The Milton Bradley Company developed the game in to celebrate its hundred-year history, which began in with The Checkered Game of Life. But don't expect to collect that dream job, car , spouse, and kids when playing this 19th-century game with a similar name. The Checkered Game of Life is not about money - it's about virtue and morality. One of the earliest board games in the country, it offered Americans a welcome alternative to card games.
After each player spins the wheel, the person who spins the highest number begins the game. Play continues clockwise. When it is your first turn, you must first decide whether to start a career or start college. If you choose to start a career, place your car on the "Start a Career" space. If you choose to start college, place your car on the "Start College" space. If you have chosen to start a career, have another player help you to draw a career card.
The other player will fan out the career cards in front of you, and you may draw one card at random. This is your career.
You may not keep a career card that specifies "Degree Required. You will remain in college throughout game play until you reach the space that says "Job Search. You may choose which career you desire out of these three. Do the same with the salary card; choosing three cards at random, and selecting which salary card you would like to keep.
After your first turn, begin regular game play. When it is your turn to play, spin the wheel and move your car forward the amount of spaces dictated by the number you've spun. If there is already another player on your spot, move ahead to the next free space. Follow the instructions on the space. This description focuses on the later version with the larger dollar amounts. The late s version also replaced the familiar convertibles from earlier versions with Chrysler -esque minivans.
To determine one's salary, a player could travel one of two routes at the beginning of the game. Both of these initial routes joined back together at the first Pay Day. Distributed with this game were a number of "Share the Wealth" cards. Each player started out with one, and earned another card if "Pay Day" was reached by exact count. There were three types: Collect, Pay, and Exemption, and they were used as follows:.
Upon adding a member to the family getting married, having children, etc. In this version, the three insurance policies automobile, life, and fire prevented the player from being affected by a number of "tragedy" spaces throughout the board house fires, car wrecks, etc.
Buying life insurance activated certain spaces which awarded dividends if landed on. Automobile and fire insurance could be lost permanently if the player landed on a "careless" or "reckless driver" space at least one edition had the humorous misspelling "Wreckless driver". Life insurance had the possibility of "maturing" with large financial gains if a person holding a policy landed on the corresponding space. The Stock certificate played a much more important and realistic role in this version than in later versions.
In addition, a couple of white spaces allowed the player the opportunity to "play the market" if he or she desired, in a game similar to the Lucky Day space explained below. If the bearer landed on a space indicating a rise in stock prices, the player collected money accordingly, and if they landed on a "stock prices drop" space, they likewise lost money.
Comparing the payout to the odds of winning , it was always advantageous to gamble here. When a player reached the end of the game they could retire to the "Millionaire" space if they thought they had the most money. In some circumstances, all players would retire here after reaching the end of the game, at which point they would count their money. The player with the most money won the game.
If a player was trailing near the end of the road they could make one final gamble in an attempt to become the "Millionaire Tycoon". The player selected one number on the number strip, and placed their car on it. Upon spinning the wheel, 9 of the 10 numbers forced the player to move to the "Bankrupt" space, losing the game. However, if the correct number was selected, the player became the Millionaire Tycoon and automatically won the game. The Game of Life was updated in to reward players for "good" behavior, such as recycling trash and helping the homeless "penalty" spaces in previous versions.
The version of the game proceeds as follows:. There are still two routes at the beginning of the game, now labeled Career and College. Selecting the College route now places the player in debt from the very start; however, the probability of landing a better job and a higher salary is much better than selecting the Career route.
If the person lands on a "trade a salary card" space, the player had the option of "trading up". At the shared end of both paths, the player's career and salary are decided by chance. If a player chooses Career , the shorter path is taken. At its end, one occupation card and one salary card are chosen. The player continues the game with that specific career and salary unless another event affects the player.
If a player chooses College , two Promissory Notes must be taken from the bank for tuition, and the player must take the longer path which in this version is also more "dangerous" than the Career path. However, at its end, three Career cards and three Salary cards are chosen, and the player may choose one from each set after looking at them. As in the s version, most of the spaces on the game board are orange, and their instructions are only followed if they are landed on.
The "Pay Day" spaces are green and impact the player when landed on or passed over. Red spaces now always signify a major life event e. The "decision" spaces are now blue, and if landed on, the player can choose to follow them or do nothing. Most of the spaces requiring the player to pay money to the bank have a symbol next to them, each of which corresponds to that on one of the career cards. If any opponent has that career card, the money is paid to that opponent instead of the bank.
If the player himself has that career, no money is paid. A major change to the game in this version is the collection of "LIFE Tiles" as one progresses through the game. Every time a player lands on a space marked with the LIFE logo they collect a LIFE tile, a small rectangular game piece with the "LIFE" logo on one side and an event on the other along with a sum of money collected from this accomplishment. These also replace the previous "collecting presents" rule.
On each of these tiles is a major life event e. Everest , curing the common cold , building a better mousetrap , etc. The tiles are not revealed until all players have "retired", at which point they are flipped over and their total is added to the player's money total. If at any time the draw pile of LIFE Tiles is depleted, a player may steal one from any active player remaining in the game, or certain "retired" players see Retirement section below.
One of the red spaces in the game is buying a house. From then on, homeowners' insurance may be purchased for a price listed on the house deed.
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