King, best known for the Candy Crush franchise, has introduced a new puzzle game called Candy Crush Crushable. The game distils the familiar Candy Crush aesthetic into a smaller, self-contained daily challenge.

Players are given a fixed set of candies and must place them on the board in the correct order to clear the puzzle in as few moves as possible. A new level is released each day.

The launch underlines how casual games are increasingly being designed around short, habitual play sessions rather than long stretches of time. According to data from a Morning Consult survey of US adults, morning gameplay is on the rise, with significantly more people starting their day with a digital game compared with last year.

King says the game is designed to create a sense of completion rather than compulsion. Each attempt contributes to a player’s daily statistics, which can be shared or compared with others, leaning into light competition rather than continuous play.

“Candy Crush has always been about creating joyful moments that fit naturally into everyday life,” said Luken Aragon, vice-president of marketing for Candy Crush Saga at King.

The launch of Crushable is also part of a wider revamp of Yahoo Games, which is aiming to reposition itself as a destination for casual play. The refreshed platform combines exclusive original games with a curated selection of trending titles.

Asked whether the new puzzle game was a response to the popularity of daily word games from New York Times Games, Yahoo’s head of games Andrew Pedersen told Variety: “We know the demand for daily games is growing. In fact, data shows that nearly 40 per cent of people play a digital game in the morning, so this is a perfect opportunity to tap into this trend and incorporate Yahoo Games and Crushable into their gaming routine.”