I love how it seems like every company, including candy and gum makers, is producing iPhone applications. The latest entry is Falling Stars by Trident Vitality Gum. It’s described like so: “Create a world of music in seconds with Falling Stars from Trident Vitality. Then enjoy, share and expand your world whenever you want to.” So, I had no idea what it was when I tried it.

The basic premise: choose a vine type and draw onscreen to make the vine grow. Stars fall from the sky in a pattern that you can influence and when the stars hit the vines it makes a musical sound. As an action gamer, it sounds kinda boring as a game, but it’s a “digital toy”, not a game, and it actually makes some interesting “music”. You can unlock more vines by sharing the app on Twitter and/or Facebook (which I didn’t do because I never share iphone game info on Twitter or Facebook). My 10-year old loves music and thus loves to play with this app.

It’s interesting to me that the connection to trident Gum is subtle and not IN YOUR FACE. There is a splash screen when it loads and there is a small icon in the corner while playing and the app isn’t really even about gum or Trident.

Falling Stars by Trident Vitality Gum is available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

• Falling Stars by Trident Vitality Gum

Candy Addict received an iPod Touch from Trident Vitality for this review.

Cut the Rope Lite – FREE

My kids call this “Candy Cut Rope.” Help get the candy to Om Nom, an adorable monster, in this addictive puzzle game that’s simple enough for kids to play, but complicated enough for adults to spend hours on. Cut the Rope Lite on iTunes.

Editor’s note: After playing the free lite version of Cut The Rope for about 5 minutes, I immediately bought the full version and it’s one of the best games I have on my iPhone (and I have TONS of games on my iPhone).

Candy Kitchen – $.99

Whip up a virtual batch of candy with this app. Might be a good distraction if you are on a diet and can’t eat the real thing. Then again, it might make you want to make the real thing and eat it all! Candy Kitchen at iTunes.

iMunchies (Popcorn, Candy, Nuts) – $2.99

You can make popcorn and eat it with a virtual hand (that you can also use as an illusion to trick and delight your friends). Also comes with candy and nuts. Reviews are mixed, and the price seems kind of steep for the limited use of this app. Still, $3 is cheap for a joke you can play on friends over and over again! Probably more impressive in the 21st century than the trick gum that snaps your finger when you try to pull it out of the pack. iMunchies at iTunes.

Cupcakes! – $.99

Bake cupcakes from scratch, then frost them and add your choice of toppings, including an impressive selection of candy (and all the Jelly Belly beans you can fit on a cupcake!). When you’re done decorating your cupcake masterpiece, flick the wrapper off and eat it! Cupcakes! at iTunes.

As the parent of preschoolers, I can endorse this game whole-heartedly. It’s definitely a favorite in our household.

Candy Maniac Lite – Free

A candy-themed puzzle game similar to Bejeweled (although you draw lines to similar candies, and they don’t have to be in a straight line). Candy Maniac Lite on iTunes.

Candy Crusher Lite – Free

Another candy-themed puzzle game where you drop candy with a claw and try to match like-colored candies together. Candy Crusher Lite at iTunes.

Candy Classics – $.99

It’s basically a catalog of old timey candy favorites like Abba-Zaba and Beemans’s gum. The description says “touch the candy or shake the main screen and flip over a mystery goodie.” More importantly, you can order your candy favorites via the app and get a 10% discount on your retro candy order if you use the promo code iPhone. Candy Classics app at iTunes.

We all know there’s no right way to eat a Reese’s cup, but is this a universal truth with all candy? Apparently, the adage applies to Skittles, too. When he’s not designing super cool t-shirts, graphic designer Brandon Bortwein compiles Skittle statistics from every 2oz bag of Skittles he’s eaten in the past year.

This makes me wonder how many other people out there sort their skittles by color. I don’t sort, per se, but I definitely do play “favorites” with my Skittles. I eat the ones I least like first and save the best for last: strawberry. Do you sort your Skittles?

• Bortwein’s Skittle sorting stats

The kind folks at Snickers sent me an awesome marketing package to let me know about their new Snackonomics game. In addition to four big Snickers bars, they sent me some cool Candy Addict stuff.

