The Game of Life

As a child, I used to LOVE the board game "Life". Remember this one, with the spinner on the huge board, where you picked the car of the color of your choice, and girls were pink pegs and boys were blue pegs? From the start, the players chose the college path or the career path, and everyone knows that you make more money in the long-run if you go to college, so taking out that initial $100,000 loan will be so worth it! As you go, you get married--EVERYONE does, because that's LIFE! And, then you have a career, buy a starter house, upgrade houses, file lawsuits, have babies (more blue and pink pegs--mind you the car only holds up to six), send the kids to sports camp, sponsor art shows and ultimately retire. And, in the end, the player with the most money wins.

Well tonight, my little sis Melanie and I played Life. Here's a summary of our courses of action:

Melanie: Purple car, no college, started as salesman at $20,000; first home was at Tudor style at $120,000; ended up married with twins and an additional boy. She sold the Tudor style home and her second "homes" were an RV and a trailer. Changed careers to become a professional athlete ended up making $80,000 per payday. She asked if she be a tennis player. Why not?? At the end of the game, she had sued me twice for $100,000 each time--and I had to explain in 8-year-old terms what a lawsuit was.

Shelia: Red car, went to college, so started $100,000 in debt; started as a teacher at $40,000; then became a doctor for $100,000 paycheck. Then, I chose to go back to school, to advance my career, which turned out to be a police officer at $40,000, and $5,000 each time Mel spun '10' and that was quite often. My first home was a charming $100,000 log cabin; but when I upgraded, I went to the $800,000 mansion. I had a set of twins--girls. And, I got to sue Melanie just once.



When the game ended, Melanie the uneducated tennis player had a stack of cash and Life tokens, that I didn't bother to add up. I had about 6 life tokens, and no cash, but my mansion was paid for, and well, I was well-rounded as I'd had three careers and multiple college degrees. And, I decided, this is definitely a kids' game.

Sorry mom and dad for begging you to play Life with me so much! Now, that I'm in THE game of LIFE, I realize how depressing this board game really is! Next week, Melanie and I have already decided we'll bake cookies... Now, that's what I call living!