Game of Life 50th Anniversary Edition Review

What would you do when you are in the middle of your work at home and your kids request you to join them in their game?

I would drop everything and play! After all, I am at home and it’s a Sunday!

This time my kids opened a board game called the “Game of Life 50”, which had been gathering dust since their uncle gave it to them a year ago.

So… I was assigned to be the banker, taking care of money… and I have no idea how the game works!

It looks very much like Monopoly… You move your token around the board… Make some money then lose some.

The difference between the Game of Life and Monopoly is that in Game of Life, like the name says, is not just about money, but also about getting married, having kids otherwise adopt twins, pay their school fees and more.

Everyone’s token is a colored six-seater SUV where you start off with one peg sitting in it. The peg represents you… Blue peg for male and pink for female. The SUV gets more crowded as you progress through the game with spouse and kids.

I did not get married in the game but adopted twins.

Unlike Monopoly, the board is 3D… With buildings and mountains just like a real terrain which made driving my SUV around the board more exciting.

Every building and mountain is gold in color and on every Game of Life logo is the number 50. I asked my kids for the meaning of all these.

So “50” means 50th anniversary of the game… (this game is older than I am and I’ve never heard of it!). This is a special edition with gold treatment… (so is this a collector’s item that will be in demand in future?)

True enough, I checked bigamzn and they are running out of stock for the 50th Anniversary Edition, but still sell the regular Game of Life version.

The aim of the game is to retire the richest. Things that happen in the game are highly dependent on chance though there is still an element of strategy if you know how to make the right investments.

I rate this game 7 out of 10. The missing points go to the complex rules, steep learning curve and non-strategy based play.

From the kids’ point of view, they loved to see themselves growing up and going through life, getting a career, switching careers, receiving pay raise, investing in properties, making more money, settling down, having kids and retiring rich.

Overall, the “Game of Life 50” is a mind challenging yet captivating game for the whole family.

Adrian Lee
http://AdrianVideoImage.com