How to Play the Game of Life

How to Play the Game of Life

The Game of Life is a classic Milton Bradley board game in which players go through an entire lifetime–getting married, starting a career, having kids, and earning inheritance and through investments are all part of the game, as are some of the downsides of life, including death.

Players move through the Game of Life as they would move through their normal life, spinning a wheel to determine the course of their life and making important decisions along the way. Decisions about having children, what jobs to take, education to pursue, and how to retire.

You “win” the Game of Life by having the best life you can have, though the real winner is determined by the game based on their retirement. There’s usually no clear “winner”, since different people will be satisfied with different lives. Not everyone wants to retire to a mansion, for instance.

Game of Life Instructions

Set up the board by placing the spinner on the center pole, testing to make sure it spins right. You should also set up the mountains and bridge pieces in the right spaces.

Next, shuffle the Share the Wealth cards and deal them to the players.  Deal one card to each player. The rest of the cards are placed face down on the game board.

The banker should be picked next. Also a player in the game, the banker will handle the game’s money.

Each player should pick a car and a game piece. You can pick to play as either a male or a female. One peg per person, either blue or pink.How to Play the Game of Life

Set-up the other pieces of the board, including houses around the board.

Finally, figure out who will “go” first. Each player spins the spinner, and the highest number is the first to move.

Game of Life Rules

The first player spins the wheel and moves their car that number of spaces. Move the car following the directions on the different squares on the board.

Moving clockwise, each player spins the wheel and follows the instructions. Play continues this way until each player has reached the end of the board. Technically, the player with the highest amount of cash at game’s end is the winner.

Game of Life Strategy

There’s not a ton of strategy to winning The Game of Life. Luck plays a big part in your progression through life, but so does wise use of your money.

Since the goal of the game is to win the most cash, all your decisions should be made with earning the most hard currency. That means buying insurance as often as you can (in case of disaster later), purchasing stock certificates to increase your cash flow later in the game, and making every decision with the almighty dollar in mind.

Any time you land on the Lucky Day spaces, go ahead and gamble for the larger payout. Your odds are 5 to 1 against winning, but if you land on all the Lucky Day spaces, you have a good chance of winning at least once.

The Game of Life is popular for families and among younger children. Not exactly a strategic game, the Game of Life is more of a “time killer” than a really in-depth board game.

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