Game of Life Myths, Debunked

Game of Life Myths, Debunked

Ever since its introduction in 1960, there have been many myths surrounding Hasbro's Game of Life and its spin-offs. Some are specific to a particular iteration, others apply to the whole series. So without further ado, I will explore some of these in the hopes of finding out whether they are true... Or not.

Myth: "Going to college at the very start is mandatory if you have to win."

Fact: Yes, you have a better chance of getting a high-paying salary (and career in some versions) if you go to college, but it's no guarantee of victory, since bad luck can throw a monkey wrench in your plans even if you start out in college. In fact, it's common for a player with a college degree to lose to one who did not have a degree, especially in Generation II where a college degree was not mandatory for any of the higher-paying salaries. It's less likely in all prior and subsequent versions, though, where most (if not all) of the largest salaries could only be obtained through a college degree.

Myth: "Cash on hand is the only factor that matters."

Fact: While the amount of money you currently have is the key factor in deciding your net worth, it is by no means the only one. Life Tiles (in Generations II and II) and Action Cards (in Generation IV) also provide a handy source of income at the end of the game when they are converted to additional cash, and can often make the difference between winning and losing. In addition, house values (from Generation 2.5 onwards, and a common house rule in the original Generation II) and children's gifts (from Generation III onwards) must also be factored in.

Myth: "It is not worthwhile to have children over the course of a game."

Fact: Not entirely true, especially in Generations II and III, where you would receive a Life Tile whenever you land on a Baby space. In addition, children's gifts (reintroduced from Generation III onwards) make having children even more worthwhile. There is, however, one potentially decisive downside: in Generations II and III, there are some payment spaces whose value depends on how many children you have, and if you have a large family (more than 3 or 4 children), you'll end up facing a big bill if you land on any of them. This is especially true for the space which requires anyone who lands on it to pay a whopping $50,000 per child. It was a different story in Generation I, where the children's gifts were much larger.

Myth: "Cheaper houses are the best ones to buy."

Fact: This was true in the original version of Generation II, where houses could not be sold, but it hasn't been this way since Generation 2.5, where the more expensive houses had the most potential for yielding a profit when sold (and you could now select two House cards whenever you have a chance to buy them). In Generation III, it's a great idea to buy the most expensive Starter Home or House you can afford without incurring excessive debt, to maximize profits when you sell them. This was alleviated in Generation IV, where you would always fail to yield a profit if you spun a red (odd) number when selling a house - at best you would break even - but the most expensive houses still have the largest potential profit margins, making them especially worthwhile. 

Myth: "Stocks are overrated."

Fact: In Generation I, buying and owning a stock (which cost $50,000) was a good idea, since you were much more likely to earn money if you did so, what with there being so many high-paying spaces that would only yield cash if you owned a stock. Also, there were two "Play the Market" spaces which functioned similarly to Lucky Day spaces, but required ownership of stocks if you wanted to gamble on them. With a payout much larger than the odds of winning, this made stock ownership even more worthwhile. 

Generation II is a different story, in which the price of Stock Cards remained unchanged, but could now only yield money ($10,000) whenever any player (including its owner) spun the number on its reverse side, and they could be lost upon landing on a Stock Market Crash space. At least there was now a Stock Market Boom space which would allow you to earn a free Stock Card (as long as there was at least one still available) regardless of whether or not you already owned one.

However, Generation III makes Long-Term Investments (essentially Stock Cards by a different name and at a much lower price, at $10,000 compared to $50,000 previously) much more effective. Although each one only yields its owner $5,000 whenever anyone spins its number, the lower price ensures that it can pay for itself in at least two spins, rather than five. Finally, in Generation IV, each career comes with a bonus number; whenever an opponent spins that number, he/she must give the career's owner 20,000 points, and if the owner of that career spins that number, he/she earns 20,000 points from the bank. As such, career bonus numbers are now even more useful than ever.

Myth: "Voluntary career changes are always worth making."

Fact: This depends not only on the circumstances of the current situation, but also on the version you're playing. In Generation II, there were two Night School spaces; if you landed on either of those, paying $20,000 would give you a College Degree unless you already had one. However, if your salary is the highest-paying one available, it's pointless to accept the offer. Also, in Generation III, it was almost necessary to accept the offer to return to school if you had a low-paying career by the time you reached the fourth orange space, but you'd have to pay $50,000 and skip a Pay Day space just to get a chance to trade your current career for a new College Career, and even then, it was always better to take the $20,000 Pay Raise option if you could potentially earn more money from it with your current Career Card. Finally, in Generation IV, where College Careers are even more desirable, returning to school now costs 100,000 points, but is still worth considering if your current career doesn't pay you enough.

Myth: "Losing your job is always undesirable."

Fact: This only applies if your current salary pays out a large amount and you end up replacing it with one that doesn't pay as much, but under such circumstances, the extent to which this is true depends on the difference between the two salaries - the greater the difference, the more painful the career change will be. On the other hand, losing your job may actually help you in the long run if your new salary pays more than your current one.

Myth: "Life Tiles and Action Cards are overrated."

Fact: The exact opposite is true, especially in the first run of Generation II sets where Life Tile values started at $50,000 and went up all the way to $25,000 in $50,000 increments. Even after their values were reduced fivefold, they still remained desirable. This is even truer of Action Cards in Generation IV, since they are all worth 100,000 points each.

Myth: "Having insurance is always a good thing."

Fact: In Generation I, life insurance was a worthwhile purchase due to the presence of several "Life insurance matures" spaces that would yield a handsome payout if a player with life insurance landed on it. However, other types of insurance (specifically, car and fire insurance) could be lost upon landing on certain spaces (such as "careless" or "reckless driver".) As such, life insurance was the best type of insurance to have... Until it was removed in Generation II, where fire insurance was replaced by house insurance. This time, insurance was much less worthwhile, since there are very few spaces on the board that penalize uninsured players, and you are unlikely to land on them anyway. No wonder it got removed in Generation III and was never brought back.