So what, exactly, are they marketing? Their Snackonomics game! Until March 31, 2010 Snickers is offering “chompensation” to lucky winners who play their online Snackonomics game.

The game kind of reminds me a little bit of the McDonalds Monopoly game because you collect things to win stuff. For the Snackonomics game, you go to the Snickers website, and enter the official game code on the inside of specially marked Snickers wrappers.

The codes allow you to collect letters which you then use to spell one of four words.

What kind of prizes are we talking about here? If you spell the following words, here’s what you win:

• “SNACKONOMICS” = paid mortgage
  (one winner — prize valued at $225,000)

• “CHOMPENSATION” = salary for a year
  (two winners — prize valued at $50,000)

• “AUTOPAYNUT” = car payment for a year
  (five winners — prize valued at $5,000)

• “CHEWRENCY” = free Snickers candy bars
  (10,000 winners — prize valued at $1.09)

Now, as a friend pointed out to me, this is kind of like gambling. But at least when you play this lottery, even if you don’t win you get candy!

• Snickers Website

We always like it when candy companies help out good causes, and this is no exception. For every game of Tic Tac Toe that is played, Tic Tac will donate $1 to CancerCare, up to $5000, in addition to the $100,000 donation they’re already making. I have no doubt we can reach that $5000 limit pretty quickly!

Plus, if you happen to be in Times Square on August 19, Tic Tac will be attempting to set the world record for the most Tic Tac Toe games played at one time. It’s all part of a larger partnership with CancerCare to raise awareness of the effect cancer can have on everyone, including friends and loved ones, those fighting the disease, and health care providers.

So what are you waiting for? Go play some Tic Tac Toe already!

• Tic Tac Toe Website
• CancerCare Website

While frolicking away inside the candy store, I came across these little boxes of candy. Of course I was drawn in by the pictures of board games on the outside, as Monopoly was and is my favorite board game of all time.

I also noticed there were others as well as Monopoly: Clue, Sorry and Life. So I grabbed these off the shelf and decided to take them home. Doing a little research online about them, I found out they are licensed by Hasbro and are generally sold in a four-pack called Game Night Candy.

Each box of candy shows a picture of the board game it represents and each box is about two inches long, containing a bag of candy inside.

Inside each bag are candy game pieces, specific to each board game. For Clue, there were blue candy wrenches and green candlesticks. Monopoly had pink dogs and green race cars. Life had blue spinners and pink cars, while Sorry had blue and yellow pawns. While some of the pieces looked like obscene adult candies, they could all probably be collectibles someday.

There were about 10-20 pieces of candy in each bag. More than enough to give a proper review, right?

The first thing I noticed was that it was hard candy and it tasted like U.S. Smarties. They had a tart taste to them and the same consistency as Smarties, too. My mom seemed to think they tasted like Pez candy. She didn’t buy me much Pez as a kid, so I can’t say whether I agree or disagree.

Overall, since I love Smarties, I really liked these little candies. Although, I’d probably much rather buy a pack of Smarties instead of searching around for these. Cute idea, though.

Has anyone ever seen or tried this candy? Have you ever used them in place of game pieces you may have lost? How did that work out for you?

Buy Game Night Candy Online:

• at Candy Warehouse

How many times have you played Trivial Pursuit and thought, “Ah, come ON! Who could possibly know the names of the four great Greek poets of the 2nd century (and who cares)?” Have you ever wished for a trivia game that asked questions about topics that matter to your day-to-day life? Topics like candy, snacks, cookies, and ice cream? Well look no further, because Eat It! Snack & Sweets Trivia Game is here.

EAT IT! has actually been around for a few years but it is just now getting a major release in Target stores nationwide. We mentioned it in an article back in December of 2005 when I first discovered it, but I didn’t get a chance to try it. Now, I have a copy of the game in hand and I’m ready for a review.

