A family that Candy Crushes together, stays together.
Two metro Atlanta sisters and their niece not only found solace and unity playing mobile video game Candy Crush through family health crises but also channeled their skills into cold hard cash.
Selita Boyd, a computer software consultant from Stone Mountain, was first on board, a dedicated Candy Crush player going back to its inception in 2012.
She became a finalist during an early Candy Crush All Star tournament. While sidelined with cancer, she convinced her sister Aalja Boyd of Brookhaven and their niece Jemini Powell, also from Stone Mountain, to join in.
“We all got competitive and tried to beat each other,” said Jemini during an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at Selita’s home. “I just wanted to beat them all. I had to show them up!”
“Everything she knows,” Selita said, “I had to teach her.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Comfort in Candy Crush
The game helped salve Selita’s spirits while she battled cancer in 2023 and 2024. Selita and Aalja also took comfort in the game when their mother, Eloise, died a few months ago. Selita, now healthy and in remission, is also taking care of her ailing father, Alfred.
“Candy Crush gets us all together, and we have fun,” Selita said. “It takes away some of the pain.”
For the past 14 years, the tile-matching game has been a massive global phenomenon, becoming one of the most popular mobile games ever, incorporating and improving on elements of predecessors like Tetris and Bejeweled.
Interactive entertainment company King, the game’s creator and now a subsidiary of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division, said the game has been downloaded 3 billion-plus times, generating more than $20 billion in revenue. While most casual gamers play Candy Crush for free, King earns income from a slice of hardcore players like Selita, Aalja and Jemini purchasing gold bars as virtual currency for extra moves, power-ups (boosters like lollipop hammers or color bombs), and more lives.
The trio has received a nice return on investment from those purchases, courtesy of the annual Candy Crush All Stars tournament.
At first, the competition didn’t offer prize money. When Selita finished in the top 10 in 2021 during a remote international competition, she received a Candy Crush-embossed pillow, a charger and a gift card she couldn’t use because the food delivery service didn’t serve Georgia.
But in 2024, King upped the ante, giving away $1 million in prize money, split among 10 finalists.
Over two years, the three family members pocketed a collective $130,000 competing with gamers from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and France.
Aalja, a graphic designer, took home $100,000 last year when she came in third at the tournament in Los Angeles, which aired on YouTube.
Then Selita and Jemini both made the top 10 in June, each taking home $15,000 after competing in London, where King is co-headquartered. (Aalja came along on the trip as a plus-one.)
Playing to their strengths
Each of the women has their own particular Candy Crush strengths.
Selita, 60, the oldest of five girls, is a strategist at heart who grew up enjoying the thrill of putting together 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles and competing against family members in everything from Monopoly to Othello.
Candy Crush is puzzle-solving at its core, said Boyd, a computer programmer and musician. “Moving through the levels is like coding,” she said. “It’s putting pieces together. It’s all about patterns.”
Jemini, 28, is a parkour athlete and stunt actor whose credits include 2022’s massive Marvel hit “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” doubling for Letitia Wright, and this year’s quirky comedy “I Love Boosters,” doubling for Keke Palmer. She is a risk-taker in all facets of her life, including Candy Crush.
“I play on the fly, kinda crazy,” Jemini said. “I know how to use boosters. My background is in math. It’s a visual thing. I can see a board, and my brain knows how to finish it fast.”
Aalja, 14 years younger than Selita, is a lifelong gamer, playing reams of Tetris, Super Mario Bros. and Galaga over the years. She said she can be strategic like Selita and speedy like Jemini.
“I’m a creative person, a combination of both of them,” she said. “Candy Crush fits my personality.”
Credit: KING SCREEN SHOT
Credit: KING SCREEN SHOT
More than 15 million people take part in the early rounds of the tournament every year, the company says.
But it’s quite the gauntlet spanning multiple weeks and rounds in the spring, leaving only the truly dedicated, determined and skilled standing at the end.
The final round to make the top 10 spans 24 hours. “I didn’t sleep for three days,” Jemini admitted.
“After it’s over, you don’t want to see a peppermint or piece of gum,” Aalja said.
But being finalists meant Selita and Jemini were guaranteed at least $15,000 each, a free trip to London via British Airways and four nights at the luxury Ham Yard Hotel.
Jemini did face one unforeseen obstacle: the airline misplaced her luggage when she arrived in London.
“It was a huge setback,” Jemini said. “I couldn’t even practice. I had to shop for clothes.”
Still, the trip to London for all three was a comforting break from the stresses of home. “It was nice to have someone taking care of us instead,” Aalja said.
She saw overlapping skill sets between caring for her sick parents and navigating the tournament: “You have to function on very little sleep, quick meals and multitask while watching a leaderboard that can change in minutes. Caring for our parents taught us patience, to rebound from mistakes and how to keep going through long days.”
Credit: CANDY CRUSH SCREENSHOT
Credit: CANDY CRUSH SCREENSHOT
‘Strategy matters’
Cole Herbst, a Eugene, Oregon resident and four-time Candy Crush tourney finalist with $150,000 in winnings to date, has played against all the women before and admires their pluck.
“I enjoyed competing against them,” he said. “I wish I had someone I could share strategies with the way they do. The tournament can be grueling, and I’m sure they support each other.”
Candy Crush is not as popular as it was at its peak a decade ago, according to Business of Apps, which tracks mobile app industry data. It had an estimated 327 million monthly users in 2015. That number has since fallen to about 180 million monthly users. But the website estimates that Candy Crush still generates about $1 billion a year for Xbox.
The game works, Aalja said, because “anybody can pick it up and play. Candy Crush created its own fun little world: the colors, characters, music and candy make it enjoyable to look at.”
But “mastering it is a completely different story,” she noted. “Once you reach the higher levels, Candy Crush is no longer just about matching three candies. You have limited moves, several layers of blockers and multiple goals to complete at the same time … Strategy matters on the upper levels.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Aalja estimated they each invested $2,000 to $2,500 prepping for the tournament this year. “Competing at that level requires a serious investment in gold bars, boosters and lives,” she said.
The prize money they received, she said, helped with medical expenses for their parents. When Selita and Aalja’s mom died a few months ago, “some of the money helped give her a beautiful celebration of life … After handling the important things, we made long-lasting memories through family outings and vacations.”
All three plan to gun for the $500,000 first-place prize next year if Candy Crush brings back the tournament. The winner this year also received a custom championship ring designed by Atlanta-based jeweler Icebox.
They each play one to three hours a day, increasing their time commitment as the tournament approaches.
“I will start training the first of the year,” Selita said. “And I want that ring.”
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