Candy Clicker Has No Save: How to Keep a Run Alive (and Why)

The most common surprise in Candy Clicker is not an upgrade or a golden candy. It is coming back after lunch to find the counter at zero. That is not a bug on this site. Candy Clicker 2 simply does not save, and its creator says so in plain words on the game's own page: "Don't close the tab. There are no save codes." Here is why, and how to live with it.

Why there is no save

Candy Clicker 2 was made in Scratch, the block-based programming tool from MIT. Scratch projects run inside a sandbox and normally cannot write files or keep data between visits. Some Scratch games work around that with long save codes you copy and paste; this one does not. Everything — your candy, your upgrades, your level, your achievements — lives in the game's memory while it runs. Close the tab and that memory is gone.

On this site the game is packaged with TurboWarp, a faster engine for Scratch projects, and every file is served from candyclicker.org. That makes it load quickly and run smoothly, but it does not add a save system the original never had.

What ends a run

• Reloading the page or pressing back.
• Closing the tab or the browser.
• A Chromebook putting tabs to sleep. ChromeOS can discard background tabs when memory is low; when you return, the page reloads from scratch.
• Shutting down or restarting the device.

Simply switching to another tab is fine, as long as the browser does not discard it. Expect the game to slow down or pause while its tab is hidden, though: browsers throttle background pages to save power, so candy per second only really counts while you can see it.

How to protect a long run

1. Play in its own window. A tab in a separate window is less likely to be discarded than one buried among twenty others.
2. Close heavy tabs. Video sites and big web apps are what push a school laptop into discarding tabs.
3. Do not use the page's back button mid-run, and be careful with keyboard shortcuts that reload (Ctrl+R, F5).
4. Keep the device awake. If you are stepping away, leave the lid open and the charger in.
5. Treat each session as a run. Set a goal — reach the Candy factory, unlock Professional clicker, get to Rebirth — and enjoy getting there quickly.

Making short sessions count

If you know you only have ten minutes, play for speed. Click hard at the start, buy Auto click and Cursor straight away, then go for Auto candy and the Candy farm. Several achievements are reachable in one sitting: First step (your first candy), Lazy grinding (first auto click upgrade), Better clicks (first cursor), Clicking away (100 clicks) and Good start (a million candy in total). Time goes fast unlocks after ten minutes of play. Seeing how far you can get in a set time is a good way to play a game without saves.

A little history

Clicker games owe almost everything to Cookie Clicker, the 2013 browser game by Orteil, and Candy Clicker is open about it: its Scratch page thanks Cookie Clicker "for... a lot". The game was made by Coltroc, a Scratch creator whose other projects include Planet Clicker, Ore Tycoon and the Miner Cat series. Candy Clicker 2 has been viewed millions of times on Scratch and later turned up on game portals, which is how most players meet it today. The background music is "Fresh Air" by Bslick, which the game credits to a mining sim.

Scratch projects are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence, which is why the game can be played here with credit to its creator. If you enjoy it, the original project on Scratch is the place to leave a love or a comment.

The short version

Candy Clicker does not save. Keep the tab open, keep the laptop awake and play each session as a sprint. The numbers climb fast enough that even a short run ends somewhere ridiculous.