Adventures in Steam Games: Game of Life Glossary: Key Terms Explained

Game of Life Glossary: Key Terms Explained

While the Game of Life is generally easy to pick up and play, it has a surprisingly deep metagame, one that not many players know about, and actually winning it takes a great deal of skill. With this in mind, I have devised a glossary detailing the terminology used to describe the game's many elements. Please note that many of these terms are unofficial, and I am using pre-inflation values when referring to Generation I. Moreover, the various spin-offs of the Game of Life have their own different rule sets and are generally outside the scope of this glossary.

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Action Card: A type of card introduced in Generation IV, replacing the Life Tiles found in Generations II and III. Its instructions are printed on the reverse side, and it can be obtained by landing on an Action Space. Each Action Card is worth $100,000 at the end of the game, and once a player acquires it, that card will remain in that player's possession until the end of the game. Action Cards have a yellow background on their obverse side.
Action Space: This type of space is only found in Generation IV. It is a yellow space that will give any player who lands on it an Action Card, and most of the spaces on the board are of this type.
Anniversary Edition: A term referring to the rare re-issued versions of Generation II and III while they were still in production, released to commemorate several decades since the original Game of Life was launched. The former is subtitled 40th Anniversary Edition and was released in 2000; the latter bore the 50th Anniversary Edition subtitle and was released in 2010.
All In: The act of betting $50,000 (the largest possible amount) in Spin to Win (and therefore giving oneself a chance of collecting $500,000 if successful). This only applies to Generation III, which uses a different Spin to Win system compared to Generation IV.

Baby Boom: Slang for when two or more players land on a Baby Space on consecutive turns.
Baby Boy: A type of Baby Space in which anyone landing on them must place a blue peg in their mover if possible.
Baby Gift: A small amount of money a player collects from each of their opponents upon landing on a Baby Space. Originally, baby gifts were valued at $500 for each child added to a player's family during a turn. However, Baby Gifts were omitted from Generations II and IV, although Generation III reintroduced them with a fixed value of $5,000 per opponent (regardless of whether or not the player who gained children landed on a Twins space).
Baby Girl: A type of Baby Space in which anyone landing on them must place a pink peg in their mover if possible.
Baby Space: A special type of Life Space (in Generations II and III) or Action Space (in Generation IV) which will give players 1 or 2 children (in addition to a Life Tile) if landed on. There are three types: Baby Boy, Baby Girl and Twins. In Generation V, this became a Team Space (see below)
Bachelor's Degree: The least lucrative career obtainable through college in the original version of the Game of Life, with a salary of $6,000 (although this is still higher than the fixed $5,000 salary obtainable through the Business route). Any player who goes to college and reaches the Bachelor's Degree space without landing on the preceding Career spaces will automatically receive this career.
Backwards Motion: A phenomenon unique to Generation I which occurs if a player is forced to go back 10 spaces as a result of having Revenge declared on them. When moving backwards, a player will ignore any rewards or penalties from any spaces they pass over or land on, and if they end up on an occupied space, they will continue to move backwards until they reach the first unoccupied one. In addition, rewards and penalties are only earned when moving forward except for getting married (which can only occur once per player), and any player who is sent back to the start must follow the Business route, although their career and salary remained unchanged.
Bank: The plastic tray in which all items (cards, money and assorted paper notes, from bank loans to pay raises and insurance policies, depending on version) are stored.
Bank Balance: A term used to refer to the amount of cash on hand (not including children's gift, house, or Life Tile/Action Card values) a player has at a particular point in the game.
Bank Loan: A fixed loan of $20,000 that a player must take to cover a payment if they have too little cash on hand to do so. Each Loan comes with a fixed amount of interest, and can be repaid manually at any time before retirement; in addition, upon retirement, any outstanding Loans will be paid back automatically. Note that in Generation I, it is impossible to take out a loan in order to place a side bet or to cover a Revenge payment to an opponent.
Banker: The person whose duty it is to represent all transactions (monetary or otherwise) within the game. It is optional for one of the players to assume this role.
Bankrupt: Slang describing a player who finishes a game with a negative net worth (from Generation II onwards) or made an unsuccessful attempt to become a Millionaire Tycoon (in Generation I). This is least likely to occur in Generations IV and V, where players can accumulate money much more quickly and easily.
Bankruptcy: A loss condition exclusive to the original version of the Game of Life in which a player makes an unsuccessful attempt to become Millionaire Tycoon and is therefore immediately eliminated from the game. Any player who loses the game in this way must place their mover to the Poor Farm.
Bet: The amount of money a player wagers during Lucky Day, Spin to Win, or Side Bets.
Big Family/Team: This term refers to a family with at least five people in total (in Generations I through IV) or a team with five or more pegs of any kind (in Generation V).
Big Three/Four: A term introduced in Generation II that refers to the most lucrative three (or four) Careers obtainable. Originally, this was called the Big Three, and referred to the three most lucrative Careers (Accountant, Athlete and Artist - collectively referred to as Triple-A) from the nine available. For Generation III, this became the Big Four, in reference to the four Careers (Entertainer, Athlete, Lawyer and Doctor) with the highest potential salary values at the end of the game. In Generation IV this reverted to the Big Three and referred to the Actor, Lawyer and Doctor. In Generation V this includes the Astronaut, Doctor and Lawyer.
Bonus Salary: This feature is exclusive to Generation V and refers to the increased amount of money a player can acquire upon landing exactly on (as opposed to passing over) a Pay Day space.
Blue Space: Any space with a blue background. Before Generation III, these spaces were Option Spaces, in which players would only follow the instructions printed on them if they landed there; however, in Generation III, these became Lawsuit Spaces, and they were completely absent from Generation IV. They would be reintroduced in Generation V in the form of Team Spaces (see below)
Branch Space: A space on the board that gives any player who reaches it the option of taking one of two paths. From Generation III onwards, all such spaces would also be Stop Spaces (see below), in contrast to previous versions where they were always normal spaces.
Bug: Any situation that makes a game impossible to complete without the implementation of a house rule. In some video game adaptations, it can cause the game to crash, forcing a reload or restart. Thankfully, there have been none since the release of Generation 2.5.
Business: One of two starting options in the original version of the Game of Life. It will give any player who selects it a salary of $5,000. However, it would be replaced by Start Career from Generation II onwards.