Myth: "The Risky Route is certainly better than the Safe Route."

Fact: This only applies to Generations III and IV (and never to Generations I and II, neither of which offer this option), and even then, only if you take the Risky Route and end up earning more money than you lost. To do this, you need to earn large amounts of money through Spin to Win and/or a Lawsuit (in Generation III) or land on the Collect Spaces but not the Pay Spaces (in Generation IV). As such, if you are not confident about your chances, then you can always select the Safe Path instead and aim to earn some extra Life Tiles (in Generation III) or Action Cards (in Generation IV).

Myth: "The highest salaries are the most desirable."

Fact: While this was generally true in Generation I, and also in Generations III and IV, this wasn't always the case in Generation II, where salary cards were separate from career cards and could be traded between players. In particular, the $100,000 salary card was the most coveted of all, to the point that over the course of a single game, players would fight fiercely over it if one of them managed to acquire it. Under such circumstances, the $90,000 salary (the second-highest-paying one) was actually preferable, since it would most likely be ignored, thereby giving the player who held it a better chance of winning through sheer consistency.

Myth: "Always sue the highest-paid opponent."

Fact: In Generation III, it might be tempting to do so, but if you do it too often, you could end up swapping one major rival for another, and that other player could even end up in the lead as a result. A better strategy would be to sue the opponent with the highest net worth; once he/she has dropped back out of the lead (relative to other opponents), you should start suing the next opponent to take that place.

Myth: "Use your Share the Wealth Cards at the first opportunity."

Fact: In Generations I and III, Share the Wealth Cards could only be used once. As such, they should be reserved for when you need them the most. For example, Collect Cards are best used when an opponent receives large amounts of money from a Collect Space, while Exemption Cards should be reserved for when you get sued or stand to lose lots of cash to an opponent who has just used a Pay or Collect Card on you.

Myth: "Millionaire Estates is always a better place to retire than Countryside Acres."

Fact: Not always true - in Generation II, only the richest Millionaire Estates retiree would receive 4 additional Life Tiles, unless there was a tie between the top two such players, in which case those tiles would be shared evenly between both players. The main drawback to retiring at Millionaire Estates is that Life Tiles belonging to anyone who retires there are still in play, and can be taken by other players if the draw pile runs out. Moreover, even if you do end up receiving the 4 bonus tiles, it won't always be enough to guarantee victory (although it often is). On the other hand, retiring at Countryside Acres would not only give you one Life Tile (if any are still available), but also prevent other players from taking any of yours.

For Generation III, the rules were changed so that the first three players to retire at Millionaire Estates would receive only one Life Tile each. This made Countryside Acres even more favorable than before; however, if you did not have the highest net worth among all players, it would still be a good idea to retire at Millionaire Estates, since players tended to take Life Tiles from the wealthiest opponents.

However, Generation IV removed any benefits (or drawbacks, for that matter) to retiring at either Countryside Acres or Millionaire Estates. I despised this change since it removed a key strategic element that had been around for decades. Unsurprisingly, they were replaced by the Pension and Bucket List options in The Game of Life 2 - but that's a story for another time.

Myth: "The winner is always the player who retires first."

Fact: This is the most common misconception of the Game of Life, especially among younger players. However, it is most definitely not true, and in fact, in Generations I and II, there was no incentive whatsoever to be the first player to retire. On the other hand, in Generation III, each of the first three players to retire at Millionaire Estates would receive a Life Tile. In addition, Generation IV finally introduced a proper incentive for early retirement: the first, second, third and fourth players to retire would receive 400,000, 300,000, 200,000 and 100,000 points respectively. Even then, these retirement gifts are not always enough to guarantee victory on their own.

Myth: "Lucky Day and Spin To Win are more trouble than they're worth."

Fact: The exact opposite is true - in Generation I, the payout (15:1) was much higher than the odds of winning (5:1). It's more complicated in Generation III, though. Normally, the odds of winning and the payout are both 10:1. However, a Spin to Win Card can improve the odds of winning to 5:1 or 2:5 depending on the type of card used. Finally, in Generation IV, the chance of winning is again 10:1 by default, but the player who landed on a Spin to Win space has better odds at 5:1 due to having an extra token to use. Moreover, no points can be lost in Spin to Win, nor does the winner of Spin to Win gain any amount of points other than 200,000 under any circumstances. Of course, none of this applies to Generation II, which doesn't have these mini-games at all.

Myth: "If you have to buy a Stock Card or Long-Term Investment, do it as soon as you can afford to do so."

Fact: Unlike the other myths being discussed here, this one is always true, because the sooner you buy stock (or invest, if you're playing Generation III), the more opportunities you will have to make money from it. Generation IV avoided this problem by giving every career a Bonus Number from the get-go; this trend was carried over into the Game of Life 2.

Myth: "The Doctor is the best career to have when playing under the Enhanced format."

Fact: Nothing could ever be farther from the truth - in Generation II, there were several other careers that were more lucrative, and in Generation III, the Athlete could reach a theoretical maximum salary of $240,000 in an Enhanced Game, whereas the Doctor's theoretical maximum salary was just $195,000.

Myth: "Winning the Game of Life is based purely on blind luck."

Fact: Although the Game of Life is mainly a game of chance, there is also plenty of skill involved, to the point that you'll need to understand the finer details of the game, regardless of which version you're playing. I have previously covered these aspects in an earlier post, so there is no need to discuss them here.

These are some of the best-known myths and misconceptions about Hasbro's Game of Life. Now that I've debunked them, I hope you end up being a better player - and also a wiser one.