The Candy Land board consists of brightly-colored squares in alternating shades of yellow, red, orange, blue, purple, and green. It also has special pink picture squares and shortcut spaces. There are also different illustrated locations around the board, like the Peppermint Stick Forest, Gumdrop Mountain, and the Peanut Brittle House.
The gingerbread pawns come in blue, green, red, and yellow.
If your card has 1 colored square, move your pawn forward to the first color space on the board that matches the color of the square on your card. If you draw a card with 2 colored squares, move your pawn to the second matching color space on the board that matches the color on your card. Multiple player pawns can be on the same color space simultaneously. For example, if you draw a card with 2 purple squares, look at the path ahead of your pawn on the board. Find the first purple square in front of you, then the second one, and move your pawn to that square.
For example, if you draw a card with a pink square with a candy cane on it, move your pawn to the candy cane square in the Peppermint Stick Forest section of the board. Candy Land’s movement is simple: always keep moving forward (in the direction of the signposts illustrated on the board) unless a picture card directs you to move backward.
The board’s shortcuts are Rainbow Trail and Gumdrop Pass. If you land on a shortcut space for either path, you’ll see an arrow on the space showing you which direction to go. Remember that you need to land directly on a shortcut space to use it. Unfortunately, you can’t use a shortcut if you’re just passing by it.
You only have to skip 1 turn if you land on a licorice space; draw a card as usual on the turn after that. Keep in mind that you won’t lose a turn if you’re just passing by a licorice space. You must land on the exact space to lose a turn.
Once a winner is declared, you can always reset the board and play again! Playing a game of Candy Land helps teach preschool-age kids valuable skills, including color recognition, counting, following rules, taking turns, and being a gracious winner or loser.
