Candy Land

Candy Landis a simpleracingboard gamecreated by Eleanor Abbott and published byMilton Bradleyin 1949. The game requires no reading and minimal counting skills, making it suitable for young children. No strategy is involved as players are never required to make choices; only following directions is required. Over 50 million copies of Candy Land have been sold.
The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott, while she was recovering frompolioinSan Diego,California. The game was made for and tested by the children in the same wards on the hospital. The children suggested that Abbott submit the game toMilton Bradley Company. The game was bought by Milton Bradley and first published in 1949 as a temporary fill-in for their then main product line, school supplies.Candy Landbecame Milton Bradley's best-selling game, surpassing its previous top seller,Uncle Wiggily, and put the company in the same league as its main competitor,Parker Brothers. The original art has been purported to be by Abbott, although this is uncertain.
In 1984, Hasbro purchased Milton Bradley.Landmark Entertainment Grouprevamped the game with new art that same year, adding characters and a storyline.
Hasbro produces several versions of the game and treats it as a brand.  For example, it marketsCandy Landpuzzles, a travel version,apersonal computer game, and ahandheld electronic version.
Candy Landwas involved in one of the first disputes over Internetdomain namesin 1996. An adult web content provider registered candyland.com, and Hasbro objected.  Hasbro obtained an injunction against the use.
In 2012, Hasbro announced a film, which triggered a lawsuit by Landmark Entertainment Group over ownership and royalties owed for the characters and storyline introduced in the 1984 edition.There was another film in 2005, called Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure.
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. A player who lands on such a space must remain there and continue to draw one card per turn, but may not move ahead until they draw a card with the same color as that space. In the 2006 version, dot spaces were replaced with licorice spaces that cause the player landing on it simply to lose the next turn. Two shortcut paths are marked on the board; if a player lands on the space at the start of a shortcut, they may move directly to its end.
The game is won by landing on or passing the final square and thus reaching the goal of the Candy Castle. In the original version, that final square is purple, but the official rules specify that any card that would cause the player to advance past the last square wins the game. Many people, however, play with a rule that one must land exactly on the last square to win. The 2004 version changed the last space to rainbow color, meaning it applies to any color drawn by a player, which renders the rule superfluous.
As of 2013,Candy Landis being sold by Hasbro with a spinner instead of cards. The spinner includes all outcomes that were previously on the cards.
At least four versions of theCandy Landboard 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 they 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.
AVCRboard game version was released in 1986. Hasbro released an electronic version of the game for Windows in 1998.An animated feature,Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure, was produced in 2005 and later spawned a DVD game version ofCandy Land.
The "Give Kids the World: Village edition" ofCandy Landwas produced by Hasbro especially for theGive Kids The World Village, a non-profit resort inKissimmee, Floridafor children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. TraditionalCandy Landcharacters and locations were replaced with the venues and characters of the Village, such as Mayor Clayton and Ms. Merry.
There are licensed versions ofCandy Landwith characters such asWinnie the Pooh,Dora the Explorer, andSpongeBob.
Characters depend on the version of the game.
The Candy section ofToys "R" UsinNew York City'sTimes Squaremaintained aCandy Landtheme until losing its license for the characters in 2006.The theme included a colored pathway that mimicked the board for the game, severalCandy Landcharacters, and candy-themed shelving and ceiling decorations.
Candy Landwas one of several Hasbro properties featured in the 2011 one-shot comic bookUnit: E, which attempted to revamp and tie together several of Hasbro's dormant properties. Princess Lolly is seen in one page, with Synergy (fromJem), the son of Acroyear and his servant Biotron (both fromMicronauts) discussing her and other fairies that have crossed over from their land onto Earth more than once. Synergy believes the creatures of Primordia (an attempted reworking ofInhumanoids) may have been the result of someone angering the fairies in the past, though she admits she's uncertain if this is in fact the case.
An animated feature,Candy Land: The Great Lollipop Adventure, was released in 2005.It was dedicated to Eleanor Abbott, creator of the game, who died before the film came out.
In February 2009,Universal Picturesannounced plans for a film based on theCandy Landboard game.Etan Cohen, a writer for comedies likeMadagascar: Escape 2 AfricaandTropic Thunder, was hired to write the screenplay.Kevin Lima, who directedEnchanted, was set to direct.However, in 2011, a new screenwriting team was designated, composed ofJonathan 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 2012Columbia Pictures,Happy Madison, andAdam Sandlerwere in final negotiations to develop the film, with Sandler both starring and co-writing the screenplay withRobert Smigel.In July 2014, a lawsuit by Landmark Entertainment Group took place over ownership and royalties owned for the characters and storyline introduced in the 1984 edition.
A cooking competition show, which was based on the game and hosted byKristin Chenoweth, premiered onFood Networkon November 15, 2020. Teams of dessert chefs competed over six weeks for a $25,000 grand prize.
TheToy Industry AssociationnamedCandy Landas the most popular toy in the US in the 1940s.In 2005, the game was inducted into theNational Toy Hall of FameatThe Strong MuseuminRochester, New York.About one million copies per year are sold.