I totally agree! I noticed that a while back, that the game only lets me get ahead about two or so levels at a time if I play too frequently. I just don't turn it on every day unless I'm playing one of those special activities, like popping 500 green bubbles within 18 hours or something. I still love the game, but didn't appreciate how it "stacked the deck" sometimes as a way to trick people into using real cash to buy coins. I just got used to only playing once or twice a week which worked out well for me. When there is a special activity now, I use the map feature to go to the lower levels that I know I can do well on in order to get through the activity quickly and still win the prizes!
Cheers, Angie -Level 613

There is no way to generate coins wthout spending cash, unfortunately. When you first started playing this game, there was an opportunity to sign in to FB, which would give you a little boost of 25 or 50 coins or something like that, but that was your only free coin option. Otherwise, now there's the money tree, as they call it, which also takes cash to run it.

The only option to get free boosts, like extra dragon bubbles, are the special activities that they do quite often now. For example, "help Mama Panda save '...so many number of babies in the alloted time'." I prefer the ones that require a certain number of bubbles, like 500 red bubbles or 350 green within 2 days. They'll give you a smaller award about half way through, such as a rainbow bubble, but all usually end with a dragon bubble, or multiple ones. I always use the map feature to go to the easier levels that I know I can do well on and play those to get the free boosts quickly. That's my only tip here: Go to the lower, easier levels to get through those specials fast!

You're lucky to be newer in the game now. Just a few months ago, there were no special activities at all, no way to receive extra boosts without spending cash, just repeating levels you can't beat so much your head is spinning! You could only fill lanterns within the level as you played. Required a lot of patience! Hope this explanation helps. Take care and Happy Holidays!

Angie - Level 613