Candy Land

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Candy Land

Players 2 to 4
Age range 3 to 6
Setup time < 5 minutes
Playing time < 15 minutes
Rules complexity Easy
Strategy depth None
Random chance Very high
Skills required Color recognition
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Candy Land is a simple board game that requires no ability to read or count. It has become something of a cultural icon in the U.S., where it is often the first board game played by children.

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Game play

The board consists of a winding, linear track made of about 140 spaces, most of which are one of the six rainbow colors. The remaining few spaces are named locations such as Peppermint Stick Forest and Gum Drop Mountain, or characters like Queen Frostine and Lord Licorice.

Players take turns removing the top card from a randomized stack, most of which show one of the 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 his or her marker ahead to the second-next space of that color. The last space of the (modern) track is rainbow-striped, so that one doesn't have to draw a specific color to reach the end. Also, the deck contains one card for each named space, and drawing such a card moves a player directly to that space, either forward or backward (backward moves are possible only in the classic game, they are ignored in the modern game). Finally, there are three colored squares marked with a dot. A player that lands on such a square is stuck (all cards are ignored) until a card is drawn of the same color as the square.

The race is straightforward, woven around a simple story line about finding a lost king of candy land. The classic game takes longer to complete than one would expect, because the location cards can send players backwards. Adults may find they are losing patience the second or third time through the deck, but young children seem to have an endless fascination for the game, and a surprising endurance to play to the finish.

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Versions of Candy Land

At least three different versions of the Candyland board game were made. A picture from the Elliott Avedon Museum, copyright 1962, shows a track layout different from the more modern versions. The next revision, from the 1980s and 1990s, has the modern track layout, and ends with a purple square. The rules specify that any card that would cause you to advance past the purple square wins the game, but many people play you must land exactly on it. In the most modern version, there is a rainbow-striped square at the end to make the rule visually explicit. The rules for the modern game also specify that a character card resulting in a backward move can be ignored, resulting in a much shorter game if desired. Finally, some of the characters are renamed in the modern version - Queen Frostine is Princess Frostine, for example.

Additionally, a VCR board game version of the game was made in 1986, although distribution of the game appears to have been limited. An animated 2005 feature Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure was produced and later spawned a DVD game version of Candy Land.

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Mathematics of Candy Land

Mathematically, Candyland is a particular instance of a Markov chain. There have been several analyses of game play (see references below).

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History of Candy Land

The game was designed in 1949 by Eleanor Abbot, while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California.

The game was bought by Milton Bradley Company (now owned by Hasbro). Hasbro produces several versions of the game and treats it as a brand. For example, they market Candy Land puzzles, a travel version, a PC game, and a handheld electronic version.

A December, 2005 article in Forbes magazine analyzed the most popular American toys by decade, with help from the Toy Industry Association. Candy Land led the list for the 1940-1949 decade.

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CandyLand characters

King Kandy
Lord Licorice
Grandma Nutt
Mr. Mint
Queen Frostine
Princess Lolly
Gloppy
Jolly
Plumpy
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Internet name

Candyland was involved in one of the first disputes over internet domain names. An adult web content provider registered candyland.com, and Hasbro objected. Hasbro was able to obtain an injunction against the use.

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External links

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Candy_Land"