Candy Land facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Candy Land

Publisher(s)	Milton Bradley Company Hasbro Winning Moves Games USA
Publication date	1949; 75 years ago (1949)
Players	2–4
Setup time	1–3 minutes
Playing time	15–21 minutes
Random chance	Complete
Skill(s) required	Color recognition

Candy Land (also Candyland) is a simple racing board game currently published by Hasbro. The game requires no reading and minimal counting skills, making it suitable for young children. Due to the design of the game, there is no strategy involved: players are never required to make choices, just follow directions. The winner is predetermined by the shuffle of the cards. A perennial favorite, the game sells about one million copies per year.

Gameplay

The race is woven around a storyline about finding King Kandy, the lost king of Candy Land. The board consists of a winding, linear track made of 134 spaces, most red, green, blue, yellow, orange or purple. The remaining pink spaces are named locations such as Candy Cane Forest and Gumdrop Mountain, or characters such as Queen Frostine and Gramma Nutt.

Players take turns removing the top card from a stack, most of which show one of six colors, and then moving their marker ahead to the next space of that color. Some cards have two marks of a color, in which case the player moves the marker ahead to the second-next space of that color. The deck has one card for each named location, and drawing such a card moves a player directly to that board location. This move can be either forward or backward in the classic game; backward moves can be ignored for younger players in the 2004 version of the game.

Prior to the 2006 edition, the board had three colored spaces marked with a dot. Two of these spaces were designated as "cherry pitfalls" and the other was situated in Molasses Swamp. A player who lands on such a space is stuck (all cards are ignored until a card is drawn of the same color as the square). In the 2006 version, dot spaces were replaced with licorice spaces that prompt the player landing on it to simply lose the next turn.

The game is won by landing on or passing the final square and thus reaching the goal of the Candy Castle. The official rules specify that any card that would cause the player to advance past the last square wins the game, but many play so that one must land exactly on the last square to win. The 2004 version changed the last space from a violet square to a rainbow space, meaning it applies to any color drawn by a player, thus resolving any dispute about exactly who wins the game.

As of 2013^[update], Candy Land is being sold by Hasbro with a spinner instead of cards. The spinner includes all outcomes that were previously on the cards.

Versions

At least four versions of the Candy Land board game were made. The first dates from 1949. This version, and other early versions had only locations (Molasses Swamp, Gumdrop Mountains, etc.) and no characters. A board copyrighted in 1962 shows a track layout different from the more recent versions.

In the first edition, the pawns were wooden but were changed in the 1967 version to plastic gingerbread men.

The 1984 edition introduced a storyline and characters such as Mr. Mint and Gramma Nutt. It has the modern track layout and ends with a purple square.

Some of the characters and place names were changed in 2002. Queen Frostine became "Princess" Frostine, the classic Molasses Swamp was changed to Chocolate Swamp, Princess Lolly was changed to Lolly, and the character Plumpy was removed entirely.

A VCR board game version of the game was made in 1986. Hasbro released an electronic version of the game for Windows in 1998. An animated 2005 feature, Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure, was produced and later spawned a DVD game version of Candy Land.

The "Give Kids the World: Village edition" of Candy Land was produced by Hasbro especially for the Give Kids The World Village, a non-profit resort in Kissimmee, Florida for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. In this version, traditional Candy Land characters and locations were replaced with the venues and characters of the Village, such as Mayor Clayton and Ms. Merry.

There are licensed versions of Candy Land with characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob.

Characters

Characters depend on the version of the game.

• The Kids – In the classic version, they are two blonde twins. In 2002, there are four kids of varying races. In the 2013 edition, they are a marshmallow, an ice cream cone, a gumdrop, and a gingerbread girl.
• Mr. Mint – He lives in the Candycane Forest, and is a candy cane "woodcutter". He was removed from World of Sweets and then brought back for the 2013 version as an ice skater instead of a woodcutter.
• Duke of Swirl – Mr. Mint's replacement in the 2010 edition.
• Gramma Nutt – Gramma Nutt lives in a peanut brittle house on the corner of Candy Land. Renamed Nana in the 2014 edition.
  • Bazz
• King Kandy – the king of Candy Land. He lives in a castle made of sweets.
• Jolly – A happy chubby monster representing gumdrops. He was removed in the 2010 version and then after widespread outcry and demand was brought back for the 2013 edition; however, he was once again removed in the 2014 edition.
• Plumpy – A fuzzy green monster under the gingerbread plum tree. He was removed in the 2002 version and replaced by Mamma Ginger Tree.
• Mamma Ginger Tree – Makes the best gingersnaps in all of Candy Land. She was removed from the game.
• Cupcake Commons – Mamma Ginger Tree's replacement in the 2010 version.
• Princess Lolly – She was renamed 'Lolly' after the 2002 edition and later renamed Princess Lolly in the 2010 and 2014 editions.
• Queen Frostine – She was renamed 'Princess Frostine' in the 2002 edition.
• Lord Licorice – He is the villain of Candy Land. He rules the Licorice Castle in classic games, the Licorice Forest in 2002, and the Licorice Lagoon in 2014.
  • Spidora
  • Buzzy
  • Crockett
• Gloppy – Friendly monster made of chocolate (originally made of molasses)
• Gingerbread Kids
  • Jib
  • Ginga Ninja
• Grandma Gooey
• Fluffypuffer

