When I decided that it was time for my 34 month old son to begin playing board games, I spent quite a bit of time exploring the different games before choosing one.

Why Candy Land?

It's Cheap
I bought Candy Land for my son at a local department store for $6.99, but a few days later I saw it at WalMart for an even cheaper $5.95. Most of the newer board games are at least $15

I know how to play it
This might seem silly, but there are so many new board games out there, and even though many of them say they're appropriate for age 3, you don't really know this for sure until you've played the game yourself. I really didn't want my son's first experience with a board game to be frustrating, and I was very confident that he could learn to play this simple game without much frustration.

It's Quiet
There are a lot of new board games that have come out in the past couple of years for toddlers. Many of these require batteries and have flashing lights, talk to you, or make quite a bit of noise. I actually don't have anything against noisy toys, but my son seems to prefer quieter toys, often requesting the batteries be removed from some of his louder toys. Also, I don't want my son to think that every game is going to be noisy and have flashing lights, since to me the whole idea of a board game is to have something quiet and thoughtful to do. He can play with noisy board games later, but I wanted to start off right with something quiet.

The Game
It might seem ridiculous to describe the game elements and play since this game has been around more than 50 years, has changed very little, and we all should be familiar with it. However, my husband claims he'd never played the game until I bought it for our son. Furthermore, there is no description of the actual game on the box, so...

What You Get
~One game board with a multi-colored trail that runs from START to the "Candy Land Castle."
~Four gingerbread men game pieces in red, blue, green, and yellow respectively.
~Many rectangular cards with different colored squares on them, and a few special cards with pictures on them.
~Instruction booklet in several languages.
~The Candy Land story.

Playing the Game
You can play this game with anywhere from 2 to 4 players. Each player chooses a gingerbread man and each player, in his turn, draws a card. If you draw a card with one colored square on it, you move forward to the first space of that color on the board. If you draw a card with 2 colored squares on it, you move forward 2 spaces of that same color. If you draw one of the few cards with a picture on it (one is a lollipop, another a gumdrop), then you move to that space on the board, whether it is forward or backward. There are a few spaces on the board that have black dots on them. If you land on one of those spaces, you lose a turn.

Our Experience with Candy Land
This simple, colorful game has been a hit with my son. My husband and I find the game to be mind-numbingly boring, but it only takes us 10 to 15 minutes to finish the game, and it's worth our boredom because my son enjoys it so much. I remember enjoying this game immensely when I was a little girl, even though I now find it boring.

During our first few games we had a little trouble with our son wanting to move everyone's pieces, or wanting to pick specific cards. Typical toddler stuff. But instead of indulging him, we gently insisted that he play by the rules, and after several games, he was playing quite well.

The only thing he still doesn't deal well with and I understand why is the "lose a turn" thing. It seems like a punishment to him, and unfair, and I think that toddler games should not have "lose a turn" features. Still, we play the game with this feature even though we don't like it because we think it's easier to play the game with all the rules now, rather than ignore the lose a turn feature now and have to change it later when he might be playing with other children who know how to play it the right way.

Final Thoughts
I think Candy Land is a great first game for 3 & 4 year olds, particularly if you need something quiet and inexpensive.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 6.99
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years