Car Insurance: A type of insurance policy present in Generations I and II that protects its owner from damage to (or theft of) their vehicle. In Generation I, it could be lost indefinitely upon landing on a "reckless driver" space; however, in Generation II, once a player had purchased it, that player would retain ownership of it for the remainder of the game. Along with House Insurance, this policy would be removed altogether from Generation III onwards.
Card: A rectangular card that represents an item or event in the game. There are many different types of cards, with the exact types varying depending on the game version. As an aside, cards in Generations IV and V are longer and narrower than those found in Generations II and III; in addition, cards in Generation III are unique in having rounded corners.
Card Hoarding: As applied to Generations I and III, this term referred to the tactic of waiting to use Share the Wealth Cards until they were most needed, as opposed to using them at the earliest opportunity. Anyone who saves their Share the Wealth Cards for such important situations is called a Card Hoarder.
Career: The occupation of the player's character, and the primary source of their income.
Career Card: A card with a blue background on its obverse side that contains a description of the player character's occupation (in all versions) and its salary (only in Generation III onwards). In Generation 2.5, each Career Card was compatible with any salaries that belonged to either of two Salary Groups whose colors were printed on the reverse side.
Career Change: Not to be confused with Change Career below, this occurs whenever a player replaces their current Career, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
Career Choice: A special space in the game that forces anyone who reaches it to stop and randomly select multiple Career Cards (three of any kind in Generation II, two College Careers in Generation III onwards), then choose the one they want before spinning again.
Career Shortage: This occurs when a player has to replace their career when none are available. In Generation II, this could occur in a 6-player game upon landing on a Lose Your Job Space when not in possession of a College Degree and no non-College Careers (i.e. those that do not have the words "Degree Required" printed on the reverse side) are available; this would make it impossible to continue the game without the implementation of a house rule that waived the Teacher's requirement for a degree (and, in fact, this House Rule became an official rule in Generation 2.5). In Generation III, this term instead refers to a rare situation when a player lands on a Lose Your Job space when none of the six regular Careers are available (while all six of the College Careers are still available). In these circumstances, that player will retain their current Career, although they must still return all their Pay Raises to the bank. Note that this kind of shortage is also possible only in a 6-player game. From Generation IV onwards, such shortages are impossible, since there can be no more than four players, and there are now more than four regular and College Careers each.
Career Space: A type of space found only in Generation II in which a player who lands on it makes a payment to the bank (if there are no players with the corresponding Career symbol), to an opponent (if that player has the Career with the matching symbol), or not at all (if the Career belongs to the player who landed on it). However, some rule sets in video game adaptations of Generation III turn some Pay Spaces into Career Spaces.
Career Trade Space: This is a space exclusive to Generation V. It has a magenta background, and anyone who lands on it may replace their Career with an unused one of the same type (unless they have a college degree, in which case they can choose any unused career they want) using the standard career change rules.
Change Career: A Stop Space unique to Generation III located where the Return to School branch merges with the Path of Life. Any player who reaches this space must stop, then either replace their current Career with a College Career by drawing two College Career Cards face-down, before taking the card they want (along with returning any Pay Raises they have to the bank), or take two $10,000 Pay Raises, and finally spin again. In the former scenario, if only one College Career Card is available, that player will automatically receive it, while their previous College Career Card is returned to its deck; also, if no College Career Cards are available, a College Career Shortage occurs as detailed below. The function of this space was merged with that of the Return to School space for Generation IV (see below).
Child: A term referring to any person added to a player's family upon their landing on a Baby Space. Can either be a boy or girl, which are represented by blue and pink pegs respectively. Except in Generation II, each baby would contribute a small amount of money (called a Children's Gift - see below) to the final score of the player that had them.
Child Support Space: This term originated in Generation II and refers to a Pay Space whose value depended on the number of children belonging to the player who landed on it. In Generation II, any player who had the Teacher Career Card would be exempted from their associated payments and would also collect other players' expenses when they landed on these spaces. In Generation III, some of these spaces require any player who lands on them to pay a fixed amount in addition to a specific sum multiplied by the number of children they have. There are no such spaces in Generation IV, however.
Childless: This term refers to a player who completes a game without landing on any Baby Spaces at all and therefore does not have any children. There was no penalty for this in Generation II except for collecting fewer Life Tiles; in all other versions, not having any children will also prevent a player from collecting a Children's Gift (see below) upon retirement.
Children's Gift: A gift of $10,000 ($20,000 in Generation I) provided by each child in a player's family upon their retirement. This feature was absent from Generation II, but was reintroduced in Generation III and retained for Generation IV. It would be replaced by the Team Gift in Generation V (see below).
Choice Space: An informal synonym for Option Space (see below).
Classic Game: The standard rule set of The Game of Life, with no modifications. Only explicitly referred to as such in video game adaptations.
Collect Card: A type of Share the Wealth Card found in Generations I and III that allows a player who uses it to collect 50% of the money gained from a Collect Space when an opponent lands there. Only one such card can be used against another player during a turn; if more than one player wishes to do so, they must spin once each, and whoever spins the highest number will use their Collect Card. In Generation III, if the amount collected cannot be split equally between two players, the player who used the Collect Card would always collect the lower amount, and as was the case in Generation I, Collect Cards could not be used to split amounts of $5,000 or less.
Collect Space: A type of space which rewards a player who lands on it with money from the bank. In Generations I and III, a player could use a Collect Card on an opponent who landed on any such space on the board if they had one. In Generation IV, they are only present on the Risky Path of Life, and are distinguished from Pay Day spaces by their blank green background and the lack of a Pay Day symbol on them.
College Career: Any career that requires a degree and therefore cannot be drawn when choosing the Start Career option at the start of a game (or, in Generation III, immediately after landing on a Lose your Job space). In Generations II and III, their corresponding cards had the words "Degree Required" and "Requires a College Degree", respectively, printed on the reverse side. Also, from Generation III onwards, these careers were generally more lucrative (i.e. their built-in salaries paid more) than other careers and were given their own card deck; in Generation IV, they were given a darker blue background on the obverse side to distinguish them from other Career Cards.
College Career Choice: The final space at the end of the Start College path before it merges with the Start Career Path. In Generation II, it was referred to as simply "Career Choice"; a player who reached it would have to stop, draw three Career Cards, choose the one they wanted, and repeat the same process for the Salary Cards before spinning again, with Generation 2.5 adding the restriction that the Salary Cards chosen must all match the colors printed on the Career Card they chose. In Generations III and IV, upon reaching this space, a player would have to draw two College Career Cards face-down at random, then choose the card they wanted before spinning again; also, in Generation III, if there was only one College Career Card available, that player would receive it automatically. In Generation V, players must spin at least once upon reaching this space; if the number spun is less than 3, their turn ends, and they must wait until their next turn to get a College Career, but if the number spun is greater than 2, they must immediately draw four College Career Cards, select the one they want and spin again
College Career Shortage: This refers to a rare situation unique to Generation III in which a player decides to return to school, but is then unable to change careers upon reaching the Change Career space due to a lack of available College Career Cards. That player will instead automatically receive two $10,000 Pay Raises (effectively increasing their salary by $20,000) and then spin again.
College Debt: The amount of money borrowed (including interest) to cover tuition fees if a player chooses the Start College option at the beginning of a game. This was introduced in Generation II, with a total debt of $50,000; however, Generation 2.5 increased this to $125,000. The value was left unchanged for Generation III, but this feature was removed in Generation IV in favor of an immediate $100,000 payment (see below) due to players now starting with $200,000 instead of $10,000.
College Degree: A prerequisite for all College Careers, only obtainable through College or Night school.
College Fee: Introduced in Generation II, this is the value of the tuition fee paid when a player chooses the Start College option at the beginning of a game. Originally, this was set at $40,000, but in from Generation 2.5 onwards this was increased to $100,000, and it has stayed at that value ever since, although starting in Generation IV, players no longer have to take out any loans to pay it off.
Counter-Lawsuit: In Generation III, this refers to the act of attempting to sue an opponent who has previously tried to sue you, regardless of whether they were successful or not.
Countryside Acres: One of two retirement options available at the end of the game, first introduced in Generation II. Originally, retiring here would give you a Life Tile if any of them are available (to take from the draw pile, or if it is empty, any opponents who have themselves not retired at Countryside Acres); however, in Generation III, anyone who retired here would not receive any Life Tiles. In both of these versions, no other players could take Life Tiles from a Countryside Acres retiree. However, in Generation IV, there are no longer any benefits or drawbacks to retiring at Countryside Acres, thereby rendering its presence somewhat pointless.

Day of Reckoning: The final space on the board in Generation I. Any player who landed on it would receive $20,000 per child, pay back their debt at 25% interest, and either go to Millionaire Estates or attempt to become a Millionaire Tycoon (but not both at once). It would be replaced by the Retirement space from Generation II onwards.
Debt: The total value of all Bank Loans in a player's possession, including interest for each loan.
Debt-Free: A slang term referring to a player who did not borrow any money during a game. In Generations II and III, this could never have applied to a player who chose the Start College option at the beginning of a game due to the fact that it requires going into debt at the very start. However, in Generation IV, this is much more likely given that money is more easily earned than before, and the Start College option no longer comes with any debt at all.
Default: Another term used to refer to being bankrupt (see above), applicable to Generation II onwards.
Defendant: This term is only used in Generation III and refers to any player who gets sued by an opponent who has just landed on a Lawsuit Space.
Degree: Short for College Degree (see above).
Deck: A set of cards that all belong to a certain category. Generation I had two decks (one each for Stock and Share the Wealth Cards). Generations II and III had four decks (one each for Careers, Stocks/Long-Term Investments, Houses, and Salaries in the former, or Share the Wealth Cards in the latter). Generation IV also had four decks, but the Stock/Long-Term Investment and Share the Wealth Card decks have been replaced by a College Career and Action Card deck respectively.
Description: The text printed on a space that shows the instructions a player must follow upon landing on it.
Die: Though not used in any version of the game due to its inventors' dislike of them (for being considered as wicked items only fit for gamblers), the spinner essentially functions like one, albeit a 10-sided item. In fact, if the spinner is missing, a 10-sided die can be used to simulate a spinner (with 0 simulating a spin of 10), given that all 10 numbers have equal area allocated to them on the spinner.
Double Stock: In Generation II, this refers to the act of owning two Stock Cards at once. In order to do so, a player must land on the Stock Market Boom space after having previously purchased a Stock Card. However, due to the fact that there are only nine such cards available, no more than three players are capable of owning two stocks at any one time; therefore, if three different players already have two different stocks each, landing on the Stock Market Boom space will have no effect. This became impossible in Generation III, where no player could own more than one Long-Term Investment at a time.
Draw: The act of taking a card at random from a certain deck.
Draw Pile: In Generations II and III, this term referred to the supply of Life Tiles that was not placed in Millionaire Estates at the start of the game, but had not yet been claimed by any players. If the Draw Pile is empty, a Life Shortage occurs (see below).

