I used to play The Game of Life (the Milton Bradley boardgame, that is) back in the '80s, and much fun it was too.
Last weekend, my nephews got me to play the current version with them… it was identical in many ways, but it seemed like the rules had been changed to make money more important and generally remove choice from the game.
(I remember - wrongly? - you could decide whether to get married or not, and happiness factors like how many kids you had were important at the end of the game…)
It’s a surprisingly tough subject to find information about on the web, but from what I can gather, I’m not imagining there have been changes.
Well, back in the 60s, you always had to get married, and there was no happiness – you just sold your kids at the end. There was only limited choice – a couple of paths where you could go different ways.
Maybe you’re getting it confused with Careers, where happiness was a factor in addition to fame and money.
I also played in in the 60s, you had to get married. As I remember, you had to stop at the marriage square, no matter what your spin was. You also got a kid whenever you landed on a square, whether you wanted one or not. Of course, the Pill was still new, controversial, and always spelled with a capital P back then.
I played in the '60s also, and these answers match what I remember. IIRC, there was not downside to having kids, only an upside - the best was when you had more than 4, and had to cram them in flat between the others in your car. I’ve only seen the new version briefly, but I got the impression that there were fewer career choices than there used to be.
I suppose saying no to drugs is actually more in keeping with the origninal Game of Life, from the 19th Century, which was a game to teach morals.
I’ve noticed these changes, too. It seems like the new version offers mainly positive or life-enriching experiences–like working on an environmental project to clean up an oil spill (or something like that).
Thanks for that link to the older thread, Earl. Wow, I’d almost forgotten about gambling on the spin wheel. I remember in games where I was really doing badly, I’d end up putting all my money on the spin of the wheel. And usually watch it all disappear, of course. I can’t believe they took that option out.
In other games, I, like GMRyujin, would be overloaded with kids. I remember you only had four holes in the car (in addition to you and your spouse), and I’d end up laying the extra kids in between the other kids and stacking them on top of each other. At the end of the game, you got to sell your kids off, which was always a good way of getting some extra cash.
And I seem to remember one space involved bailing your drunk uncle out of jail, or something like that–I know it involved one of your relatives doing something stupid, and you end up having to pay for them.
Hasbro’s Website features downloadable PDF files of rules for a lot of their games. (Look in the manual section of Customer Service under “L” for Life) The object of the game, according to rules dated 1991, is to “Collect money and LIFE Tiles, and have the highest amount of money at the end of the game.” Rules dated 1977 feature many variations from the 1991 directions, including the phrases “Business and University” (as opposed to “College and Career”), “LAND IN a gold space to take revenge on an opponent,” “DAY OF RECKONING space…Recieve $24,000 for each child,” “Go on to become a MILLIONAIRE…Try to become a MILLIONAIRE TYCOON” (as opposed to retiring at either Country Acres or Millionaire Estates), “LUCKY DAY space[…]collect $10,000,” “SHARE THE WEALTH CARDS,” “TOLL BRIDGE,” “BETTING ON THE WHEEL,” and lack of LIFE Tiles and insurance, among others. Since no manuals between the copyright dates of 1977 and 1991 are archived on Hasbro’s website, it is difficult to figure out until how long the 1977 rules lasted. We do know, however, that the current rules were in use at least as early as 1991.
I had the game in the early seventies. As I recall you did not have to get married, the road forked about 3 spaces in and merged about 10 spaces later; marriage was on the shorter fork.
We added a space just before Millionaire Acres called “Lousy Day”.
If you hit Lousy Day, you lost all your assets, kids, etc and went back to start.
The '60s version (which my parents got at a garage sale in the 70s - I remember playing for hours with my grade school friends) definitely had you get married (there was only one route, right past the white plastic ‘church’, with a big “STOP - Get married” square) - was the 70s version so liberated that you could have kids without getting married?
The '60s game (“I heartily Endorse this game - Art Linkletter”, who I think was on the 100K bill (right after G.I. Luvmoney)) I have is still pretty cool, with late '50s finned convertibles (I think the new one has BMWs?), the stocks and insurance certificates, and the cool plastic moutains and buildings (I still like the ‘Modern-style’ office building for some reason).
Plus, it was a damn site faster than Monopoly, because it eventually came to an definite end (…er, like life itself? )
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