First off, the packaging and overall feel of the game is done extremely well. If I didn’t know differently, I’d say this game was made by one of the big board game companies. The colors and quality of the board and cards is excellent. The only minor flaw is the game pieces themselves – they seem a bit cheap, but that’s not a huge deal and doesn’t affect the game itself.

So, how do you play? If you’re ever played Trivial Pursuit, you know how to play EAT IT! Snacks & Sweets Trivia Game. You have to answer trivia questions to proceed around the board. Keep answering correctly, and keep rolling and moving. If you land on a pyramid square (that’s what they are called, despite the geometrical contradiction) and get the question right, you get a pyramid card. Collect one pyramid card for all 5 categories and you proceed to the inner pyramid and must answer a question from each of the 5 categories again then one final question form their choice of category.

The five categories are: “Snack Attack”, “Cookies”, Ice Cream & Desserts”, “Candy”, and “Chocolate”. Each of the 400 cards has one question from each category (so the game contains 2000 questions).

The above sample card actually has pretty easy questions. I got all of those correct. Now I consider myself more knowledgeable than the average Joe when it comes to candy, and I thought I was fairly well-versed in other snacks too. To determine how difficult the questions were, I grabbed 5 random cards and tested myself. I tried 25 questions, 5 from each of 5 categories. Here’s how it turned out:

1st card: 0 correct. Ouch. Not a good start.
2nd card: 4 correct. That’s better!
3rd card: 3 correct.
4th card: 4 correct.
5th card: 3 correct.

So, I ended up getting 14 of 25 questions correct. Not bad, but not great. That’s about the difficulty I want from a trivia game though. If the questions are too hard, it takes forever to win. If they are too easy, it’s just no fun. Even the questions you don’t know are fun and can be used around the office watercooler. “Hey, Bob – did you know that on average one out of every 500 people is allergic to chocolate?” Isn’t that more interesting than trivia about the name of the general that commanded the armies to victory in the war of 1275?

If you’ve got any love at all for trivia and/or sweet treats, you can’t go wrong with EAT IT! Snacks & Sweets Trivia Game. Just be sure you have some snacks handy when you play. As an added bonus, the game even includes coupons for snacks like Jelly Belly jellybeans, Jolly Time popcorn, and Auntie Anne’s pretzels!

• EAT IT! Snacks & Sweets Trivia Game

Buy EAT IT! Snacks & Sweets Trivia Game online:

• at Amazon.com

You’d have to be living in a cave to not know that the newest Indiana Jones film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be opening in theaters on May 22nd, and about time too! It seems that advertisements, posters and other promotional ties are everywhere with my favorites being the the Mint Crisp M&Ms, along with the Snickers Adventure Bar that were released especially for the new movie. Now you can enjoy more Indiana Jones candy action with the game on the M&Ms website!

The premise is simple: you experience the excitement of Indiana Jones by playing either as Green, Red or Yellow while you explore the ancient Mayan Temple in search of their greatest treasure: the Mint Crisp M&Ms! It’s very cute, especially since I felt as if I had my own treasure hunt trying to find these in stores. I found this game to be like the Mint Crisp M&Ms, totally addicting! Give it a try and be sure to let us know if you succeed in finding the treasure.

• Indiana Jones Mint Crisp Challenge Game

Eating is a very complicated pastime when you think about it. Depending on the situation it can be a very social thing: you could easily be sharing a dinner with friends, out for an afternoon coffee break with co-workers or hosting a potluck party with family. While it’s easy to make daily meals more social, I find that when we treat ourselves with chocolate or candy, it usually tends to be a very solitary activity. There’s lots of reasons for this; maybe your friends or special someone don’t love chocolate like you do, perhaps you don’t want anyone to see you secretly indulge your sweet tooth, or hey, maybe you’re like me and don’t want anyone to notice so you’d have to share. Regardless of the reason, candy consumption can be pretty lonely, and usually in a good way. This is why, when Jelly Belly released its new box of BeanBoozled jelly beans, I was excited to give them a try.

