Players race down a rainbow-colored track to be the first to find the lost King Kandy at Candy Castle, but watch out for obstacles like the sticky Molasses Swamp! Start by placing your plastic Gingerbread Man (or other character marker) at the beginning of the track. Each turn, players draw a simple card and move by matching the color on the card to the next color on the track. Some cards show a named location on the board; players who draw these cards move forward or backward on the track to the named location. The game ends when the first player arrives at Candy Castle by reaching or moving beyond the last square on the track.

In the 2004 version, younger players are not required to remove backward on the track if they draw a named card, and the last square of the track was changed from a Violet Square to a Rainbow Square, resolving a 55-year dispute over whether a player needs to land on the Violet Square or move beyond the Violet Square to win.