For anyone who has never played it, Candy Crush Saga is a match-three puzzle game. Players swap neighbouring sweets to make lines of three or more of the same colour, which clears them from the board, and they work through levels with goals such as clearing jelly or bringing ingredients down to the bottom. GamesBeat describes Spooky Season as the game's annual Halloween event, one of several themed seasons that run on top of the main map.

The game is free to play, with optional paid items. King's Google Play description says the payment feature can be turned off by disabling in-app purchases in the device's settings. The developer is King, which Game Developer has described as Microsoft-owned, and which has published spin-offs including Candy Crush Soda Saga.