Early Retiree: A player who reaches the Retirement space before their opponents do. Before Generation III, there was no incentive whatsoever to retiring early, except in Generation I where the first player to retire received a $100,000 bonus, chose a number on the spinner, and received an additional $10,000 from any player who spun that number until the end of the game. This was made much easier with the introduction of the Early Retirement space in Generation V (see below).
Early Retirement: A new type of space introduced in Generation V. It is located near the end of the Path of Life, and any player who reaches it must decide whether or not to retire early; if they do so, they follow a much shorter path to the Retirement space than usual, consisting of one Pay Day space and an Action Space.
Elimination: Another term for going bankrupt. This only applies to Generation I, since later versions do not allow for a player to be eliminated in this way.
Eloping: The act of landing on the Elope space in Generation III. Any player who does so will immediately advance to the Get Married space.
Enhanced Game: A special rule set found only in some video game adaptations in which the rules are significantly different from the ones found in the Classic Game. Also referred to as Enhanced Mode.
Enhanced Share The Wealth Card: A type of Share the Wealth Card exclusively found in the Enhanced Mode of some video game adaptations of Generation III, replacing the standard Share the Wealth Cards normally present. These cards are not given out to players at the start of a game; instead, when a player draws one upon landing on a Share the Wealth Card space, that player must immediately follow the instructions printed on its reverse side, if possible. If the player who drew the card cannot follow those instructions, he/she must draw another card as many times as necessary until they draw a card for which they can follow its instructions. In any case, said instructions are different from those found in the standard Share the Wealth Cards used in a regular game.
Extra Spin: This occurs when a player reaches a Stop Space. After following the instructions specific to that space, their turn continues; hence, that player must spin the spinner again to complete their turn.
Extra Token: In Generation IV, this refers to the bonus Spin to Win token (which is colored silver, to distinguish it from the single token each player can normally use) given to the player whose turn it is upon landing on a Spin to Win space. That player can use that token to select another number in addition to the one they originally chose.

Family: The pegs representing all the people in a player's mover (the player's character, and, where applicable, their spouse and children).
Family Path: A branch on the Path of Life that is longer than the main path, but provides anyone who takes it a better chance of having a child than usual. This was first introduced in Generation III, and was carried over to Generation IV virtually unchanged, with the exception that there is now a Stop Space at the end, and anyone who reaches it must spin exactly once to determine how many children they will receive; depending on the number they spun, they will receive one, two, or three children, or none at all. Before the term was officially introduced, however, some players referred to the right-hand path after the first Branch Space as this due to it having two Baby Spaces, whereas the left-hand path from this branch had none. Generation V overhauled the Family Path so that there are now two Baby Spaces and one Twins Space.
Family Space: A new type of space introduced in Generation V. Anyone who lands on this space must place a peg in their mover (or two pegs, if they land on a Family Space with the word Twins on it) if possible.
Fire Insurance: An obsolete form of insurance exclusive to Generation I that protects its owner from corresponding payment spaces, and remains in their possession indefinitely until they retire or land on a "careless" space.
First Spin: A full round of turns made before the start of a game to determine the order in which players take their turns. Each player spins once, and the player who spins the highest number goes first, after which play proceeds clockwise; if there is a tie for the highest number, the tied players must spin again as many times as necessary until there is a winner among them.
Fortress: In Generation III, this is a slang term for any player's inventory with a high net worth and at least two Exemption cards. Such an inventory is more resistant to other players' Lawsuits and Share the Wealth Cards than usual.
Full House: The act of filling all six slots in your mover by getting married, then having at least four children (or, in Generation V, acquiring five pegs of any kind) later on. Actually having more than four children (or five pegs in Generation V), however, will lead to the phenomenon some players refer to as Overfill (see below).

Generation: A term used to describe a version of the mainstream Game of Life. So far, there have been five distinct Generations: Generation I (1960-1990, revised in the 1970s/1980s and reissued in 2010), Generation II (1991-2006, with a 40th Anniversary reissue in 2000, and a slightly revised Generation 2.5 debuting in 2002), Generation III (2007-12, with a 50th Anniversary reissue in 2010), Generation IV (2013-2020) and Generation V (2021-present).
Get Married: A special space in which players must stop upon reaching it, then take a person peg that represents their spouse (in addition to a Life Tile) and spin again (except in Generation V, where players can choose whether or not to get married upon reaching this space). Getting married usually involves spinning for wedding gifts before spinning again (except in Generation II, where spinning for wedding gifts was only featured in the Enhanced Mode of its video game adaptation). Each player can only get married once per game at most.
Gift: A minor monetary reward acquired from getting married, having a child, or retiring with children (or, in Generation V, retiring with any pegs other than the one a player started the game with) in one's family. Not present in Generation II (except in the Enhanced Game mode of its video game adaptation).
Golden House: This term was coined in Generation II to refer to the most expensive house a player can purchase. For example, in Generation II, the Victorian house had this status, while in Generation III, this title belonged to the Tudor Style and Mansion for being the most expensive Starter Home and House, respectively, available for purchase. Another incentive to buy such properties before anyone else does so is that they have higher resale values than any other houses, whether explicitly stated in the default rule set or through a house rule.
Golden Salary: This term is only applicable to Generation II and refers to the most valuable Salary Card in play. Anyone holding this will gain more money from Pay Day spaces than other players; however, this makes them a tempting target for salary traders (see below).
Green Space: A space with a green background. In Generation I, anyone who landed on these spaces could take Revenge on an opponent; however, from Generation II onwards, these became Pay Day spaces. In Generation IV, there are a few Green Spaces on the Risky Path of Life that will reward anyone who lands on them with a large amount of money; these spaces are distinguished by the lack of a Pay Day symbol.

Holy Trinity: An alternate term for Big Three (see above). In Generations II and III, some players also used this term to refer to the three Life Tiles with the highest values ($250,000 each in Generation II, $50,000 each in Generation 2.5 and Generation III).
House: A type of purchasable property found in all versions of the game. Except in Generations IV and V, no player can own more than one of these at a time.
House Card: A card (whose obverse side had an orange background in Generations II-III and a lime green background in Generations IV-V) that represents a house, although players could never own more than one house at a time prior to Generation IV. Houses vary widely in purchase price and, from Generation 2.5 onwards, in resale value. In Generation II, they were a mandatory purchase, and there were 9 House Cards available, with values ranging from $40,000 to $200,000 (in $20,000 increments); in Generation III, there were only 6 Houses available, with prices from $300,000 to $800,000 (in $100,000 increments), and purchasing them was optional. Also, whereas House Cards were randomly selected in Generations II, IV and V (and in the latter two, players who buy a house must draw two House Cards, then select the one they want to buy), this was not the case in Generation III, where players could manually select the House they wanted to buy. Generation V significantly reduced the prices of many Houses compared to Generation IV.
House Insurance: A type of insurance policy in Generations I and II that requires owning a House to purchase, but when purchased, prevents its owner from having to pay anything when their House is damaged. In Generation II, the cost of House Insurance was always 25% of the value of the House the player owned. As with Car Insurance, this policy was removed from Generation III onwards.
House Rule: A deviation from the standard rules of the Game of Life that is not printed in the manual and is instead created by one of the players. There is a wide variety of house rules across all versions, but using too many of them will make the game feel overly complicated, so most games are played using no more than one or two of them at a time, or none at all. One of the most common uses of house rules is to prevent any situations that cause game-ending bugs (see above). Other times, house rules can be used for an easier or more challenging game.
House Sale Spin: The act of spinning to determine your house's resale value. First introduced in Generation 2.5, it was brought back from Generation IV onwards. Some number and house combinations result in a loss, others result in a profit, and still others will only break even. This gameplay mechanic was not present in Generation III, in which every Starter Home and House would have a fixed resale value without the use of house rules (see above).
House Space: This is a space in which anyone who lands on it must stop, buy a House and spin again. In Generation I, it was mandatory to buy a house (for a flat $40,000 sum) upon passing or landing on a House space (of which there were two) if a player had not done so already. However, in Generations II and III, the House space was now a Stop space; the latter had two of these, the second of which gave players the option to trade in their current Starter Home for a new House. In Generation IV, House spaces are treated in a similar way to Action spaces - passing over them has no effect whatsoever, but landing on them provides the player with the option to buy a new house, sell one they already own, or do neither (but not both at once).
House Trade: The act of selling your house and buying a new one (in Generation 2.5) or trading in your Starter Home for a better House (in III). This is not possible in Generation IV, since players can no longer sell their current house and buy another one on the same turn.
House Trade Space: This is a Stop Space that is unique to Generation 2.5. It was placed immediately after a Stock Market Crash space, replacing a Life Space that had been present in earlier Generation II sets. Anyone who reached this space could sell their house; if they did so, they would have to spin to determine its resale value, then purchase another House as per the usual procedure, and return their previous House Card to its deck before they can spin again.
Hunting: A tactic in which a player tries to hinder the progress of a specific opponent (usually the one with the highest net worth). Originally, this entailed exacting revenge (either by taking $100,000, or forcing them to move back 10 spaces) on another player as often as possible, but in Generation II, this would be replaced by trading Salary Cards with an opponent; if that opponent had the Golden Salary before (or after) such a trade (see above), it would make them an inviting target for another opponent who had a chance to trade salaries with them. In Generation III, it instead involved targeting an opponent for Lawsuits and/or Share the Wealth Card usage in the hopes of collecting money from them. Anyone who uses this tactic is called a Hunter.

