Things are starting to settle down a bit and I’m finally able to game again. A friend organized a board game day and the first game we played was quite interesting– Life (人生ゲーム). I’ve played the American version when I was a kid, so it was interesting to revisit as an adult. Adding on to that, there are a number of changes unique to the Japanese version. I got a kick out of it, so wanted to share a few pictures of it.
The game begins with choosing between the Profession course or the Business course. I took the business route and became a Salaryman, then later a Division Manager. Funny that the Salary Man begins happy and then becomes an angry (the red ? mark) division manager. One player became a politician while the other became a lifelong NEET.
I somehow managed to win the game by having the most money at the end.
It has been years since I played the English version of the game, so I’m not sure how much is just not remembering and how much is unique to the Japanese. The two career paths in the beginning, as well as buying insurance were surprises for me. A number of events stood out as being tailored for Japan, but one that stood out was “Buy a cosplay outfit. Pay $2,000.” One that surprised me was “Repulsed a stalker. Receive $6,000.”
While not deep gameplay by any means, the game was surprisingly fun, and it’s clear why it continues to be Japan’s best selling board game. It’s good at what is does.
I remember playing this game as a kid too! The one thing that marked me the most was “You discovered Atlantis receive 15.000”; Always felt like a small reward to me.
Nice! Your comment about Atlantis stirred some long forgotten memories of similar items. I want to say there was one about “Finding Big Foot”, but I might be mistaken. Either way, fun to reminisce