Thank you very much for the reply and advice. I did finally get through it, but it took a while.  I didn't see your message until now (I thought I'd receive an AARP email notification if someone had replied), but yes, that's just what I did.  I kept...

  Hello.... does anyone have any hints to get through Level 196?  It's my most challenging one so far.  The separated area on the left with the 4 empty spaces and the 4 spaces with the "wooden tiles" is difficult to get through.  Thank you in advance...

   I'm on level 100, and thankfully, that hasn't happened to me (yet).  Have you checked to see if you "ran out of lives"?  At the top it shows how many are left.  Just a thought.... apologies in advance if you've checked that already... 

     Not sure why they have a "price" of 35 coins there, but there seems to be no means to buy the hammer.  You can get one with one of the daily rewards-- it's a set of the "boosts" -- the hammer, stack change, and the finger drag.  As another user ...

   Yes, thank you 🙂     I noticed that the following day after I posted my issue.