Immortality: A fan-made term used to refer to the fact that due to the fact that the last space represents retirement, player characters in the Game of Life can never actually die; however, they can end up being Bankrupt (Generation I only) or extremely poor, in some cases with a negative bank balance (Generation II onwards).
Inflation: A term used to refer to the doubling of all monetary values partway through the print run of Generation I sets, reflecting real-life financial inflation at the time.
Initial Salary: In Generation III, this refers to the salary a Career has when a player draws the card from its deck, before its value has been increased through Pay Raises.
Initial Spins: The first round of spins in a game, used to determine the order in which players take their turns. The player who spins the highest number goes first; play then continues clockwise. If two or more players have a tie for the highest number spun, they must spin again as many times as is necessary until one of them spins the highest number among them. Some players take this idea further with a house rule requiring tie-breaker spins to decide who goes second, then third, etc. if necessary.
Insurance Policy: A purchasable item in Generations I and II which indemnifies its buyer from payments related to certain "tragedy" spaces. For each type of Insurance Policy, each player could own up to one at a time. However, in Generation I, landing on some spaces would cause a player to return a specific type of Insurance Policy to the bank if they owned one. In addition, Insurance Policies were absent from Generation III onwards due to how unlikely it was to land on a tragedy space in previous versions, given that there were so few of them.
Insured: In Generations I and II, this term is used to refer to a player who owns at least one type of insurance policy. A player who owns every type of available insurance policy at once is said to be Fully Insured. On the other hand, a player who owns some (but not all) such policies at once is deemed to be Partially Insured.
Interest: A small amount of money that accompanies every Bank Loan and must be paid along with the loan itself. Usually, interest is fixed at $5,000 per loan.
Inventory: The collection of all the money and items (which includes Houses, and in some versions, Action Cards, Life Tiles and/or Share the Wealth Cards) owned by a player at any point in the game.
Investment: Not to be confused with the Long-Term Investment in Generation III, this is a new feature in Generation V that replaces the Lucky Number in Generation IV. It can only be bought upon landing on an Invest Space and costs $50,000 to purchase. A player who purchases it can assign it to any number that is not already tied to an Investment. The amount of money earned when any player (including its owner) spins the number linked to an investment is initially $10,000, but increases by $10,000 for every such subsequent spin, up to a maximum of $50,000; as such, it takes at least three turns for an Investment to pay for itself. However, if a player changes the number linked to their Investment, its progress will be reset. Finally, landing on an Invest Space will cause a player to receive an immediate increase in their Investment Value (see below) and earn it at the same time.
Investment Number: The number printed on the reverse side of a Stock or Long-Term Investment Card (in Generations II and III respectively). Generation V reintroduced this feature; unlike in previous versions, players could now change it at any time after buying an Investment, at the expense of resetting their return on investment to $10,000.
Investment Return: The amount of money a player earns any time the number on their Stock Card (Generation II), Long-Term Investment (Generation III) or Lucky Number (Generation IV) is spun. Originally, this amount was set at $10,000, before being reduced to $5,000 in Generation III, and increased to $20,000 in Generation IV.
Investment Space: This space has an orange background and is new to Generation V. Any player who lands on it may purchase an Investment for $50,000.
Investment Trade: A term applicable only to Generation III, used to refer to the act of replacing your Long-Term Investment with another one. This costs $10,000 and is only possible as part of a house rule or in some video game adaptations.
Investment Value: In Generation V, this refers to the amount of money any player can earn whenever a number tied to the Investment they own is spun.

J

Jack of All Trades: Slang for a player who changes careers more than once in the same game, regardless of whether or not that player re-acquires a career they had previously obtained.
Jackpot: A term that refers to winning $500,000 (the highest possible amount) from a Spin to Win. Any player who wants to do so must bet $50,000 during a Spin to Win. This term only applies to Generation III. Note that getting the Jackpot, or winning a Spin to Win in General, does not require the use of Spin to Win cards, although those items will definitely make it easier to accomplish.
Job: Another name for a Career.
Job Loyalty: Refers to the act of finishing a game with the same Career you started with.

Kamikaze: Slang for any action by a player that will have severe negative consequences if unsuccessful, but will yield a significant financial reward if successful.
Killer Move: A term some players use for any action during turn that makes it impossible (or at least very difficult) for a specific opponent to win a game even in a best-case scenario.
King: Slang for a player who wins a Game of Life.
Kingmaker: This refers to any situation in which a player who cannot win a game can still influence its outcome by hindering an opponent such that another opponent can claim victory. In Generations II and III, for example, this could be done by taking a Life Tile from an opponent; also, in the former, Salary Card trades could do the trick, whereas in the latter, Lawsuits, Share the Wealth Cards and even Spin to Win would have a similar effect.

Late Retiree: A term used to refer to the last player to reach the Retirement space. There is no penalty for being the last player to retire, except in Generation IV, where the first player to retire always receives $400,000, and any players who retire after this will receive less money in $100,000 increments; therefore, in a four-player game, the last player to retire in a game will only receive $100,000.
Lawsuit: The act of taking $100,000 from an opponent in Generation III upon landing on a blue Lawsuit Space. It can be negated using an Exemption Card if you have one. This mechanic is present in Generation IV, but with a few major differences: Lawsuits now only occur if you pick up certain Action Cards, and the amount earned from those cards is not only variable, but has also generally been reduced compared to Generation III.
Lawsuit Space: A blue space found only in Generation III as a replacement for the Option Space found in earlier versions. Any player who landed on it could attempt to sue another player for $100,000. There are nine of these spaces scattered throughout the board; however, one of these spaces is accessible only by taking the Risky Path of Life late in the game.
Leader: The player with the highest net worth at any point in the game. Of course, this comes with drawbacks such as being a tempting target for Revenge (in Generation I), Salary Card trades (in Generation II) or Lawsuits (in Generation III).
Life Drought: This is more extreme version of a Life Shortage. In Generations II and III, it occurs when a player lands on a Life Space, but is unable to receive a Life Tile due to every other player having retired at Countryside Acres and/or not having any Life Tiles of their own. In Generation II, it can also occur if a player retires at Countryside Acres when taking Life Tiles from opponents has become impossible for the reasons stated previously.
Life Insurance: A form of Insurance Policy exclusive to Generation I whose purchase is necessary for earning money from landing on its associated spaces. This policy is worth $3,000 at the end of the game.
Life Shortage: In Generations II and III, this occurs when a player lands on a Life Space after the draw pile is emptied and must take a Life Tile from another opponent. If this is impossible, a Life Drought occurs (see above). Due to the absence of Life Tiles from Generations I and IV, it is impossible for a Life Shortage or Drought to occur in either of these versions.
Life Space: A space on the board that will reward anyone who lands on it with a Life Tile. This space was introduced in Generation II and retained for Generation III before being removed from Generation IV.
Life Thief: Also known as a Tile Thief. Slang for any player who has taken a Life Tile from another player.
Life Tile: An item found in Generations II and III that is usually acquired by landing on a Life Space. In addition to the LIFE logo on a white background printed on the obverse side, each Life Tile has a monetary value printed on its reverse side, but this value is not revealed and added to its owner's net worth until the end of the game. In Generation II, there were three $250,000 Life Tiles, four $200,000 Life Tiles, five $150,000 Life Tiles, six $100,000 Life Tiles and seven $50,000 Life Tiles, for a total of 25, and each Life Tile also had its own brief description printed on the reverse side, with black text on an orange background; from Generation 2.5 onwards, these values were reduced by 80%. Generation III kept the Life Tile values unchanged, but changed the reverse side to show black-edged white text on a yellow background and removed the descriptions (while retaining the values). This item was absent from Generation IV, in which the Action Card took its place.
Lifeless: In Generations II and III, this is a slang term that describes anyone who finishes the game without any Life Tiles in their possession. Such a condition was undesirable in Generation II, but less so from Generation 2.5 onwards, where Life Tile values were significantly reduced.
Lifers: Slang term for fans of The Game of Life. Some of them are more passionate than others, but all of them are devoted to this game in some way.
Loan: Short for Bank Loan (see above).
Long Shot: Slang term referring to a player who has little chance to win the game.
Long-Term Investment: A purchasable item present only in Generation III as a replacement for the Stock Card from earlier versions, and subsequently replaced by careers' built-in Lucky Numbers in Generation IV. There were 9 Long-Term Investments, and each one had a number between 1 and 9 printed on its reverse side. Each investment cost $10,000 to purchase, and its owner would receive $5,000 whenever anyone (including themselves) spun its number; therefore, it took two turns for a Long-Term Investment buyer to recoup their investment. In addition, once a player has purchased a Long-Term Investment, it would remain in their possession for the remainder of the game, and no player could own multiple investments at once. However, some video game adaptations allow players to pay the bank $10,000 to replace their existing Long-Term Investments with new ones (see above). Long-Term Investments have the same purple backgrounds on their obverse sides as Stock Cards did in Generation II.
Lose Your Job: A special space in Generations II and III that forces any player who lands on it to draw a new Career Card and return their previous one to its deck. Generally the least desirable space on the board to land on, except for players with low salaries (who therefore have a chance of getting a more lucrative career/salary combo). In Generation II, there were only two of them on the board, and a player who landed on either of them must also replace their Salary Card with a new one. In Generation III, however, there were four of these spaces, and any player who landed on them must return all of their Pay Raises and replace their current Career Card (regardless of type) with an unused regular Career Card (not a College Career Card), if possible. It was absent in Generation IV due to the fact that some Action Cards now have the same effect (see below).
Lose Your Job Card: Exclusive to Generation IV, this is a special kind of Action Card that forces anyone who draws it to replace their current Career Card with another Career Card of the same type.
Lucky Day: A space found in Generation I that will cause any player to immediately receive $10,000; that player can either keep the cash or gamble it by selecting two numbers and then spinning again. If the number spun does not match either of the chosen numbers, the player will lose their $10,000 bet; otherwise, that player will earn $150,000 from the bank.
Lucky Investor: Slang for a player who receives at least 10 returns from a Stock Card (Generation II), Long-Term Investment (Generation III) or Lucky Number (Generation IV)
Lucky Number: The number on the spinner that is tied to a Career in Generation IV, replacing the Stock Card and Long-Term Investment from previous versions. Any opponent who spins this number will pay the player with the corresponding Career a small amount of money (usually $20,000). If the player with said Career spins that number, they will receive that amount of money from the bank instead. Regular Career Cards have Lucky Numbers ranging from 1 to 5; College Career Cards have Lucky Numbers ranging from 6 to 10. Unlike Stock Cards and Long-Term Investments, they are included with a career for free and do not require any purchases. In addition, some Lucky Numbers are shared between two Careers.
Lucky Spin: Any Spin to Win that results in at least one player winning their bet. From Generation IV onwards, every Spin to Win becomes this due to the fact that the player whose turn it is must spin as many times as required until the number spun matches any of the players' chosen numbers (including their own).

