Hobbies And Interests
History
Eleanor Abbott, a recovering polio patient in San Diego, created Candy Land in 1949, submitting it to Milton Bradley for publication. It originally was intended for children recovering from polio as a simple game they could play to entertain themselves. Now owned by Hasbro, Candy Land is treated as its own brand, with spinoff games, DVD games, travel versions, electronic games and licensed versions including Dora the Explorer and Winnie the Pooh.
Basics
The Candy Land board is a winding track with squares of six colors and various special locations, such as Gumdrop Mountain and Chocolate Swamp. Each player takes turns drawing cards from a deck and proceeding to the corresponding location on the track, either to the next square with the color shown or to the special location.
Changes
The rules and story of Candy Land have been updated through the years. Some locations have been changed to reflect more popular candy: Molasses Swamp became Chocolate Swamp, and Peppermint Stick Forest became Candy Cane Forest. Characters have come and gone, as well. The initial game had no characters on the board, but these were added: Queen (later Princess) Frostine, Mr. Mint, Gramma Nutt and Plumpy (who has been removed from the game).
Education
Candy Land can be used as an educational and developmental tool. The method of movement helps with color recognition, and the turn-based nature helps foster cooperative and group play because it requires a child to alternate with the other players. The original advertisements even claimed it had a health benefit: It would satisfy the sweet tooth of children without a stomachache afterward!
Internet Influence
Candy Land was the subject of one of the first major cases of Internet domain name rights. In 1996, Hasbro sued Internet Entertainment Group, who had registered and run an adult website under the domain name "www.candyland.com." Hasbro won the case and is largely responsible for the common practice of registering multiple related domain names for branding purposes.