The Game of Life Guide

The Game of Life showcases a beautifully rendered digital game board, cards and spinner that capture the fun of the Classic game full of adventure & surprises!The Game of Life will take players on a journey where fortunes can be won…and lost! Choose a college or career path and start down the many roads of life, make money, buy a house or start a family  will you take the safe route or the risky road? The choice is yours as you navigate life’s rich tapestry! Do whatever it takes to retire in style with the most wealth at the end of the game to win!  Multiple game modes for 1-4 players, including new, fast-play modes and single player mode. Spin the wheel and choose your path – the possibilities are endless! Stay single or say “I do”. Retire rich or lose it all. Anything can happen in The Game of Life!  Choose your car and take a spin on the winding road of life. Play it safe with sensible choices like college, marriage and kids. Or play it risky with high stakes investments and lavish luxuries. You can even increase your chances of getting rich and winning big with Share the Wealth cards and Life Spaces. Either way, discover what your future holds in colorful, 3-D play. The Game of Life has never been better! Before you start the game, each player gets to customize their peg avatar, adding hair or hats and an accessory.

As you play, your avatar will appear on the screen and there are little animated bits as it acts out various parts of your life; the avatar will also gain additional accessories or outfits depending on things like your occupation. The actual gameplay is fairly lighthearted. In fact it's practically nonexistent, but then I wasn't expecting Starcraft-like strategizing as I began the game. Along the lines of other board game adaptations involving movement along a set path, this one involves nothing more complicated than clicking a picture that simulates the spinning of the famous plastic dial. But obviously I wasn't expecting to be spinning the actual thing; what I expected was a colorfully animated facsimile, and that's what the game delivers. Other gameplay elements have been left intact. Once the dial's spun, a player moves along the track the specified number of spaces and plays out the scenario listed. For such a complex looking board, Game of Life is one of easiest board games to understand and play. Spin the Spinner, move number of spaces indicated, and then perform action indicated on the space landed upon. Every turn is that or a variation of that, whether it be stopping for a required Stop space, paying out Pay Days that are passed regardless of stopping on them or not, and landing on an optional-to-play blue space. There are some differences in this version compared to the 1980s version. One is that stocks certificates are purchasable and the player earns money for each time the Spinner lands on the number of the stock.

Gone are the times of buying chances of hitting it big on the betting board, which makes me sad. I enjoyed spinning for the winnings Another variation is that no spins are made for money at marriage and adding children, instead you get Life Tiles (discussed below); how dull. I seemed to remember giving money to the person who ended up getting married first, which added some value to being in the lead. Also in this version kids are absolutely worthless. There is one, maybe two, spaces on the board where you owe money based off the amount of children you have, but other than that, they just add color to your car. And those Life Tiles, what are those about? They only make the game even more random. I could understand if there were more interactions with them throughout the game, like what happens with the Athlete career, but there aren't. There are a few other minor variations, selling your house (for potential profit) and purchasing a new one, night school, and changes in available insurances, but they are fairly insignificant to the game.

Gameplay is nearly identical to that of the modern board game. Players attempt to amass more money and assets than their opponents as they move their game pieces around the board. They choose the college or career path to begin, then spin the wheel to land on game tiles with a range of life choices or circumstances such as pay raises, losing jobs, paying taxes, having children, and more. There also is an in-game chat feature that only allows a small group of emojis.Some tactile pleasures of a board game just can't be duplicated. Still, it's nice to have lots of options for multiplayer gameplay, and "fast mode" may be a great pick for families who like board games but hesitate at those with extra-long gameplay. Though kids can play with strangers online, there are no opportunities to share personal information, but be aware that kids can access Facebook if the player's age is entered as 13 or older.The Game of Life allows up to six players to gather 'round the ol' monitor to take turns spinning the wheel, or rather clicking the pointer that spins the wheel. (Could you really gather six people around a computer?) At most I could imagine two, maybe three, seated around a computer playing this game. The ability to allow multiple players seems better suited to allowing one person to play multiple characters, say one person playing as two against one or two computer opponents. Any more than two computer players and the game is drawn out to a greater length than is humanly possible to sit through. For solo play, I found that playing two characters to one computer character made for the most interesting play. That way you get to play more often than the computer, and you get to watch the computer have its fun without having to endure too much noninteractive tedium.

For such a complex looking board, Game of Life is one of easiest board games to understand and play. Spin the Spinner, move number of spaces indicated, and then perform action indicated on the space landed upon. Every turn is that or a variation of that, whether it be stopping for a required Stop space, paying out Pay Days that are passed regardless of stopping on them or not, and landing on an optional-to-play blue space.There are some differences in this version compared to the 1980s version. One is that stocks certificates are purchasable and the player earns money for each time the Spinner lands on the number of the stock. Gone are the times of buying chances of hitting it big on the betting board, which makes me sad. I enjoyed spinning for the winnings Another variation is that no spins are made for money at marriage and adding children, instead you get Life Tiles (discussed below); how dull. I seemed to remember giving money to the person who ended up getting married first, which added some value to being in the lead. Also in this version kids are absolutely worthless. There is one, maybe two, spaces on the board where you owe money based off the amount of children you have, but other than that, they just add color to your car. And those Life Tiles, what are those about? They only make the game even more random. I could understand if there were more interactions with them throughout the game, like what happens with the Athlete career, but there aren't. There are a few other minor variations, selling your house (for potential profit) and purchasing a new one, night school, and changes in available insurances, but they are fairly insignificant to the game.