Marriage: The act of getting married in the Game of Life. Before Generation IV, this was a mandatory process that could only occur once per player, regardless of what version of the game is being played. However, in Generation IV, this became optional, but any player who got married would still receive a peg as normal.
Maxed Out: In Generation III, this is slang for a career whose salary has reached its maximum value. Note that careers without a maximum salary can theoretically have up to seven Pay Raises; however, this is only possible if a player maintains it throughout the entire game, in addition to returning to school partway through and taking the $20,000 Pay Raise, as well as refusing to take the Family Path later on.
Maximum Salary: This feature is exclusive to Generation III and refers to the highest possible salary attainable by a Career. All Careers in Generation III (except for the Entertainer, Athlete, Lawyer and Doctor) have this feature, wherein the maximum salary is either $30,000 (3 Pay Raises) or $40,000 (4 Pay Raises) greater than the initial salary. Careers without this restriction can theoretically have a salary that is $70,000 (7 Pay Raises) greater than their base values. However, to get that many Pay Raises with any of those careers, one must not only avoid landing on any Lose Your Job spaces, but also return to school, then take the $20,000 Pay Raise option upon reaching the Change Career space, and later on, forgo the Family Path altogether in favor of continuing on the Path of Life.
Midlife Spinout: A new kind of Stop Space introduced in Generation V. Any player who reaches it must stop, spin the spinner once, and either take the longer, more challenging Midlife Crisis path (if they spun an odd number) or the shorter, less challenging Path of Life (if they spun an even number). Both paths from the Midlife Spinout eventually converge after a short distance. It is worth noting that in Generation V, the Midlife Crisis Path and the regular Path of Life fulfill a similar function to the Risky and Safe Paths, respectively, from Generations III and IV.
Millionaire: A term that refers to a player whose net worth is at least $1 million. If a player's net worth is at least $2 million, that player can also be called a multi-millionaire (see below).
Millionaire Estates: One of two retirement options at the end of the game (in Generation I, it was originally called Millionaire Acres). It is generally only advisable to retire here if you have the most money. In addition, in Generation I, anyone who retired there could still make Side Bets on their opponents' turns and serve as a Toll Collector (if they had gained that privilege). However, in Generation II, the wealthiest player to retire at Millionaire Estates will receive 4 additional Life Tiles once all other players have retired (although if there is a tie between two players who retired there, they will gain two Life Tiles each), while in Generation III, the first three players to retire there would gain an extra Life Tile each; in both of these versions, any player who retired at Millionaire Estates could have their Life Tiles stolen if the draw pile is depleted. Finally, in Generation IV, there are no benefits or drawbacks to retiring at Millionaire Estates, thereby rendering its presence moot.
Millionaire Tycoon: A term only applicable to Generation I referring to any player who wins the game by choosing a number on the spinner (which involves placing their mover or all of their money on it) upon reaching the Day of Reckoning space, then making a spin in which the number spun matches the one they chose.
Min-maxing: A common problem in Generation II where certain game elements could be exploited. For example, the Accountant was the most lucrative Career of all, with the Athlete a close second; having children would earn you a Life Tile (if any were available to take from the draw pile, or failing that, an opponent who had at least one such tile of their own and had not retired at Countryside Acres), but increased the cost of landing on Child Support Spaces; buying the cheapest houses was preferable (except when Resale Values are in effect, whether through a house rule or not); and finally, it was inadvisable to buy insurance due to the lack of Tragedy Spaces and the low likelihood of landing on them. However, min-maxing has been less prevalent since Generation III, where the most expensive houses are often the most desirable.
Mini-game: A term referring to a side-activity within the game such as Side Bets and Spin to Win, in which players could gain or lose money. Some video game adaptations use more of these in addition to (or in place of) those stated above, at least in certain game modes.
Miss Next Turn: A type of space first seen in Generation II, which would cause any player who landed on it to skip their next turn. Generation III had only one such space (on the Start College path), and Generation IV had no such spaces. Landing on such spaces is often (but not always) undesirable.
Mistrial: This is a term referring to when a Lawsuit in Generation III is unsuccessful due to the defendant using an Exemption Card, resulting in the plaintiff not receiving any money. Mistrials are no longer possible in Generation IV, where Share the Wealth Cards are completely absent, and the Lawsuit Action Cards guarantee that any player who collects them will take a certain amount of money from any opponent of their choice.
Model Citizen: Slang for a player who successfully sues an opponent at least once without being sued themselves. Only applies to Generation III.
Money: The unit of value used for transactions during a game. For example, Generations II and III both had five denominations of money each: $5,000 (blue paper bill), $10,000 (yellow paper bill), $20,000 (red paper bill), $50,000 (green paper bill), and $100,000 (orange paper bill).
Mover: The car-shaped token that represents the player's movement along the board. It has holes for 6 pegs (representing the player and their spouse, plus their children) and comes in one of six different colors (four in Generation IV).
Multi-House Owner: This term is only applicable to Generation IV and refers to a player who owns more than one house at the same time.
Multi-Millionaire: A term referring to a player who finishes the game with a net worth of at least $2 million. This is most likely to occur in Generation IV, where money is easier to come by than in other versions, but it can also happen in any other version under the right circumstances, and it is possible for more than one player (or even all of them) to attain this status by the end of the game.

