Enhanced Versions of the Game of Life: Spicing Up the Experience

Enhanced Versions of the Game of Life: Spicing Up the Experience

Some computer game adaptations of the popular Hasbro board game The Game of Life feature an option for an "Enhanced Mode", which significantly changes the rule set compared to the default "Classic Mode" setup. Here are the changes that were made in the Enhanced Modes of each video game version of the Game of Life.

1998 Version (based on Generation II)

The most significant difference in this version of the game (which was based on Generation II) is that the Enhanced mode omits Life Tiles entirely. Instead, any player who lands on a Life Space must spin again. Number 5 is  reserved for Revenge, in which that player can choose an opponent (unless he/she has retired at Countryside Acres) to take their mini-game winnings from (or give to, in the event of a negative score in Up or Down), while number 10 is  used for an increase in the winnings multiplier by 1 - which is especially effective if that player wins a very large amount. Other numbers will either yield a small amount of money (up to $20,000 without multipliers), or start one of the following mini-games, which in this game are called "Life's Little Games":

• Safe Cracker: You have four attempts to earn as much possible by clicking on a space; however, you can only keep the last amount you have revealed. Click the Done button if you are satisfied with the amount you have earned.
• Up or Down: You can click on as many spaces as you want; however, in addition to there being one each of every possible denomination on the grid (from as low as $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000, to as high as $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000), there is also one each of every negative denomination. Click the Done button at any time to stop.
• Get a Life: You have six clicks to reveal one each of the letters L, I, F and E. You will earn $100,000 if you do it in four clicks, $75,000 if you do it in five, and $50,000 if you do it in six. When you find a letter, it will appear in the top-right corner of the display.
• Treasure Chest: The grid contains two each of the six denominations, and you can click up to six times to find a pair of matching amounts. The game ends after six clicks or if a matching pair is found.
• Skunk Money: In this game, the grid does not contain spaces worth $75,000 or $100,000. However, it has one $50,000 space, two $20,000 spaces, six $10,000 spaces, a "Double Your Winnings" space, which doubles the amount that can potentially be earned if clicked on, and two "Skunk" spaces which would remove all previously accumulated winnings if you clicked on either of them, as well as ending the game. You can click the Done button at any time to end the game voluntarily.
• Cannon Ball: This is similar to Treasure Chest with the major exception that you may uncover more than one matching pair, and have eight clicks to find as many of them as you can.

In addition to the mini-games listed above, the PC port of this game also includes two additional mini-games:

• Crane Dump: There is a crane holding a ball at the top of the screen, and five slots (two marked $10,000, two marked $25,000, and one marked $50,000) at the bottom. Click on the green Drop button to drop the ball into a slot; however, no more than one ball can occupy a slot at any time. If a ball falls into an occupied slot, both balls will be lost. Clicking on the Done button will end the mini-game.
• Trash Can: This time, the crane is stationary, and the green button now reads "Move", while the red button reads "Drop"; clicking on it will move the bucket at the bottom of the screen from left to right between each of the five slots. You will start with six balls, and will receive $50,000 for each ball that lands in the bucket, for a theoretical maximum winnings of $300,000.

In addition, Enhanced Mode in this game reintroduces "Revenge" (in which landing on a Pay Day space allows you to take money from anyone who has not retired at Countryside Acres), wedding and baby gifts ($1,000 x spin per child, and $2,000 x spin for marriage), and requires players to spin on their turn after retirement, to either gain or lose money. Countryside Acres retirees had more chances to earn money, albeit in smaller amounts; Millionaire Estates retirees, on the other hand, had more chances to lose money (and in larger amounts to boot), as well as larger positive payouts. This had the side-effect of making Countryside Acres the more viable of the two retirement options available, since the risk of losing money at Millionaire Estates was often too great.

2008 Version (based on Generation III)

In this game, career choice is handled differently in Enhanced Mode. If you choose to start a career right away, you will play a memory game in which you try to obtain as many matching pairs of regular Career Cards. If any of those have already been taken, they will be replaced with Jokers that will not add to your total; moreover, if you fail to obtain a matching pair, you will be given a random unused Career Card. On the other hand, if you choose to go to college, you get to select three College Career Cards upon graduation; these cards are then shuffled around randomly, and you then get to choose exactly one of them before resuming your turn. Finally, for players who return to school, they will have to select from up to two unused College Career Cards or their current career card.

A more significant change can be found in Share the Wealth Cards, which are no longer stockpiled, but are instead used immediately upon collection, and now have one of the following randomly chosen effects:

• Christmas Bonus: Receive half of your current salary.
• Give a Loan: Give a loan (worth $20,000 + $1,000 initial interest) to any other player.
• Take a Loan Off: Return a $20,000 loan (including interest) to the bank.
• Shared Memories: Collect a Life Tile from any other player.
• Lucky Spin: Starts a Spin to Win in which you can select four numbers while all other players must choose only one. A side effect of this is that in a normal Spin to Win, all players can only select one number each (except for the Computer Designer, which can select two).
• House Exchange: Trade your Starter Home/House with any other player.
• Job Exchange: As above but you trade Career Cards with another player.

In addition, loans now come with simple interest of $1,000 per loan, and after taking out loans, your debt will increase by $1,000 multiplied by the number of outstanding loans - there is no compound interest. You must therefore pay off your debt as soon as possible in Enhanced Mode.

