Candy Land
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| Candyland | |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 to 4 |
| Age range | 3 to 6 |
| Setup time | < 3 minutes |
| Playing time | < 15-20 minutes |
| Random chance | Complete |
| Skills required | Color recognition |
Candy Land is a simple racing board game. It has become a cultural icon in the U.S., where it is often the first board game played by children because it requires no ability to read and only minimal counting skills.
Contents |
[edit] Game play
The race is straightforward, woven around a simple story line about finding the lost king of Candyland. The board consists of a winding, linear track made of 134 spaces, most of which are one of the rainbow colors (aside from indigo). The remaining few spaces are named locations such as Candy Cane Forest and Gum Drop Mountain, or characters like Queen Frostine and Gramma Nutt.
Players take turns removing the top card from a randomized 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 his or her marker ahead to the second-next space of that color. The deck also contains one card for each named location, and drawing such a card moves a player directly to that location's space on the board. This move can be either forward or backward in the classic game; backward moves are ignored in the current 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 game is won by landing on or passing the final square - the official rules explicitly 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 classic game takes longer to complete than one might expect, because the location cards can send players backwards.
[edit] History of Candy Land
The game was designed in the 1940s by Eleanor Abbott, while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California.
The game was bought by Milton Bradley Company (now owned by Hasbro) and first published in 1949. 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.
[edit] Versions of Candy Land
At least four different versions of the Candy Land board game were made. The first version dates from 1949. This version, and other early versions, had only locations (Molasses Swamp, Gumdrop Mountains, etc.) and no characters. The next version, as shown in a picture from the Elliott Avedon Museum, of a board copyright 1962, shows a track layout different from the more modern versions. The next revision, from the 1980s and 1990s, has the characters such as Mr. Mint and Gramma Nutt, 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 official 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. Some of the characters are renamed in the modern version - Queen Frostine is Princess Frostine, for example. Finally, the classic Molasses Swamp is changed to Chocolate Swamp, presumably because the children of 2002 are more familiar with chocolate than molasses.
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.
The Give Kids the World: Village edition of Candy Land was produced by Hasbro especially for the Give Kids the World Village. The GKTW Village is a nonprofit 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. Characters like Mayor Clayton, Ms. Merry, and others are represented on the board.
| SKU # | Title |
|---|---|
| Candy Land (1949 edition) | |
| Candy Land (1950s edition) | |
| Candy Land (1962 edition) | |
| Candy Land (1967 edition) | |
| Candy Land (1985 edition) | |
| Candy Land: VCR Board Game (1986) | |
| MB1001 | Candy Land: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Tin (1999) |
| 04700 | Candy Land (2002 edition) |
| 41051 | Candy Land: Winnie-the-Pooh Edition |
| 41605 | Candy Land: Collector’s Series Game Tin |
| 42588 | Candy Land: Dora the Explorer |
| 42743 | Candy Land: Deluxe (only at Toys R Us) |
| 42328 | Candy Land: DVD Game |
| 53678 | Candy Land: Dora the Explorer with Memory Game Tin |
| Candy Land Castle Game | |
| 114866 | Candy Land: Fun of the Run (portable) |
| Candy Land: Give Kids the World: Village Edition |
[edit] Mathematics of Candy Land
Mathematically, Candyland is very nearly a Markov chain, and would be exactly such a chain if the deck were re-shuffled after each card is drawn. There have been several analyses of game play (see references below)
There is no optimal strategy, or indeed any decision making, involved in CandyLand. The moves are wholly determined by the cards, which are drawn in order. The only random chance element comes from each shuffling of the deck. Every time the deck is shuffled, one of three outcome is pre-determined - one of the two players wins, or the deck will need to be shuffled again after it is used.
[edit] Candy Land characters
- The Kids
- The Gingerbread People
- Mr. Mint
- Gramma Nutt
- King Kandy
- Jolly
- Plumpy (taken out of the most recent version of the game)
- Mama Ginger Tree (replaces Plumpy)
- Princess Lolly (renamed 'Lolly' after 2002 edition)
- Queen Frostine (renamed 'Princess Frostine' after 2002 edition)
- Lord Licorice
- Gloppy the Molasses Monster (renamed Gloppy the Chocolate Monster)
[edit] Commercial use of the name
The Candy section of Toys R Us in NYC's Times Square maintained a CandyLand theme, until losing their license for the characters in 2006. The theme included a colored pathway that mimicked the board for the game, several CandyLand characters, and candy-themed shelving and ceiling decorations.
[edit] Candyland in popular culture
The Candyland game appears in popular culture because the game and its characteristics are well known. In particular, since the game has no strategy, most adults, or even older children, find it un-challenging and boring. Furthermore, the backwards moves (and the 'stuck' cards', see game play) make what is already a tedious game last even longer, another dis-incentive for adults. In contrast, other well-known children's games such as Battleship do involve strategy and may be enjoyed by adults as well as children.
Therefore, if adults are reputed to be playing Candyland without small children involved, the reader or viewer is expected to know that this is very unlikely. Either the characters are lying, there is an ulterior motive, or the game being used as a symbol of a meaningless endeavor. Examples are:
- In an episode of Full House, D.J. Tanner, who sneaked Stephanie and Michelle into the movies and got caught convinced Michelle to tell Danny that she played Candyland with D.J. The viewer is expected to realize that this cannot possibly be a realistic excuse.
- An episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Parts: The Clonus Horror, featured a game of Candyland in which Brain Guy became trapped in Molasses Swamp. His time there was apparently extensive as he referred to it as his "own personal hell."
[edit] 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, and now owns the site.
[edit] External links
- Hasbro sites:
- Hasbro's main CandyLand page. Includes the history and pictures of older versions.
- Hasbro's Candy Land product page
- Official rules of classic version, in PDF format from the Hasbro site.
- Mathematical Analysis of 1-4 player game. Includes a picture of the (classic) board.
- Deeper Mathematical Analysis of 1 player game. Finds expected length of a 1 person game accurate to several hundred digits.
- Monte Carlo analysis of Candyland, Cootie, and Chutes and Ladders. Results for Candyland differ slightly from the analyses above.
- Information about Candyland from the Elliott Avedon Museum & Archive of Games.
- Injunction against using candyland.com for an adult web site
- Candy Land: Give Kids the World: Village Edition
