Colorful Questions is a game based on the classic game "Candy Land" with added modifications to change the aesthetic.

Rules

Objective

Reach the end of the path by answering questions, and answer the ultimate question to win!

Number of Players

2-4 players

What You Need to Play

Player pieces, one die, question cards, and the board

Instructions

All players begin on the first space at the top of the question mark.

Determine who goes first by rolling the die, whoever has the highest number goes first!

The first player starts the game by rolling the die and moving the number of spaces by the number on the die.

The player then draws a question card from the appropriate color pile that matches the color of the space they landed on.

The player must share their answer the question on the card aloud to the other players to remain on the space they rolled, however, not answering the question will send the player back to the space they were on at the start of their turn.

Landing on a black space will also put the player back to the space they were on at the start of their turn. The player should not take a card if they failed to answer and are moved back.

After the player has either answered the question or moved back spaces for not answering the question, the next player clockwise from them is next to have their turn.

The player that lands on the last space of the question mark must answer the ultimate question. The question is decided by and asked by the person to the player’s left. If they answer it, they win the game. If they do not, they fail their interrogation and must go back to the Starting space.

If you should run out of cards, reshuffle and continue play!

An Evaluation of Candy Land and the Modifications

Due to the simplicity of the game, there are very few mechanics in Candy Land compared to other board games such as Life or Risk. The mechanics found in Candy Land are the player pieces, the spaces on the board, the cards, and the shortcuts that connect two spaces. Some cards may have two colors displayed on them, rather than just one. There are also wildcards found within the game. These wildcards have pictures of candy on them that correspond to the same picture on a space on the board. Shuffling is another mechanic of the game, as the rules require the cards to be shuffled before players begin to draw.

The limited amount of mechanics makes the dynamics of Candy Land very simple as well. The random element of which cards are drawn by the players creates the dynamic of players being in advantageous or disadvantageous positions on the board. One player may draw a double color card, which enables them to move the next two spaces of that color. Another player may only draw a single color card, which causes them to remain behind. Because the cards are shuffled, there is no way to tell which player has the best chance of winning the game. Drawing a wildcard makes the player teleport to wherever that candy is on the board, which could be far ahead or behind them.

Candy Land is an extremely simple game. Aesthetically, anyone playing the game that isn’t a small child would feel the game is nothing more than a way to kill time. There is no player-to-player interaction or competition, and no strategy to guarantee better chances of winning the game. The game only involves drawing cards and moving to the corresponding space, which doesn’t make for a very enriching experience for older players. The designers for Candy Land likely intended the game to be simple for small children to understand and play. By using colors and pictures on the board and cards, small children may find the game to be like a “fantasy” and genuinely enjoy playing. In this way, the designers did accomplish their goal of making a great game for children.

For our game Colorful Questions, we modified a couple of mechanics in Candy Land to cater more towards older players. Instead of drawing a card to move, a die is rolled. The color that the player lands on prompts them to draw a card from the deck that corresponds to the color. These cards contain a question that the player must share the answer with the other players. If the player chooses not to answer, they must face a penalty and move backwards. Our intention for implementing these mechanics is to encourage a more social aspect to the game with player-to-player interaction. Players also have some choice in their progression, by either answering the question or taking the penalty. We want the players to feel more involved with the game, as well as using the game to get to know the other players more. It could be best described as a “party game”.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_wqtjCz7J4PSLXz-ai0UzSfgg309KvRObwT-XmmadNg/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Rule Sheet Document:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-J1S_5WxYK4siwMZGmf4SayZdzpwWIcGCH-GCysY8vQ/edit?usp=sharing

Lets Play Colorful Questions: