Starburst Snakes And Ladders
As a candy enthusiast, historian and collector, I love finding unusual product or flavor extensions of candy brands I already know well. There’s just something especially compelling about that familiar logo matched up with unfamiliar elements that makes up a new brand extension – it’s fun! Sometimes those extensions can take the form of a particularly jarring oddity and other times they can make perfect sense. Today’s post covers a great example of the latter as it seems to be a natural evolution for the Starburst brand name to cover a family of fruit-flavored gummies. And that’s just what’s being done Down Under in the Australian (and New Zealand) markets. So make the jump to check out Australia’s Starburst Gummies!
Although Snakes and Ladders has always been a game of ups and downs, there's definitely a lot more ups than downs hidden amongst the 5 x 3 reel grid and 20 pay-lines. With a series of traditional fruit machine symbols and a special Snakes & Ladders bonus feature, this slot is far from being your average classic. Plus, there is also a 12,000 credit jackpot up for grabs which can be won when three matching icons are aligned on any of the 5 paylines.
Before I begin, I’d like to shout out and thank fellow collector and New Zealand native Steve Williams. Steve’s been a great friend to CollectingCandy.com and over the years has provided me with so many treats you can only find in the New Zealand and Australian territories.
While the Starburst brand in the United States is typically relegated to its original fruit chew format, it has also become a successful seasonal jelly bean item. But to my knowledge, we’ve never had a Starburst-branded gummi here. It’s nearly the opposite in Australia, where you can find a solid lineup of colorful and fanciful Starburst gummies for sale. The first time I encountered them was just a few years ago, in the form of “Starburst Snakes”:
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes – 300g gummy candy package – 2012
Not long after I added that first Snakes piece to my collection, Starburst Gummies packaging got a bit of a facelift as well as an expansion into other shapes and themes. I’ve managed to pick up most of what’s followed from the line and I’m excited to share them today.
First up is an updated Snakes package, featuring a more mascot-friendly illustrated version of the confectionery creatures:
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes – 180g gummy candy package – 2014
And now take a look at some of the other gummi shapes they’ve released under the Starburst umbrella. This Animal Friends package is great as it includes some wildlife trivia on the back of the pack:
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Animal Friends – 180g gummy candy package – 2015
Babies!!!
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Babies – 180g gummy candy package – 2014
I assume this next one is meant for a game of gummi-infused Tic-Tac-Toe…
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Noughts & Crosses – 180g gummy candy package – 2014
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Snakes & Ladders – 180g gummy candy package – 2014
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Fruitful Mix – 180g candy package – 2014
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Mixed Berries – 170g candy package – 2014
Of course, Australia still shows their love of the original individually-wrapped Starburst fruit chew, though they’ve released flavor assortments of them with packaging in line with their gummies:
Australia-New Zealand – Wrigley – Starburst Very Berry Chews – 170g candy package – 2014
That’s everything I’ve got to share on Australia’s Starburst Gummies (and more!). I hope this is a line that continues to be successful Down Under and that it leads to many more fun shapes and extensions along the way. It’s definitely a fun one to collect and if it continues, with luck I’ll be back to cover it again.
See you next time!
Back in March I reviewed Starburst Snakes and Ladders. Today I'll be looking at its sibling, Nought and Crosses.Head after the jump to read more!
Noughts and Crosses carries a similar idea to S&L - steal a game, mould its key pieces and put a board on the pack of the pack. Genius! Except S&L doesn't really carry over well; you need a die, and the board provided was a bit small for its large pieces. Noughts and Crosses, on the other hand, works a great deal better!
As for the packaging style of S&L and Noughts and Crosses, that mystery has been solved - they appear to be part of a new packaging overhaul of the brand.Like S&L, the lollies here are made from the same powdered, firm jelly, with the same colours, as used in the Rattlesnakes bag - red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. (Interesting to note; the green in this pack is a different shade to the S&L pack.) Each piece is all one colour, though, and the pieces are far smaller than the ladders and snakes; they're each about 3cm in diameter, and about 1cm tall. The crosses are only in red, purple and green, with the noughts in orange, blue and yellow.
Red is some sort of berry flavour, possibly strawberry or raspberry. It's sweet, warm and bright.
Purple is also some rendition of berry, though I can't quite pick it. It's quite jammy, and less sweet than red.
Orange is, unsurprisingly, orange. It has a good strong citrus note, with a bit of peel thrown in for realism. It's also fairly sweet, reducing the tang somewhat.
Blue I speculated with S&L is possibly blue raspberry - that fictitious flavour created by lolly manufacturers. While it is flavourful and bright, it is not hugely sweet, and there's a little bit of tanginess on the end note.
Green I think is lime, but it could also be apple - the profile wasn't very distinct. There was a bit of a tangy kick towards the end, but it tasted pretty artifical either way. Not a winner for meThese get an extra point for actual playability, but other than that, they aren't so different to a lot of the other Starburst products that use the same collection of flavours, just in different moulds.
Score: 3 out of 5 jelly beans.