In 1948 Eleanor Abbott was recovering from polio when she designed the game Candyland. She play tested the game with the kids who were in the same hospital. They suggested Eleanor submit the game to Milton Bradley who bought it in 1949. It became the game giant’s best selling game.

The first editions came with wooden pawns and those were replaced in 1967 with plastic gingerbread men. Some variations of the track and story line have changed over the years, as well as some names. The character Plumpy, to some mystery, was removed. The fuzzy green troll was keeper of the Gingerbread Plum Tree Forest, and drawing his card would send you back to the beginning. Some speculate his disappearance was due to becoming synonymous with bad luck.

Other characters include Mr. Mint, King Kandy, Lolly (formerly a princess), Lord Licorice, and Gloppy, a friendly monster made of chocolate. Locations included the Gumdrop Mountains, Licorice Forest, Cupcake Commons and the Chocolate Mountain. Candy Castle is the ultimate destination, but we wouldn’t mind sailing the Ice Cream sea for a bit.

Candyland was made into an animated movie, The Great Lollipop Adventure in 2005. In the movie the evil Lord Licorice tries to take over Candy Land, but Jib, a gingerbread boy, and his friends Mr. Mint and Lolly fight to save Candy Land from a horrible fate. No spoilers, but we’re pretty sure Candy Land remains as sweet as the day Lucy and Ethel plucked it off that assembly line

Hasbro owns the title now. In 1996 Hasbro had to sue in order to retrieve the domain name, candyland.com, from the operators of an adult Web site. This was one of the first disputes over internet domain usage.

There you go, more than you ever wanted, or needed, to know about Candyland.

As always, play more games!