Net Income: The difference between the amount of money a player earned during their turn and the amount of money they lost in that same turn due to payments. A player's net income during a turn can be negative if their expenses for that turn exceeded their income.
Net Worth: The total value of a player's assets. This is calculated by adding their cash on hand to the value of the House/Starter Home (as determined by a spin for resale value in some versions) they currently own, if they have one (from Generation II onwards), before subtracting their debt (including interest). At the end of the game, children's gifts (in all versions except for Generation II) and money from Life Tiles (in Generations II and III) or Action Cards (in Generations IV and V) will be added to this value.
Night School: This was one of two types of Blue Spaces in Generation II. In that version, a player who landed on it could pay the bank (or the opponent with the Teacher Career Card, if there was one) $20,000 to replace their Career and/or Salary Cards, then draw two Career and Salary Cards each, before choosing the cards they want from each deck. In Generation 2.5, it became mandatory for players to change salaries if they chose a new Career through Night School, and thus they could no longer retain their existing Career or Salary Cards if they accepted the offer. Night School would be overhauled and renamed Return to School (see below) from Generation III onwards.
Normal Career: A Career that does not require a College Degree. From Generation III onwards, these careers became generally less lucrative (i.e. their built-in salaries paid less) than other careers, and were also given their own card deck; from Generation IV onwards, these cards had a light blue background on the obverse side.
Normal Space: Any space on the board that is not an Option (Generations I through III only), Pay Day, Revenge (Generation I only) or Stop Space. In Generation I, these spaces had white text on a black background; to make them more legible, later prints changed this to black text on a yellow background. Generation II changed the background color of these spaces to orange, although this was changed to yellow (or, in the case of the 50th Anniversary Edition, gold) from Generation III onwards.

Old Age Phase: A slang term some players use to refer the last 20 to 30 spaces on the board before the Retirement space.
Open Daycare: This space was only present in Generation III and was the second space on the Family Path. Anyone who landed on it would receive a gift of $5,000 per child from every other player. Obviously, a player landing on this space would not receive any money if none of their opponents had any children, and if this occurred in the video game adaptations, the message "No other player has any children to send to your daycare" will appear on screen.
Option Space: A space which allows players to decide whether or not to make an important optional decision and which (usually) has a blue background. In Generation I, some of these spaces gave players who landed on or passed over them an opportunity to buy a Stock Card or an Insurance Policy. Others were marked "Play the Market" and can only lead to monetary gain (or loss) if a player who landed on or passed over them owned a Stock Card. Starting with Generation II, landing on some of these spaces gave you a chance to enter Night School, while others would give you an opportunity to trade Salary Cards with an opponent; in Generation III, landing on them would trigger a Lawsuit. However, Option Spaces are completely absent from Generation IV, although in Generation V, the Get Married space inherited their functionality.
Overfill: A term used mainly in over-the-board play when a player's family exceeds 6 people and therefore cannot be fully be accommodated in a mover (which has a maximum capacity of 6 pegs). Some video game adaptations make this impossible by limiting players' families to a maximum of exactly 6 people each (themselves, their spouses, and four children). In Generation V. this occurs when a player is unable to add a peg to their mover due to already having done so five times previously since the start of the game.
Overspin: This refers to a spin in which the spinner travels farther than you expected it to.
Overtake: This occurs when a player spins the spinner and ends up spinning a number such that their mover passes another player's mover on their turn and must therefore advance to the next unoccupied space on the board, given that no more than one player can occupy a given space at any one time (except via house rule) - it is impossible for two or more players to occupy the same space.
Over-the-board: A term referring to a game played using a physical set instead of in video game format.

Pass & Play: As applied to the video game adaptations, this refers to a multiplayer game that is not played online, but solely on one device (which can be a home console, a PC or a mobile device, depending on the version). In versions which do not support online multiplayer, this is the only way to play a multiplayer game.
Pay Card: A Share the Wealth Card found in Generations I and III that can be given to another player upon landing on a Pay Space (and on Taxes Due in Generation I). Anyone who receives this card must pay 50% of the amount the card's user would normally pay to the bank, unless the recipient negates its effect with an Exemption Card. In Generation III, if the amount paid cannot be split equally between two players, the player who used the Pay Card would always pay the lower amount, and Pay Cards could not be used to split amounts of $5,000 or less (whereas in Generation I, they could be used on spaces requiring a payment of at least $5,000). Finally, Pay Cards could not be used after retirement.
Pay Cut: An informal term used only in Generation III to refer to when a player lands on a Lose your Job space, but cannot replace their existing career with a new one due to a lack of available regular Career Cards. They will thus retain their current career, but must still return all of their Pay Raises to the bank as usual.
Pay Day: A green space on the board (red in Generation I) that rewards any player who passes or lands on it with their salary as stated on their Career Card. In Generation I, any player who landed on these spaces would also receive a Share the Wealth Card, and in addition to these, some of these spaces were marked as "Interest Due", whereupon any player who landed on or passed them would also pay $500 in interest for every bank loan they had. However, in Generation III, some of these spaces were Pay Raise spaces; anyone who landed on or passed such spaces would receive a Pay Raise unless their career's salary had reached its maximum value. Finally, in Generation V, any player who landed exactly on a Pay Day space would receive their Bonus Salary from the bank (see above) instead of their usual salary.
Pay Raise: An item unique to Generation III that could be acquired by passing or landing on a Pay Raise space. However, it cannot be obtained by a player whose career's salary had reached its maximum value, and it would not take effect until the first Pay Day space after the raise was collected. Also, a player who changed careers for any reason would have to return all of their Pay Raises to the bank. Finally, once collected, Pay Raises would remain in a player's inventory indefinitely until they retired or changed careers (for any reason) - whichever came first.
Pay Space: A space on the board that requires any player who lands on it to pay a specific amount of money. In Generations I and III, landing on these kinds of spaces provides the player with an opportunity to use a Pay Card on an opponent if they had one. However, in Generation IV, they are only found on the Risky Path of Life. In Generation V, this type of space was removed entirely.
Path of Life: The route a player follows during a game, from Start College/Start Career at the very start, all the way to Retirement at the end of the game.
Peg: A small plastic piece, usually colored pink or blue, that represents a person in a player's family (or, in Generation V, a friend or pet). Pegs are placed into holes in a player's mover (see above).
Pension: The penultimate space on the board in Generations II and III. Originally, anyone who landed on it would have to spin once and receive $20,000 multiplied by the number they had spun; therefore, this space could originally yield up to $200,000. However, in Generation III, the amount of money that could be earned through pension was halved; it now equated to $10,000 multiplied by the number the player had spun, therefore yielding a maximum reward of $100,000.
Plaintiff: A player who lands on a Lawsuit Space and therefore gets to sue an opponent for $100,000. This only applies to Generation III.
Play the Market: A type of Blue Space in which a player who landed on or passed it while owning a Stock Certificate could make a bet by covering the numbers 4 through 6 with their Stock. That player would then spin the wheel once. If they spun less than 4, they would pay the bank $25,000; if they spun higher than 7, they would earn $50,000 from the bank; if they spun any other number (between 4 and 6 inclusive), they would not gain or lose any money. No other players can bet on the spinner while someone is Playing the Market.
Poor Farm: In Generation I, this is where players place their movers if they eliminate themselves from the game by making an unsuccessful attempt to become a Millionaire Tycoon and therefore becoming Bankrupt. It would be replaced by Countryside Acres from Generation II onwards.
Post-Retirement Spin: In Generation III, this refers to any spin made by a player who has already retired. Any player can receive money from their Long-Term Investment during these turns if the number spun matches their investment number. This feature was also present in the Enhanced Mode of the video game version of Generation II, where players could gain or lose money depending on where they retired and the number they spun.
Profit Margin: Another term for Resale Value (see above).
Promissory Note: Obsolete term for Bank Loan, used only in Generation I.

Quick Game: A term used to refer to a shortened game mode in some video game adaptations.
Quick Spin: An option in some video game adaptations that lets the AI spin the wheel automatically, instead of manually spinning by clicking on the wheel and dragging it in an arcing or elliptical motion.