How does eating these BeanBoozled beans relate to social activity you ask? Well, when you look at it, BeanBoozled is more of a game than anything else really, because in essence it’s an edible version of Russian Roulette. Picture this: in the box there are 10 different colored beans with 20 different flavors. The flavor can be a tasty one like buttered popcorn, plum, juicy pear or cafe latte. On the other hand, the flavor could be not so enticing: vomit, skunk spray, pencil shavings or baby wipes (just to name a few). See where this is heading?

So this past Easter Sunday I sat my family down for a game of some BeanBoozled taste testing. I know, the things I put my family through all in the name of candy.

I have to admit, right away, this was a nice change of pace. Instead of all of us sitting on the couch, zoning out to a movie and munching away at our baskets of treats, we instead gathered at the dinner table as I poured out the BeanBoozled beans into a dish in front of us. Here’s a full listing of the flavors:

• Black: Licorice or Skunk Spray
• Yellow with Brown Spots: Top Banana or Pencil Shavings
• White with Yellow Spots: Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg
• Blue: Berry Blue or Toothpaste
• White/Light Beige: Cafe Latte or Ear Wax
• Orange with Red Spots: Peach or Vomit
• Green with Green Spots: Juicy Pear and Boogers
• Light Yellow with Brown Spots: Caramel Corn or Moldy Cheese
• White: Coconut or Baby Wipes
• Blue with White Spots: Plum or Black Pepper.

We began our game by choosing a starter, then working clockwise from there. The first person would pick out two beans of the same color and decide on a person to “feed” them to. The rules? You have to eat both, and separately. No being fed twice in a row since that’s just cruel.

The game itself was hilarious and tremendously fun: the different reactions of horror, relief, delight and confusion on my family’s faces as they tasted the jelly beans were great. Here’s what I noted of the “gross” flavors I was fed:

Skunk Spray: I got dished a fair amount of these since only my Dad and I like black licorice (getting two “gross” flavors was a no no). These did taste a little skunky, but I got more of a burnt plastic flavor from them. I was able to eat them no problem, though.

Rotten Egg: I’d say 75% of the beans I ate ended up being this flavor. I didn’t like it at all, yet I still managed to swallow them. They did taste eggy; it was mainly a sweet sulfur-like taste and it was followed by a fuzzy, vegetable, moldy flavor. Yeah, it was gross.

Toothpaste: Bright, fresh and minty like toothpaste. I’d eat this one normally (heck, I already do in spice beans)!

Black Pepper: Sharp, burning, peppery taste with floral accents to it. I also liked this one.

Pencil Shavings: Oddly enough, these did have a woody essence to them, with notes of plastic and rubber. I’d say it wasn’t horrible, yet it wasn’t tasty either. Just interesting.

Baby Wipes: (from Brian) Wow – these taste just like baby wipes smell. You can’t truly appreciate these unless you have had kids. Brings back many unpleasant diaper memories.

I didn’t taste some of the other flavors, but they were already covered when we reviewed the gross flavors in the Bertie Bott’s Jelly Bean mix. (I’m looking at you, Vomit). I could have taken photos of my family’s scrunched up faces to give you an idea, but that’s just mean, am I right?

Despite the fact that I ate more Rotten Egg flavored beans than I cared for, this was really really fun! I didn’t expect it not to be, since eating candy and being with your friends and family always equates to good times. I recommend picking up a box of these for an interesting night of torture, er, fun. Oh, and be sure to share your thoughts on the flavors here when you do!

• Review of the gross Bertie Bott’s jellybean flavors
• Review of sausage and pickle flavored jellybeans
• Review of Ant Bully Sweet Rocks jellybeans
• Jelly Belly’s BeanBoozled Website

Buy BeanBoozled Online:

• via Stupid.com

Easter is almost upon us and that leads many to ask the timeless question: How do you eat your Chocolate Bunny? The folks over at BewaretheCheese.com don’t try and answer the question, but instead offer some humorous insight into your personality based on your preferred starting point for bunny munching. The results are so fun to read I found myself playing it over and over again to see what else the test had to say. It’s worth checking out if you have a couple of minutes to kill.

So how about you? What part of the Chocolate Bunny do you eat first?

• The Chocolate Bunny Test

chocolate bunny, Easter, game