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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 8 July 2017
Candy Crush addicts get new

outlet as video game comes to TV

By LYNN ELBER tralia’s Queensland Univer- show had carte blanche.
AP Television Writer sity of Technology. King shared a Candy Crush
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Can- That was the world’s big- style guide with details on
dy Crush addicts, and you gest, Kunitz said, until “Can- the color and size of each
know who you are, put dy Crush” came along — candy character, Kunitz
down your mobile device and he points to a Guin- said. It was so precise that
immediately. Then you can ness World Records cita- it dictated the dimension of
watch “Candy Crush,” the tion attesting to that. Each the line around each char-
TV game show. monitor has 32 cameras to acter and their size in rela- This image released by CBS shows Paul Abrahamian, a
Expect breezy, energetic record the flurry of hand tion to each other. contestant on “Big Brother 18” and competing in the new game
fun from the CBS series swipes. It was understood that show, “Candy Crush,” premiering, Sunday, July 9 at 9 p.m. ET
debuting 9 p.m. EDT Sun- Many video games have some things might change on CBS.
day with host Mario Lopez, been translated to the slightly on TV, Kunitz said,
said executive producer movie screen, from “Super and, in turn, he appreciat-
Matt Kunitz, whose cred- Mario Brothers” to “Tomb ed what was at stake.
its include “Wipeout” and Raider” to “The Angry “There’s a huge expecta-
“Fear Factor.” Nearly 200 Birds Movie,” but it’s rare, tion from the audience of
billion game rounds were if not unprecedented, what this show should be,
played in the Candy Crush for a game to come to because hundreds of mil-
Saga last year, according television, said Sebastian lions of people play the
to its maker, King. To entice Knutsson, a King executive game,” he said. “I wanted
people to watch it on TV, who helped develop Can- to make it bigger and more
“Candy Crush” supersizes dy Crush. spectacular and prime-
the visuals and the action. The game’s simplicity “ac- time. That’s a fine balance.
Two specially designed tually translates very well” You don’t want to mess up
video walls, each made up to TV, he said, and the audi- the brand. And it is a brand,
of 55 monitors and mea- ence’s perspective allows a massive brand.”
suring more than 20-by-25 them to see opportunities Nearly two-dozen different
feet, require contestants to more readily than the con- challenges for players help
physically scramble as they testants who are so close to make each episode feel
compete for the weekly the oversized boards. unique, he said.
$100,000 prize. How protective did he feel While great effort went into
One wall is placed horizon- of his baby during its TV ad- the production, Kunitz said
tally on the stage floor, the aptation? he hopes that viewers will
other is perpendicular to it, “It’s been very important to be unaware of all the work
and players in safety har- us that this stay true to the and simply enjoy the show.
nesses scoot across and core of how you play the “It’s just fun. That’s all it is,”
up and down the screens. game, and that it wouldn’t he said. “We’re not gross-
They make candy matches break what we think of as ing anyone out, no one’s
by, natch, swiping squares the core rules of Candy wiping out, no one’s 300
a la the mobile game. Crush,” Knutsson said from feet in the air hanging from
The stunt team that han- Stockholm. a helicopter. It’s just pure
dled Lady Gaga’s rig dur- That doesn’t mean the TV summer fun.”q
ing her airborne entrance
to this year’s Super Bowl
halftime show did the same
for “Candy Crush,” with the
same injury-free success,
Kunitz and CBS said. Taping
is completed.
When the show was
pitched to the network,
Kunitz said, they asked CBS
executives to imagine “if
you were playing on your
phone and got sucked
through and were in a
Candy Crush arena.”
The video walls were key,
he said.
Their surfaces needed to
withstand running, jump-
ing and sliding and re-
spond only to the swipe of
contestants’ hands. Pro-
ducers ended up going
with a company, MultiTac-
tion, that had created a
44-monitor wall for the Aus-