Locations

• Candy Castle (Known as King Kandy's Castle in the 2014 edition) – The destination players are attempting to reach.
  • Cupcake Commons (Locations)
• Gingerbread Plum Trees – Where Plumpy sits eating plums from his gingerbread trees.
• Gumdrop Mountains – Offers a "gumdrop path", or a shortcut.
• Licorice Castle – A black and red licorice castle with licorice bats.
• Lollipop Woods – A forest of rainbow lollipops, which resemble trees.
• Molasses/Chocolate Swamp – A swamp of molasses/chocolate with brown Popsicle plants.
• Peanut Brittle House – A cottage made of peanut brittle with peanut plants growing outside.
• Peppermint Forest – A snowy thicket of peppermint candy canes.
• Ice Cream Sea – A bubbly ice cream sea where Queen Frostine resides.
• Ice Cream Slopes – Mountains of ice cream where the Duke of Swirl resides.
• Ice Palace
• Licorice Forest – A forest of red and black licorice where Lord Licorice resides.
• Licorice Lagoon
• Chocolate Mountain
• Cupcake Commons
• Peanut Acres
• Snowflake Lake
• Nana's Nutt House A house where Gramma Nutt resides
• Lollipop Palace - A palace where Princess Lolly resides.
• Frosted Palace - A palace where Princess Frostine resides.

Legacy

As motif

The Candy section of Toys "R" Us in New York City's Times Square maintained a Candy Land theme until losing their license for the characters in 2006. The theme included a colored pathway that mimicked the board for the game, several Candy Land characters, and candy-themed shelving and ceiling decorations.

Some people believe that Candy Land inspired Dylan Lauren (daughter of Ralph Lauren) to create the Dylan's Candy Bar store, also located in New York City, but it was in fact the popular movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory that inspired her to start a candy store, although characters from the Candy Land game can be seen all around the store.

At the Downtown Disney Marketplace in Florida, there is a reference to the rules of Candy Land on the ceiling of The Toy Store. The rules have been altered slightly with some humor and sarcasm added such as rule #6 which says "Play as above until someone reaches the multi-colored space near the castle or someone 'loses their cool' and overturns the gameboard."

The music video for Katy Perry's song California Gurls features a world of candy-themed board game named "Candyfornia" heavily influenced by Candy Land.

Hasbro in 2011 released a special comic book titled Unit:E, which featured many characters from Hasbro-owned properties, such as M.A.S.K., Jem, G.I. Joe and Micronauts; here, Princess Lolly was briefly depicted and mentioned as a potential ally for the Micronaut Acroyear in his fight against Baron Karza.

In the book Quick Tips for Busy Families by Jay Payleitner, the chapter "Candy Land Penance" describes using the game as punishment by forcing older kids to play with their younger siblings. However, the author's oldest child, Alec, stacked the deck to shorten the game. When confronted, Alec then tormented his little sister by stacking the deck by teasing her with victory only to pull her game piece repeatedly back to the swamp.

Film adaptation

An animated 2005 feature, Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure, was produced.

In February 2009, Universal Pictures announced plans to film a movie based on the Candy Land board game. Etan Cohen, a writer for comedies Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Tropic Thunder, was hired to write the screenplay. Kevin Lima, who directed Enchanted, was set to direct. However, in 2011, a new screenwriting team was designated, composed of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. They said, "We don't see it as a movie based on a board game, although it has characters from that world and takes the idea of people finding themselves in a world that happens to be made entirely of candy where there are huge battles going on. We are going for real comedy, real action, and real emotions at stake."

By January 2012 Columbia Pictures, Happy Madison, and Adam Sandler were in final negotiations to develop the film, with Sandler both starring and co-writing the screenplay with Robert Smigel. In July 2014, a lawsuit by Landmark Entertainment Group took place over ownership and royalties owned for the characters and story line introduced in the 1984 edition.

Television adaptation

On November 15, 2020, a cooking competition show based on the game premiered on Food Network, with Kristin Chenoweth as host. Teams of dessert chefs compete over six weeks for a $25,000 grand prize.