Range: The furthest a player can travel along the board during their turn.
Ranking: The order in which the players finish (in terms of net worth) at the end of a game.
Resale Value: The amount of money a player can earn from selling a Starter Home (in Generation III only) or House (from Generation 2.5 onwards). Usually, this is a fixed amount, but some versions require the property's owner to spin once to determine how much money they will earn from the sale. In that case, depending on the number spun, that player can make a loss, earn a profit, or simply break even. Early Generation II sets did not have this feature (nor was it present in Generation I), although it can be implemented via a house rule.
Retiree: A player who has retired by reaching the final space on the board. That player must then wait until all other players have retired before he/she can calculate their final net worth.
Retirement: The final space on the board from Generation II onwards, replacing the Day of Reckoning space from Generation I. Any player who reaches this space must stop, repay the entirety of their debt, sell any houses they own, and return their Career Card to the bank (in addition to their Salary Card and Insurance Policies in Generation II, or their Pay Raises in Generation III), as well as receiving gifts from any children they have (from Generation III onwards). From here, a player can retire either to Countryside Acres or Millionaire Estates (see above for info on these terms) depending on how confident they are in being the wealthiest player, but they must still retain their Stock Card (in Generation II) or Long-Term Investment and Share the Wealth Cards (in Generation III). Finally, in Generation IV, the first, second, third and fourth players to retire will receive $400,000, $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Retrograde: Another term for Backward Motion (see above).
Return To School: Introduced in Generations III and IV as a replacement for Night School, this is one of the options a player can choose upon reaching the first Branch Space. Selecting it in Generation III requires a $50,000 payment (borrowing from the bank if necessary) and then spinning again. In Generation IV, however, returning to school involves paying $100,000, followed immediately by drawing two College Career Cards, and finally choosing the desired card as a replacement for your current career, before spinning again to continue your turn.
Revenge: A mechanic introduced in Generation I in which a player can force an opponent to pay them $100,000 (if they have at least that much money available) or move back 10 spaces, although it cannot be levied against anyone who has retired at Millionaire Acres. In Generation II, it was only available in the Enhanced Mode of the video game adaptation, and even then, it involved collecting their salary from any opponent who had not retired at Countryside Acres by landing on a Pay Day space. No other versions have this feature, however; Generation III, for example, replaced it with Lawsuits.
Revenge Lawsuit: Another term for a counter-lawsuit (see above).
Revenge Salary Trade: A term some players use for trading salary cards with another player who had previously done the same to you. Especially satisfying if you re-acquire a salary you previously had in the process.
Revision: An official change to the rule set of a specific version of the game made during its print run. This has happened once with each of the four main versions, with the exception of Generation III.
Risky Path of Life: Introduced in Generation III, this was one of two options a player could choose late in the game. Originally, it contained four Spin to Win spaces, a Lawsuit Space, and a few high-value Pay Spaces in addition to a Pay Day space. However, this was simplified in Generation IV; it now consists of a sequence of high-value Collect Spaces with some Pay Spaces in between.
Rotation: The order in which the players take their turns, as determined by the initial round of spins.
Round: A term referring to a complete cycle of turns. If there are fewer players, there will be more rounds in the game, but each one will have fewer turns; on the other hand, if there are more players, there will fewer rounds in the game, but each one will have more turns. Although the minimum length of a round has always been 2 turns (for a 2-player game), the maximum length of a round was originally 6 turns due to the game supporting a maximum of six players, but this was decreased to 4 turns in Generation IV, which only supports four players at most.
Running Order: The order in which the players' net worth is listed (in descending order) at any point in a game.

