Skip to main content

Artwork for the original Candy Land game by Milton Bradley from 1955.


I have a vintage Candy Land game from 1955 by Milton Bradley and I was about to sell it so I thought I would add it to my personal art history course concept I've been doing. I'm going to try and see if I can find out how this game was created, designed and why?

Here is what I found out about this game

https://candy-land.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_Wiki

Candy Land is a board game about children exploring a world made out of candy and other sweets that originally came out in 1949.

In every version of the game, there are a group of children that go through Candy Land. In the earliest versions of the game, it was a realistically drawn boy and girl.

drawing image
Drawing of the Candy Land kids I did on my phone ☝

https://board-games-galore.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land

The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott, while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California.

It's rumored that Eleanor also did the original artwork but I didn't find anything that confirms that.

Artwork Image

Here is something I thought was interesting:
The game was made for and tested by the children in the hospital polio ward where Eleanor stayed. The children suggested that she submit the game to the Milton Bradley Company. 

The whole concept was to create a game that you didn't have to know how to read to play!



Candy Land became Milton Bradley's best selling game surpassing its previous top seller, Uncle Wiggly, and put the company in the same league as its main competitor, Parker Brothers.

Eventually, they revamped the game with new art, adding characters and a storyline in 1984.

Due to the design of the game, there is no strategy involved: players are never required to make choices, just follow directions. The winner is predetermined by the shuffle of the cards.


It’s referred to as a racing game. I had to see what that meant because it made it sound like there should be cars involved or something. After looking it up it made a little more sense. It turns out it just means that the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track on the board.


But all in all, if you ever get a chance to play Candy Land again, you will soon realize like I did the game kind of sucked.

Labels:

Listen To The Podcast




Popular

To Do: Multitasking My Business, Music, and Comics

Sometimes balancing my multiple projects can often feel like an overwhelming task. I sit and think out loud about the tasks I need to juggle this week from my vintage reselling business, my band, and my webcomic series. In this video vlog, I begin the week by prioritizing tasks and setting goals. I'm going to mark them as I go along. ✅ = Done ⏲ = Still waiting Vintage reselling business - The Pop Culture Roadshow With a vintage reselling business to run, the first order of business is to pack orders from weekend sales on platforms like eBay and Mercari.  As I pack these items I need to record a 'What Sold' video for my Pop Culture roadshow YouTube channel , turning the task into video content. ✅ Pack orders ✅ List new items I got from estate sales (See my latest eBay store listings here ) ⛔ Create a new "What sold" video for my YouTube page (Recorded not edited - Laptop upgrade issues) Band - Lorenzo's Music I've also got a new song out this month so I nee...
Read more

How I use one Gmail address for multiple Soundcloud accounts

Do you know the Gmail "+" trick to use one email for multiple accounts on one service? Here's a little trick I use that works for any service.  I talked about this on the podcast episode I did with artist Mortimur K . In this case, let's say I used up all the uploads I have for my free Soundcloud account . With this trick, I can open a new free account and use the same Gmail address. I don't want to create another Gmail account to sign up again.  Using my one Gmail address for multiple accounts on the same service I don't remember when I learned this but you can alter the name on a Gmail address. Like, let's say mine is "tom@gmail.com". To be clear that is not my email. I wish it was, but this is just a short example. Start with the original Gmail address Add a "+" after the email name Where it says "tom" on the address I can put a "+" after that. Add a "+" after the email name After that "+" I ca...
Read more

To Do: Overcoming Tech Troubles A Week in My Creative Business Life

The week kicked off with a series of unexpected technical issues. My phone began to fail, shutting off after only a minute of use. Simultaneously, a malfunctioning video card on my laptop made it so I couldn't do any video editing. But I got a new phone and fixed my video card issue. So this week I go over what tasks I completed from last week and take a look at the tasks I have to do for my online creative ventures this week.
Read More