The kids in the ward tested it and loved it, and they were the ones who convinced Abbott to send her idea to Milton Bradley. The company bought it and released it in 1949, and it quickly became Milton Bradley’s top seller, pushing past the previous favorite, Uncle Wiggily. That put the company in direct competition with Parker Brothers for the first time in years.
Part of the game’s appeal was how little it asked of a player. There were no numbers to add and no words to read, just colored squares matched to colored cards, which meant a four-year-old could play on equal footing with an older sibling or a parent. For plenty of kids in the 1950s and 60s, Candy Land was the first board game they ever owned, arriving in the same postwar wave that brought Scrabble and Clue into American living rooms.
The board itself changed more than most players probably noticed. The original path ran 179 spaces and got trimmed down to 134 in a 1962 redesign, and the box art shifted again in 1978 to photographs of real kids instead of illustrations. The bigger overhaul came in 1984, after Hasbro bought Milton Bradley and brought in Landmark Entertainment Group to give the game an actual story, introducing King Kandy, Queen Frostine, Gramma Nutt and a plot about a missing king that hadn’t existed in any earlier version.
Hasbro kept tinkering after that.
A 1998 edition finally settled a long-running argument among families over whether a player had to land exactly on the last space to win, and a 2002 update renamed several fixtures on the board, turning Molasses Swamp into Chocolate Swamp and Princess Lolly into simply Lolly. The game has sold more than 50 million copies since 1949, and Hasbro still moves roughly a million units a year across its various editions.
Candy Land earned a spot in the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2005, and Abbott reportedly gave away the royalties she earned from it to children’s charities before she died in 1988. Here, take a look back at some of the gingerbread men game pieces, the picture cards, the lands of candy, a couple of box covers, and several versions of the game board as it appeared at various points in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Which one do you remember most?
About the Candy Land game (1960)
The small fry who can’t read or count are catered to in an ingenious game based on color matching.
Candyland bases play on an enchanted country filled with gumdrop trees and varied goodies. Any youngster who can match primary colors can compete on equal terms with the grownups.
Candyland was invented by Eleanor Abbott, a polio victim, with which she was amusing crippled children at a hospital where she was recuperating. – Rocky Mount Telegram (Rocky Mount, North Carolina) May 27, 1960
Vintage Candy Land board game box from around 1954
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Vintage Candyland game board (from around 1962)
Retro Candyland board game (1960s)
OBJECT: Follow colored path by matching colors to spaces, no counting or reading. Average playtime 15 minutes.
For ages 4 to 8. For 2 to 6 young players.
REMEMBER THIS? Say, Say, Oh Playmate: We traced the story of this old song and hand clapping game, and have the lyrics
Classic Candy Land board game (1960s)
Candy Hearts – Peppermint Stick Forest – Gingerbread Plum Tree – Gumdrop Mountains – Crooked Old Peanut Brittle House – Lollipop Woods – Ice Cream Floats – Molasses Swamp – Home Sweet Home
Vintage Candy Land game board (1960s-1970s)
FREE COLORING FUN FOR TODAY’S KIDS: Gingerbread house with candy canes & Four blank gingerbread men
Candy Land game directions (from the 1950s-1960s)
CANDY LAND: “A sweet little game for sweet little folks”
For 2 to 6 players, ages 4 to 8
CANDY LAND is a game of bright colors and pretty pictures, made especially for little folks, many of whom may be too young to read. It also includes features which make it an interesting game for older children.
THE OBJECT OF THE GAME is to be the first player to reach “Home Sweet Home” by following the path of colored spaces. Moves are made according to the colored squares or pictures on cards drawn by the players.
TO START THE GAME, shuffle the cards well. Place them in a pile face down within easy reach of all players. The youngest child may play first. He draws the top card from the pile and moves from start to the first matching color or picture space along the path. Other players follow in turn.
With no words or numbers to read, Candy Land has long been the perfect way to introduce young children to the world of board games. The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott, bought by Milton Bradley soon thereafter, and first offered to the world in 1949. See more about the game here!
All players observe these simple rules:
1. Each player is represented by a different playing piece.
2. Players begin at the START ARROW.
3. They travel in the direction of the “Mileage” arrow signs.
4. When a Color Card is drawn, the player moves along the path to the next color space that matches the square on that card. If the card has TWO Color squares on it, the player moves along the path to the SECOND Color square that matches it.
5. When a Picture card is drawn, the player moves to the space marching that picture. For example, if he draws the “Gingerbread Man” card, he moves immediately to the Gingerbread Man space. This may send a player AHEAD or BACK along the path (an exception to rule 3). A player proceeds from that picture space on his next turn.
6. Players false advantage of the “Mountain Pass” and “Rainbow Trail” only when they land exactly on the space at the beginning of these short cuts. A player moves immediately to the other end of the path and proceeds from there on his next turn.
7. Players must follow the directions on the board regarding the “Cherry Pitfalls” and the “Molasses Swamp.”
NOTE: A card with one or we squares of rho color wanted allows the player to move, as in rule 4.
8. Two or more players may occupy the same space.
9. “Home Sweet Home” is reached by landing on the last blue space in the path or by drawing a card that would take the player beyond that space if the path continued.
10. If all of the cards are used and the game is not finished, reshuffle them and use the pile over again.
WINNING THE GAME: The first player to reach “Home Sweet Home” wins the game.
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Vintage Candy Land game board (1950s-1960s)
Old-fashioned Candy Land game board (1960s-1970s)
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