Then: Introduced in 1945, Candy Land was the first board game I ever remember playing. Coincidentally, it was also the game where my grandmother let me cheat. She let me arrive at the Candy Castle long before she did, but in order to even sit down and PLAY the game, she would require me to eat one of several vegetables that I despised at the time. Tradeoffs!
Now: The current incarnation of Candy Land is clearly channeling its inner Justin Timberlake and bringing sexy back — well at least enough that Granny might have blushed a little. Friendly characters added to the board game from the ‘80s have undergone some significant transformations over the years.
For example, Queen Frostine has been demoted to a Princess and vamped up to look like a high-class call girl — this from a character that used to “spend her day ice-skating or having tea with visitors to her gazebo.” King Kandy is clearly in the midst of a turn on the Paleo Diet – having slimmed down over the years, even though he owns a castle made of stuff that will rot your teeth.
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