Overview
If you are looking for a board game that will teach practical lessons about life’s journey, then you should try out the Game of Life. In this game, the players minor most life activities, like going to college, starting a career, getting married and buying a house. The game is a family-oriented game and can be used as a tool to teach kids practical life lessons to prepare them for the future. If this is your first time coming across this game, it might look a little bit complicated for you. But trust me, it is not. You just have to understand the basic rules of the game to master it. This post provides you tips on how to play the Game of life and also rules of the game.
Objective
The object of this game is to be the player with the highest value of life tiles and money when every player has retired.
Game of Life Rules
. The player gets to spin again if the spin lands in-between numbers.
. A player earns money when other players land on their career space.
. It is against the game rule for players to look at Life tiles while the game is all. All life tiles must be faced down.
. A player that gets to the ‘Mid-Life crisis’ or ‘Fired’ space must trade-in Career card and Salary card for a new one.
. A player has the option to choose a change of career and salary cards if the player lands on the ‘Night School’ space.
. If there is a tie on the richest player after every other player retires, the two players get to split the Life tiles two each.
Check out Game of Life 2000 Rules
Number of Players Needed
You need about two to six players to play the Game of Life.
Equipment
You need the following equipment to play this game
- A flat surface preferably a table big enough for the number of players playing the game.
- The Life Game Board Pack. Inside the pack, you will see the following components listed below
- 1 Bridge
- 6 Plastic Car Pawns
- 7 Buildings
- 3 Mountains
- 24 Spin to Win Tokens
- Stack of Play Money
- Spinner Base, Ring, and Dial
- 25 Life Tiles
- Story Sheet
- Banker’s Tray
- 5 Special Coins
- Deck of card containing 54 cards
- Spin to Win Strip
- Pink and Blue Pegs
- Label Sheet
Setting Up
To set up the game, place the Life tiles randomly near the game board as the draw pile. Ensure the tiles are faced down and within reach of all players. Separate four tiles from the Life tiles and stack them in the Millionaire Estates. Players should pick a banker and reserve money close to the player.
Proceed to separate the deck of cards into Stocks, Career, House Deeds and Salary. Place them near the game board with the money, Bank loans, Home insurance Policy, and Automobile insurance.
Each of the players is given $10,000 to start the game. Also, players get to select a plastic car and place a blue or peg inside the car to represent the driver or play token. The play tokens are placed in the starting position on the game board before the start.
How To Play Game of Life
Before the game starts, each player must decide if they want to go to college or start a career straight ahead. If a player decides to get a college degree, this offers the player three career options and places the player into a $40,000 college loan. A player starting with a career option gets to start earning almost immediately, moves faster but has a limited career option in the long run ( a career card).
Players that chose to start with a career will pick a random career card without the ‘Degree required’ option and will also pick a Salary card. Both cards are placed face down in front of the player. Players that chose College degree will pick three Salary cards and three Career cards when they get to the ‘Job Search’ spot in their journey.
To determine the first player, players must take a turn to spin the wheels once. The player with the highest number becomes the first player. If there is a tie, the two players can spin the wheel again. Players continue to take turns in a clockwise manner after the first player’s turn.
The first player spins the wheels and moves the car to the number of spaces, following the directions on the space the player lands. The exception is if there is a STOP space. The players until to take turns to spin and move their cars until the last player gets to retirement.
Understanding the Game of Life Spaces
Players get to land on Spaces as the game progress. So there is a need to understand the spaces and how players can make the most of each space.
. Orange Spaces: This makes up most of the spaces on the game board. The Orange spaces come with directions and instructions. So there is a need to STOP, read the instruction before you proceed. This is because most core life decisions are made on the Orange space. For instance, it is in the Orange space you will find an option to choose a college career choice, change career path, buy a home, return to school and make a decision on a family path.
. Blue Space: Like the Orange space, this space comes with directions, but it is optional to follow through.
. Green Space: You will find the PayDay and Pay Day Raise options in the Green spaces.
. Red Spaces: The thing about the Red spaces is that you are mandated to stop and read the directions first irrespective of if you have more moves. The Life game board has just three red spaces. The red spaces represent Job Search, Buy a House and Get Married.
. Career Spaces: These spaces allow players to make extra money as they play. If a player lands on a career space, the player gets to pay the player with the matching career card some money. If there is no player with matching career cards, the player pays the money into the bank.
. Life Spaces: These spaces contain pictures of Life Tiles. A player gets to take one life card from the discard pile once he lands on the Life space. If there are no more life tiles in the discard pile, the player can collect one from an opponent. All life cards must be faced down.
. PayDay Spaces: A player gets to collect your Salary from the bank anytime he passes the Greenspace. The salary a player is paid must correspond with the figure on the salary card. When you get to the PayDay Raise space, you add the amount on the board to your current salary amount.
Winning The Game
When a player gets to the end of the game, the player must do the following
. Replace Salary card, Career card, and Insurance policies
. Pay all outstanding debts and loans.
. Sell the player’s house. You sell the house by following the directions on the house deed.
After that, a player can decide to retire in the countryside Acres or at the Millionaire Estates. A player retires can opt to retire at the Millionaire Estates if the player thinks he has the most money than other players. The downside of doing this is that other players can draw from the Life tiles in the Millionaire Estate if the deck pile runs out of Life tiles. While those that retire at the Country acres get to receive an extra Life Tile and still keep the life tiles they accumulated in the course of the game.
Players get to count earnings after all players have retired. The riches player takes the four Life Tiles at the Millionaire Estates. After that, all players turn up their Life Tiles and count their earnings. The player with the highest value becomes the winner of the game.