Pay Raises are handled differently as well: reaching a Pay Raise space triggers the Pay Raise game, in which you are presented with 12 cards laid out in a 3x4 grid. Each card contains a cash amount ranging from $1,000 to $9,000 in $1,000 increments, and there are also two $8,000 and three $9,000 cards on the grid. You can click as many times as you want to determine the size of your Pay Raise; however, if you exceed $15,000, you will not receive a Pay Raise at all. Please note that all of these values are doubled for anyone with the Athlete career. Also, a player with the Entertainer career will be able to play the Pay Raise game if two identical numbers greater than 7 (i.e. 8, 9 or 10) are spun on two consecutive turns, as stated below.

Starter Homes are bought in the same way as College Careers are chosen. Buying a better home is a more complicated process though. Any player who chooses to do so must select two House Cards, and these, along with that player's existing Starter Home card, are shuffled around. If a House Card is selected, the Starter Home must be sold. Also, at the end of the game, a player must sell their Starter Home or House upon retirement. In general, low numbers yield the least amount of cash, and high numbers provide the largest profits relative to a house's initial purchase price.

Lawsuits are also handled differently in a mini-game called the Trial Game. After selecting an opponent, both players are shown a picture, and have 25 seconds each to memorize it fully. The plaintiff (i.e. the player who landed on a Lawsuit space on this turn) then has 25 seconds (starting from when the Go button at the top-left corner is clicked on) to assemble a section of the picture on a 4x3 grid, after which the defendant has 20 seconds (ditto) to do the same. At the end of the Trial Game, the player who assembled more of their picture in the time allotted wins; the greater the margin of victory, the more money they will collect from their opponent. However, in the event of a draw, neither player will gain or lose any money at all. Finally, any player with the Lawyer career will have an advantage in every Trial Game in which they are involved.

Most Pay and Collect spaces have also been modified; instead of fixed amounts, these spaces will add or subtract different sums of cash depending on which matching pair of values a player discovers first during a Scratch Game. However, all Taxes Due spaces and all Pay Spaces whose values depend on the number of children a player has will remain unaffected, as are the Pension and Tax Refund spaces.

Another feature reinstated from previous versions of the Game of Life is the set of special abilities unique to each career. They are as follows:

• Salesperson: Receive a 10% cut of the purchase price of any house bought by any other player.
• Hair Stylist: Spin for gifts whenever any other player has children, with values determined in the same way as wedding gifts (no gifts for numbers 1-4, $5,000 for numbers 5-7, and $10,000 for numbers 8-10).
• Mechanic: Collect $10,000 from any opponents involved in an overtaking move.
• Police Officer: Collect $5,000 from anyone who spins a 10. This special ability is also the only one present in the standard rule set.
• Entertainer: Play the Pay Raise game if two identical numbers greater than 7 are spun on consecutive turns.
• Athlete: All cash values and limits in the Pay Raise game are doubled.
• Teacher: You no longer have to pay tuition fees of any kind (including the $50,000 required to return to school), either for yourself or your children.
• Computer Designer: Receive an additional number to select in Spin to Win.
• Accountant: Cannot pay taxes or receive a tax refund, but can collect $5,000 in tax preparation fees when another player pays taxes.
• Veterinarian: Receive a Life Tile upon reaching a Pay Raise space.
• Lawyer: Gain more money and lose less money from Lawsuits, and collect $10,000 from anyone who wins a Lawsuit.
• Doctor: You no longer have to pay for medical expenses, and can collect those of others.

On balance, it seems that among all the careers, the Athlete has the most useful special ability of all, since any player with that career has the potential to gain a Pay Raise of $20,000 or more multiple times. In addition, the Lawyer tends to be the best College Career to have in most circumstances, since having it makes lawsuits easier to manage (and win) than with any other career. As such, both of these careers are now the most prized of all in the Enhanced Play rule set.

2014 Version (Generation IV)

This version still has mini-games, but they have completely replaced the redesigned Spin to Win from the source material, and there are fewer of them to boot. They are as follows:

• Statues: Each player starts at the edge of the circle and must work their way towards the center by clicking or tapping. However, for each player, there is a guard near the center, and it may turn to face them occasionally. If a guard catches a player on the move, that player will be sent back to the edge of the circle. The winner is the player who advances farthest within the time limit or is the first to reach the center, thereby earning 100,000 points in the latter.
• Grab The Cash: Each player takes one side of the circle, and aims to collect as many bank notes as possible by dragging their mover left and right while also avoiding bank loans (which have a 10,000 point penalty each). Notes in this game can be worth 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, or 50,000; however, each player's score is rounded to the nearest 10,000 points. The player who earns the most points when the time limit is reached wins.

Unlike in earlier versions, these mini-games are the only features that are unique to the "Enhanced Mode" in this version of the Game of Life.

In my view, the lack of mini-games compared to earlier versions actually makes the newest version of the Game of Life less unpredictable than it needs to be, especially when playing against AI opponents - I often find it all too easy to win the mini-games against them. That said, without the mini-games, I would have had to mark this version of the Game of Life even further down the rankings (specifically, in last place) a few months ago.

In short, whenever a computer game adaptation of the Game of Life comes out, an Enhanced Mode incorporating significant rule changes is not only expected, it's required. Done right, it can make the game as fun to play as, if not more so than, the standard (Classic) rule set; done wrong, it will seem like it's not different enough from the default rules. Even so, a bare-bones Enhanced Mode in any version of the Game of Life is better than not having one at all.