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In The Pursuit of Happiness, you take a character from birth and live the life that you always wanted. You spend time to take on projects, get new jobs, buy items, establish relationships, and raise a family. The possibilities are endless as you attempt to avoid stress and create a memorable story in every game. How much will you achieve in just one lifetime?.
Product Features
- 1 to 4 players ages 12 and up
- Happiness lies in the pursuit, the journey
- Includes solo play rules
Life, Liberty & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (Game Review) Designers: Adrian Abela & David ChircopPublishers: Artipia Games & Stronghold GamesPlayers: 1-4Time: 60-90 minutesAges: 12+Times Played: 7 (with review copy provided by Stronghold Games)I’m not sure what fascinates us about “life-building” games. Maybe we all imprinted on Milton Bradley’s oft-maligned ode to large families and stock investment (aka The Game of Life). Perhaps some of us managed to blunder into playing Parker Brothers much more enjoyable Careers – the game that first introduced customizable victory conditions and Uranium Mining as lucrative vocational choice.Even as the technology of game design has advanced over the past 20 years, “life-building” games continue to pop up. Though not my cup of tea, you can dig into the seedier side of life with Steve Jackson’s Chez Geek franchise or 2F’s Funny Friends. Hasbro published a nifty little card game version of The Game of Life (that is sadly out of print)… and more recently Lapuduti (sp?) created CV (and the expansion, CV: Gossip). I really enjoyed my one play of CV… and it sat right on the edge of my “add to my next game order from my friendly online retailer” for a couple of years.Though the particular game elements vary – CV uses a Yahtzee-like dice manipulation system, Chez Geek is a take-that card game and The Game of Life Card Game is tableau-builder with two different resources (Time & Money) used as action points – the basic idea of all of these games are the same: players start as teenagers and proceed through their lives, acquiring stuff, building relationships, choosing a vocation, and having various life experiences. Points are awarded for fulfilling goals and/or accumulating points – and the winner is the person with the most “satisfaction”. (Cue up the Stones as a soundtrack… and here’s a thought: it would be interesting – and a bit scary – to imagine a Rolling Stones themed “life building” game.)That brings us to the newest addition to this particular gaming genre: The Pursuit of Happiness from Artipia Games and Stronghold Games. Pursuit uses a worker placement system as you spend time (hourglass markers) to create your best possible life and parlay those life choices into Long Term Happiness. (Why, yes, LTH is secret game code for “victory points”.)The Facts of LifeFact #1: No one in their right mind would name their child “Tootie”.Fact #2: The Facts of Life TV show ran for nine seasons. Nine. (And Sports Night ran for two. There is no justice.)And, with that out of my system, we’re back to the game.There are five “commodities” in The Pursuit of Happiness:- Time (your “workers”)- Money- Connections- Creativity- KnowledgeThose commodities are spent to acquire cards that represent a variety of experiences and things:- Jobs- Relationships- Items & Activities- Projects (there are three types of projects)— Regular projects that take multiple hourglasses to complete— Group projects which multiple people can join in on… and the more people who particpate, the more rewards each participant receives— One time projects (such as appearing on a trivia game show)These items and activities return a plethora of goodies for the player who invests:- Money- Resources (Connections, Creativity & Knowledge)- Relaxation (lose a Stress)- Short Term Happiness (we’ll get into that in more detail a few paragraphs later in the review)- Long Term Happiness (aka victory points)4 Things I Really Like About The Pursuit of Happiness1. StressStress can kill you… in real life AND in The Pursuit of Happiness. Taking an action more than once (for example, taking on two Projects in one round) or working overtime or having too many things (Jobs, Projects & Relationships) going at once increase your stress. Let your stress go too far, and you can lose hourglasses (time).There are also ways to relieve stress – for example, the Rest action gets you back 2 stress. Many activities have a stress-reducing component (called Relax) as well. And if you’re particularly health-minded, there are personal improvement projects that can results in increasing your lifespan and your available time.Stress eventually will kill you. (Note: this is not a comment on my own vocational choices, but your mileage may vary.) In The Pursuit of Happiness, stress will take you to the end of life. The game timer is marked in rounds:- One round of being a Teen, where you can’t start a Relationship, can’t get a job, and can’t work…