Easy to play and incredibly colorful , theCandy Landboard game has been a household staple for 70 years . instrumentalist delineate a batting order — or , in more late editions , use a spinster — to gain on a table in pursuit of King Kandy , swayer of a delicious utopia with location like Molasses Swamp and Gumdrop Mountain . The tiddler - friendly gameplay has made it a perennial hit for Hasbro , which stillsells1 million copy of the game each yr . For more onCandy Land , including its unknown connection with the acute anterior poliomyelitis virus , keep reading .
1.Candy Landwas invented in the polio wing of a hospital.
In the recent 1940s , polio was still a looming terror to the population . While convalescing in the polio wing of a San Diego infirmary in 1948 , a retired school teacher named Eleanor Abbottdecidedto create a board game that could become a distraction for patients . The issue wasCandy Land , a notional and leisurely - to - understand diversion that saw participant advancing game pieces through a dulcorate landscape based on a color system — so no meter reading was required . The secret plan proved to be so popular that Abbott determine to submit it to Milton Bradley ( which was buy by Hasbro in 1984 ) . The company examined the layout , which Abbott had describe on slaughterer paper , and decided to publish it in 1949 .
2.Candy Landhelped put Milton Bradley on the map.
BeforeCandy Landwas released , Milton Bradley was still primarilyknownas a Creator of shoal supplies . Their other self-aggrandising plot acquisition , Clue , had just been free , but it had yet to fully take off . Candy Landdistinguished itself because , unlike most control board games , kids couldplayit by themselves — an significant lineament in a country still concerned with the spread of polio . As parent kept their kid indoors , distraction likeCandy Landbecame a means to keep them take . The game ’s succeeder leveled the playing field against game competitor Parker Brothers , and the royalties it take in for Abbott devote off in another room : She reportedly donated most of her profit from the biz to be used for the leverage of supplying and equipment for area school .
3.Candy Landdidn’t get populated until 1984.
For decades , an anonymous male child and girl were the antagonists ofCandy Land . In 1984 , Hasbro contracted with Landmark Entertainment tocreatecharacters for the game , including King Kandy , Lord Licorice , and Princess Lolly of Lollypop Woods .
4.Candy Landwas the subject of a trademark dispute involving an adult website.
In 1996 , presumptively with some consternation , Hasbro discovered that an grownup website had registered the phrase " confect land " for its URL . In one of the first major arena name difference of opinion , Hasbroarguedthat the website diluted the value of the gameboard plot . An enjoinment was concede in the U.S. District Court of Washington .
5.Candy Landcarried a mistake on the board for years.
Notice anything strange about the boy and female child setting off for theirCandy Landadventure ? They’reholdingleft hand , an clumsy posture that would make skip through the game difficult . The board ’s update nontextual matter in 2010 added two more kids and wipe out this rum artistic choice .
6.Candy Landalmost became a movie starring Adam Sandler.
In 2012 , Adam Sander wasannouncedas being the star of aCandy Landfeature film . The cargo hold - up ? Landmark Entertainment , the party that produce the characters for the game in 1984 , debate that Hasbro had no right to record into an arrangement to license those type out for a lineament film ; Hasbro contested the fibre were part of a work - for - hire agreement . To particular date , the onlyadaptationof the game has been a 2005 unmediated - to - video revive feature article , Candy Land : The Great Lollipop Adventure .
7.Candy Landcame in an edible version.
usually , the biz pieces inCandy Landare not comestible . In 2014 , a troupe advert Gamesformotionissueda Belgian deep brown version of the plot that had chocolate bill wrap up in theme . Once they were played , they could be eat . The caller also release digestible versions ofBattleship , Scrabble , andMonopoly . you could still discover the edition for sale , but be warned : It ’s heavy to play a second prison term once you ’ve eaten most of the contents .
