Eleanor Abbott and the creation of Candy Land

Eleanor Abbott contracted polio around age 38 while working repairing watches and recuperating in a San Diego hospital. Polio had swept the United States in the 1940s; by 1948 it was a full-on epidemic, producing 42,173 cases and 2,720 deaths in 1949 alone. Abbott was struck by how lonely and bored the children in the wards were during long quarantines and grueling treatments.

Drawing on her experience writing short stories, she sketched a colorful, candy-themed board on butcher paper in her kitchen and brought it back to the ward. The children loved it. Candy Land’s simple design — draw a card, match the color, move to that square — required no reading, no counting and no strategy, so very young patients could play without help.

Abbott submitted the game to Milton Bradley, whose business then leaned heavily on school supplies.

United States, San Diego

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