How to Play Candyman

A deck of cards is used to assign secret roles to the players. This game can be played with 4 or more players, however it is recommended to be played with 6 or more players. Learning the rules for the candyman game and how to play is simple and quick.

Candyman Rules

| Players: 4+ | Type: Hidden Identity | Supplies: 1 Deck |

Objective

The candyman's goal is to sell as much candy to the buyers as possible before getting caught by the cop.
The buyer's goal is to buy candy.
The cops goal is to bust the candyman before all of the buyers buy candy.

Setup

From the deck, take out one king, one ace, and enough numeral cards (2-10) so that you have enough cards as there are players (including the ace and king.) Shuffle the cards and give each player one card face down to look at.

If you have the King, you are the cop
If you have the Ace you are the candyman.
If you have a numeral card you are a buyer.

Game Play

The candyman must try and sell candy to each buyer without getting busted. To sell candy, the candyman winks at a player. Only the candyman is allowed to wink during the game.

The buyer's goal is to try and figure out who the candyman is and buy candy from them. When a buyer gets winked at from the candyman, the buyer announces “Sold” and reveals their card. They are not out of the game for the rest of the round. The buyer may not reveal who the candyman is.

The cop's goal is to bust the candyman before they sell to each buyer. When the cop thinks they know who the candyman is, the cop accuses them by pointing and saying “busted.” The accused player must reveal their card. If the accused player is the candyman, the round is over. Otherwise, play continues and the accused player is out of the game.

Instead of winking as the signal for the candyman, if the group would like to use a different signal, it must be predetermined before the round starts. No one besides the candyman can use the signal during a round.

Scoring

Candyman: 1 point per successful deal, lose 2 points if they are busted
Buyer: 1 point for buying candy. 1 point if wrongly accused by the cop
Cop: 2 points for correctly busting someone, lose 1 point for each wrong accusation

Winner

Play until a player gets to 21 points, and they win. You can play to any number as long as it is predetermined before a game starts.