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I recently played a brand new copy of Candy Land with my son and noticed a character named Lord Licorice, who I don't remember from playing the game when I was a child.

The Candy Land Wikipedia article mentions several changes that were made to the game--including character changes--as it was updated through the years, but there's no mention of Lord Licorice.

Am I just completely mis-remembering a canonical character, or was he added some time after the early 1980s?

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According to the Candy Land 50th Anniversary Edition Rules:

1985: “The Legend of the Lost Candy Castle” story and characters introduced to game.

I presume, Since Lord Licorice is the antagonist of that story, that he was introduced then.

'They'll never find the hidden King or his Castle,' Lord Licorice says sourly... 'for I have hidden them from sight so that all of Candy Land will be mine!' His heart is as hard as rock candy. Always gloomy, always grim, Lord Licorice lives very much alone, except for the few Bitter Chocolate Bats to keep him company!

'Utter nonsense,' Queen Frostine says of Lord Licorice's evil plan. Peacefully adrift on an Ice Cream Float in an Ice Cream Sea, warm-hearted Frostine thinks the Candy Land Kids will surely find the King. 'And no matter how many times Lord Licorice plots and plans,' she adds, 'Candy Land will sparkle once again.'

EDIT:

I found the History Page on Hasbro's site. It appears that the version labeled "1980s" has Lord Licorice, while the "1970s" version does not. According to the Candy Land wikipedia page, there was a version published in 1978, and another in 1985. I've done some web searches, and "1984 edition" comes up in searches. Perhaps there were different copyright/publishing dates in different countries?

Anyway, I can't find any reference to Lord Licorice on boards for the 1978 or earlier editions…

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  • That timeline meshes perfectly with my not remembering LL, since I was born in 1980 and would have owned and played on a set published at least a year or two prior to 1985. Do you know if there were any lose a turn spaces in the pre-1985 games? I wonder if they were introduced with the game's first antagonist? – Adam Wuerl Aug 20 '11 at 2:27
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    @Adam, the 1984 version had them, and from the looks of things, the older versions had them too. – Dave DuPlantis Aug 20 '11 at 4:13
  • I suspect this was the one you grew up with, minus a few beads... Ah, that crooked old peanut brittle house... – Shog9 Aug 22 '11 at 22:38
  • @Dave DuPlantis According to the Wikipedia page, there was a 1978 edition and a 1985 edition. I've done some web searches and 1984 edition comes up a lot. Perhaps in some countries the copyright was 1984 and in others it was published later as 1985? I don't know enough about the history of Candy Land… – ghoppe Aug 22 '11 at 22:59
  • @ghoppe, that's entirely possible. BGG lists copies from 1949, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1978, 1984, 1987, 1999, 2002 (Dutch, French), 2005, and 2009 (Brazilian) ... the difference between 1984 and 1985 is curious, given that the history page is in English and thus is presumably referring to the American history of the game. All I know from personal experience is that my grandmother had it for her kids (so '40s, maybe '50s), and we had it (late '60s), but I don't know which editions. – Dave DuPlantis Aug 23 '11 at 0:01

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