Fans of the popular children’s board game Candy Land will be able to step inside its whimsical sugary world this summer when the Candy Land Café debuts at a Little Italy restaurant.
San Diegans will be the first in the U.S. to experience the Candy Land Café, which seems fitting, since the game itself was invented in San Diego 78 years ago.
In 1948, grade-school teacher Eleanor Abbott was recuperating from a battle with polio in a San Diego hospital when she conceived the game to entertain the children recovering in her hospital ward. She sold the game concept to Milton Bradley the following year and it became the toymaker’s top-seller. Hasbro purchased the rights to the game in 1984.
Candy Land features a playing board with a winding 134-space trail that players traverse through magical lands like the Peppermint Forest, Peanut Brittle House, Gumdrop Mountain and Lollipop Woods on their way to King Kandy’s Castle.
A dining area and Instagram/TikTok selfie station at Bucket Listers’ pop-up Malibu Barbie Cafe, which visited San Diego in 2025. The company will install a new concept, the Candy Land Café, in San Diego in July. (Bucket Listers)
The game-themed pop-up installation is the latest creation of Bucket Listers, the special events producer that brought two similar concepts — The Malibu Barbie Café and “Golden Girls” Christmas Experience — to San Diego last year.
Like the previous two pop-ups, Candy Land Café will set up at the Bayside Kitchen and Bar at 2137 Pacific Coast Highway in Little Italy. It will open July 9 — a few weeks before San Diego Comic-Con — and will run for a limited time.
Derek Berry, president of experiences for Bucket Listers, said Candy Land Café will be more than a restaurant. Visitors will be able to travel the trail through the building as if it were the board game itself and sample food items inspired by the sweets-themed lands of the game.
Hasbro’s Candy Land game takes players through sweets-themed lands on their way to a candy castle. The game has inspired a pop-up restaurant opening July 9 in San Diego. (Hasbro)
Among the environments diners will visit as they walk the colorful winding trail are King Kandy’s Castle and Jolly’s Gumdrop Mountain, as well as oversize candy décor and a hands-on cookie-decorating station.
The restaurant’s menu will include rainbow burgers, chocolate BBQ sliders, milkshakes and a shareable Chocolate River fondue experience. There will also be cocktails for adults.
Matt Proux, senior vice president of global experiences for Hasbro, said the company is always looking for new ways to bring its brands to life beyond the game board.
“Candy Land Café transforms a timeless favorite into a multisensory experience, inviting fans to explore, engage, and play in a way that feels immersive, joyful, and entirely new, while staying true to the magic of the original game,” Proux said, in a statement.
Admission to Candy Land Café will be sold online by timed ticketed entry. The public can sign up for a waiting list at bucketlisters.com/experience/candy-land-cafe-sd. Ticket sales will begin in a few weeks.