Candy Professor

CANDYLAND Compensations

March 19, 2010 at 8:12 am 5 comments

This weekend I’ll be giving a lecture on the origins and early history of the game CANDYLAND.

I have to confess, though, that I really can’t stand the game.

A couple of years ago, my little girl got a “Dora” version from her grandmother. She liked to get it out and play (cheat, really, she just took all the good cards). After a couple of weeks of this, I hid the thing under the bed. It was SO boring! Was this really the game I remembered so fondly from my childhood? But thinking about it a little more,  I realized that I remember nothing about playing the game as a child. All I remember was the CANDY. I wasn’t allowed much candy when I was little, and getting some was all I thought about. I wonder how many other kids filled their heads with visions of CANDYLAND to compensate for candy they couldn’t have.

The game came out in the 1950s; by the time I was a kid in the 1960s and 70s, me and my friends depended on adults to give us candy.  Earlier generations of children seem to have had a lot more freedom to buy and choose their own candy. So this is my theory: when you can’t have candy, CANDYLAND compensates. (Well, I have a lot of other theories about CANDYLAND; invite me to come give a talk at your school/house of worship/historical society/book group/bowling league and I’ll share them with you!)

Just about every adult I know remembers CANDYLAND. It certainly is a big hit today:  In the 60 years since its first release, Candy Land board game has sold more than 40 million copies. Current surveys reveal that 94 percent of mothers are aware of Candy Land, and over 60 percent of households with a five year old own a copy of the game. That’s a lot of CANDYLAND.

So, CANDYLAND is a safe alternative to too much candy. Of course, I’m just guessing. But I found an interesting study that suggests I might be on to something. Cindy Dell Clark studies the role of play in children’s ability to cope with chronic disease. She discovered that diabetic children, who aren’t allowed to have candy, love the game CANDYLAND. This is what Clark had to say:  “Through fantasy play about candy, diabetic children reverse (and reveal) their starvation for indulgence….they play at or imagine the indulgent eating they miss.”

By the way, did you know that people actually have very strong feelings about CANDYLAND, pro and con? Recent impassioned debates on the relative merits of Candy Land as a game experience can be found at http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/26/the-case-against-can.html

So how about it: do you have any CANDYLAND memories? Any stories of loving or hating CANDYLAND, when you were little or today as a parent? I’d love to hear about it!

Sources: Tim Walsh, Timeless Toys; www.hasbro.com/candyland; Cindy Dell Clark, In Sickness and in Play: Children Coping with Chronic Illness

Image: “Play With Me,” by h3ather on flikr

Entry filed under: Children and Candy, Current Candy News.