S

Safe Path of Life: Also introduced in Generation III along with the Risky Path of Life, this is the more conservative of the two options available to a player late in the game. It was originally much shorter than the Risky Path (4 spaces compared to the Risky Path's 8) and had two Life Spaces, a low-value Pay Space and a Pay Day space. However, in Generation IV, it now mostly consists of Action Spaces.
Salary: The amount of money a player earns upon passing or landing on a Pay Day space. This is tied to a player's career, except in Generation II, which had a separate Salary Card deck for salaries (see below). In Generation III, it could be increased through Pay Raises until a player retired, lost their job, or reached the maximum salary for their career (whichever came first).
Salary Card: A type of card with a green background on its obverse side. It is exclusive to Generation II and represents a player's salary, with values ranging from $20,000 to $100,000. Originally, any Salary Card could be combined with any Career Card, but Generation 2.5 made this impossible by placing salaries in one of four different Salary Groups (see below).
Salary Group: A set of one, two or three Salary Cards distinguished by the color of the text representing the amount printed on the reverse side. There are four Salary Groups: Blue ($20,000 and $50,000), Red ($30,000, $40,000 and $80,000), Green ($60,000, $70,000 and $90,000) and Yellow ($100,000). This feature was only used in Generation 2.5. However, it does not affect Salary Trades (see below)
Salary Trade: The act of trading salaries with another player. This can only occur in Generation II; even then, a player must land on a Trade Salary space to be able to do so. Obviously, if all other players have retired, trading salaries with other players becomes impossible. The greater the positive difference in salaries, the more effective the trade is; hence, it is always best to trade salaries with a player whose salary is more lucrative than your own. Anyone who exchanges Salary Cards in this way is called a Salary Trader.
Share the Wealth Card: A collectible inventory item present in Generations I and III that a player could use against an opponent (or, in the case of Spin to Win Cards, which were exclusive to Generation III) on oneself when the opportunity arose. In Generation I, each player started with one of these cards and could collect more by landing on Pay Day spaces, but they could not be used against an opponent who was Playing the Market or having a Lucky Day; in Generation III, each player started with three of these cards and could collect more by landing on Share the Wealth Spaces (see below). In either of these versions, you can use Share the Wealth Cards against anyone who has retired.
Share the Wealth Space: A special space (found only in Generation III) with the words "Take a Share the Wealth Card" printed on it. Any player who lands on it will receive a random Share the Wealth Card.
Side Bet: In Generation I, this referred to a wager a player could make during an opponent's turn. Any player making a Side Bet must choose up to two numbers and wager up to $20,000. If the number spun matches any of the numbers chosen during a Side Bet, the player who chose that number will receive 10 times the amount of money they wagered from the bank. Note that the player whose turn it is can only bet during a Lucky Day and never during a Side Bet. In addition, side bets cannot be made if an opponent is Playing the Market. However, from Generation III onwards, some players use this term to refer to any and all wagers placed during a Spin to Win by any players other than the one whose turn it is.
Single: A term referring to a player who has not married yet. In Generation V, a player can stay single for the entire duration of the game simply by choosing not to get married.
Silver Salary: This is a term applicable solely to Generation II. It refers to the second most valuable Salary Card currently in play. For example, if the most lucrative salary currently in play is worth $100,000, then the next most valuable salary in play can be worth up to $90,000. Given that salary trades usually involve the player with the most valuable salary currently in play, having the Silver Salary is generally preferable under such circumstances.
Solo: A slang term most commonly used in Generation V to refer to a player who has not yet acquired any pegs of any kind, other than the one with which they started the game. Unlike in previous versions, it is possible for a player to retire while in this state, and any player who does so will not receive any bonuses for extra pegs.
Space: A section of track on the board that makes up the Path of Life. There are many different types of spaces, but not all of these types have been present throughout every version of the Game of Life.
Special Ability: A unique ability specific to each Career designed to improve its chances of earning money throughout the game. Each special ability has a different description that is printed on the reverse side of the corresponding Career Card. This feature was first introduced in Generation II, but initially, only the Police Officer had it. For Generation 2.5, all other Careers (except for those that require a degree) were given their own unique special abilities. Generations III and IV, however, did not have this feature (except in some video game adaptations of the former, and even then, only when playing the Enhanced Mode).
Speeding Ticket: A small amount of cash (usually $5,000, except in Generation 2.5 where it was $10,000) paid by any opponent who spins a 10 to the player with the Police Officer Career Card. If none of the players have that career, they will not have to pay any Speeding Tickets. This feature is only present in Generations II and III (although there exists a house rule to remove it from the latter), but was completely absent from Generation IV onwards.
Spin: The act of spinning the spinner, usually done to determine a player's movement along the board, and in some versions, to determine monetary rewards, such as house resale values, and the value of gifts (if any) received from other players. For a spin to be valid, it must make at least one full 360-degree revolution - any rotation less than 360 degrees will result in the player having to spin the spinner again.
Spin-Off: Any version of the Game of Life that does not use the standard rule set for the generation produced alongside it, instead using a different rule set specific to it. There have been many of these throughout the years; some spin-offs only exist in video game format, but most are produced only in physical sets.
Spin Duel: This gameplay element was introduced in Generation III to decide who would give an opponent a Collect Card if more than one player chose to do so. All players spin as many times as necessary until one of them spins the highest number. That player will then use a Collect Card on the selected opponent. In Generation IV, it was overhauled so that Spin Duels are initiated by collecting certain Action Cards, and some of them result in the winner collecting money from an opponent, while others lead to the winner collecting money from the bank. In addition, some Action Cards have instructions for a Spin Duel that can involve up to four players, with the largest amount going to the player who spun the highest number. This mechanic was mostly unchanged for Generation V.
Spin to Win: A gameplay mechanic introduced in Generation III that replaced (and is similar to) Lucky Day from Generation I. A Spin to Win begins when a player lands on a Spin to Win space. In Generation III, during a Spin to Win, all players may choose whether or not to place a wager; those who do son will then select one, two or four numbers (depending not only on whether or not they used a Spin to Win Card, but also what type of card if they had any) by placing the corresponding number of Spin to Win Tokens on them, before wagering between $5,000 to $50,000 in $5,000 increments. If at least one player made a wager, the player whose turn it is then spins once; if this spin matches a player's chosen number, that player will collect 10 times the amount of money they wagered from the bank. A player will have to pay the bank the amount of money they wagered if the number spun during a Spin to Win does not match any of the numbers they chose. Spin to Win would be overhauled in Generation IV, resulting in what some players call Spin to Win II (see below). However, Spin to Win is completely absent from Generation V, making that version the first one since Generation II not to have this feature.
Spin to Win II: An informal term used to refer to the revised version of Spin to Win introduced in Generation IV. It works similarly to the previous version of Spin to Win, but all players select exactly one number each, except for the player who landed on the Spin to Win space; that player can select one additional number, before spinning the spinner as many times as necessary until the number spun matches one that was selected; the player whose number was spun would then collected $200,000. Unlike in Generation III, there can only ever be exactly one winner from a Spin to Win in Generation IV.
Spin to Win Card: A type of Share the Wealth Card exclusive to Generation III. It is unique among Share the Wealth Cards in that anyone who owns one must use it on themselves instead of an opponent, and if they do so, they can select multiple numbers during a Spin to Win. There are two types of Spin to Win Cards: one allows its user to select two different numbers when used, the other allows its user to choose four different numbers when used.
Spin to Win Space: A special space first introduced in Generation III that begins a Spin to Win whenever anyone lands on it. There are several of them scattered throughout the board.
Spin to Win Token: An item introduced in Generation III, used only during a Spin to Win to determine the numbers chosen by each player involved. They were originally square-shaped, but became circular in Generation IV, where a silver Token was added for use only by the player who landed on a Spin to Win Space.
Spinner: The roughly circular plastic piece in the center of the board, which has ten sections individually numbered 1 to 10. Each section is identical in size to the others, making it functionally identical to a 10-sided die (a 1d10) in which the 0 represents 10. Each number also has a different background color to help differentiate them.
Spouse: The peg added to the player's mover upon reaching the Get Married space. This is usually (but not always) of the opposite gender to that of the player. In Generation V, players do not need to acquire a spouse, since marriage is now optional, whereas in previous versions, it was mandatory.
Start Career: Introduced in Generation II as a replacement for the Business route, this is one of two options available to a player at the start of the game. Originally, any player who selected it must draw one Normal Career Card (i.e. it did not have the words "Degree Required" printed on the reverse side) and one Salary Card (with Generation 2.5 adding the further restriction that the Salary Card had to belong to either of the Salary Groups the chosen Career Card is compatible with) before they can spin to start their turn. However, from Generation III onwards, selecting this option only requires a player to draw a Normal Career Card at the start of their first turn before they can spin. Furthermore, from Generation IV onwards, any player who chooses Start Career at the beginning must now draw two normal Career Cards and select the one they want. In any case, a player who choose Start Career will not incur any debt (or have to make an immediate cash payment) from the outset.
Start College: The second of two options available to players on their first turn, and generally the more lucrative of the two. Originally, any player who chose this starting option would have a salary between $6,000 and $20,000 depending on whether or not they landed on the space before the Bachelor's Degree space (and even then, only the first such square counted). In Generation II, Start College required borrowing $40,000 in tuition fees (which was increased to $100,000 in Generation 2.5). This was left unchanged for Generation III, but in Generation IV, instead of starting the game in debt, players who chose this option now had to pay $100,000 due to the amount of starting cash being increased from $10,000 to $100,000.
Starter Home: A type of property exclusive to Generation III that is purchased upon reaching the Stop Space with the words "Buy a Starter Home" printed on it. Unlike the Houses featured in Generation III, they cost much less, and most (but not all) of them have a resale value-to-purchase-price ratio greater than 1:1 (i.e. they can be sold for more money than they were purchased). Moreover, it is mandatory to buy a Starter Home, although it is optional to trade it in for a better House later on. Finally, a player can select the Starter Home they want to buy, much as they can if they buy a better House.
Stock Card: A purchasable item found in Generations I and II (referred to as a Stock Certificate in the former) that served as a predecessor to the Long-Term Investment in Generation III. Each stock had a purple background on its obverse side, bore a number from 1 to 9 printed on its reverse side and cost $50,000 to purchase. In Generation I, no player could own more than one Stock at any given time; moreover, owning a stock was mandatory for earning (or losing) money from spaces related to Stock Cards, as well as for Playing the Market, and each Stock Card was worth $50,000 at the end of the game. However, in Generation II, the Stock Card became much less useful; the only way for a player to earn money after obtaining it was to have someone (including themselves) spin its number, thereby earning them $10,000. As such, a player who buys a Stock Card in Generation II will need at least five turns to recoup their investment. Finally, a player must return a Stock Card to the Bank upon landing on a Stock Market Crash space (see below).
Stock Market Boom: This space (of which there is only one, accessible only on one optional branch partway through the game) is unique to Generation II. Any player who lands on it must collect a Stock Card if any of them are available, regardless of whether or not that player had previously bought a Stock Card.
Stock Market Crash: This space (of which there are two) is also unique to Generation II. Any player who lands on it must return their Stock Card to the bank; if that player owned two such cards upon landing there, they must choose which one to return. A player who is left without any Stock Cards after landing on this space can purchase another one at the start of any of their subsequent turns.
Stonewalling: This is a term used to refer to a highly defensive strategy employed in Generation III, where a player has at least one Exemption Card and reserves it for when it will be most needed, while also avoiding participation in Spin to Win (or at least wagering small amounts at most).
Stop Space: These spaces were first introduced in Generation II and have a red background (except in Generation III, where they had an orange background). Any player who reaches this space must stop, follow the corresponding instructions, and then spin again.
Sub-Deck: A set of cards within a deck that has a different set of attributes from all other cards in that deck. This only applied to Generation III, where properties and Careers were split into two sub-decks each (Starter Homes/Houses for the former, and Normal/College Careers in the latter).

Tax Evasion: Slang for when a player does not land on any Taxes Due spaces during a game (and, in Generation II, has a Career Card other than Accountant in addition to this). This only applies to Generations II and III due to Taxes Due spaces being absent from all other versions.
Taxes: In Generations II and III, this is the amount of money a player pays upon landing on a Taxes Due space, with the exact amount being dependent on the player's Salary Card (in Generation II) or their Career Card (in Generation III). Although this feature was removed from Generation IV, some newer video game adaptations retain it in some form.
Taxes Due: A type of space found only in Generations II and III that forces anyone who lands on it to pay their taxes. In Generation II, a player who held the Accountant Career Card would collect taxes from their opponents, without having to pay taxes themselves.
Team: This term only applies to Generation V and refers to the collection of pegs a player has at any point in the game. It includes the peg that player started the game with, in addition to those acquired by getting married or landing on Team Spaces. Pegs obtained through the latter are often referred to as Teammates.
Team Gift: A variation of the Children's Gift in previous versions, introduced in Generation V, referring to the $50,000 bonus each player receives at the end of the game for any peg in their team other than the one they started with.
Team Space: This type of Blue Space is exclusive to Generation V. There are three types of Team Spaces: Baby, Friend and Pet. The last two of these are new to Generation V; any player who lands on these spaces would gain a friend and pet respectively.
Tie: A rare situation that occurs at the end of the game when there are two or more players with the same net worth. If at least two players are tied for the lead (in terms of overall net worth) when the game ends, they will all share the victory due to the absence of a tie-breaker condition by default. In general, two-way ties are rare enough, and three-way ties are even more so.
Tie-Breaker: A special house rule that is seldom implemented in the event of a tie. The conditions vary from house values, to quantity or quality of Life Tiles/Action Cards (with the latter referring to the combined value), and so on.
Tile: Short for Life Tile (see above).
Tile Hoarding: A strategy only applicable to Generations II and III wherein a player aims to collect as many Life Tiles as they can in the early stages of a game, then hold on to as many of them as they can for as long as possible. A player who uses this strategy is therefore called a Tile Hoarder. Naturally, such players are tempting targets for anyone who wants to take their Life Tiles if the draw pile is fully depleted; to prevent this, Tile Hoarders prefer to reach the Retirement space as quickly as they can, and retire at Countryside Acres (to prevent opponents from taking their Life Tiles) when they get there.
Toll Bridge: A set of spaces on the board present solely in Generation I that allows the first player who passes all of its spaces to collect $20,000 in tolls from every opponent who reaches it unless he/she goes bankrupt or is sent back over them due to an opponent taking Revenge on them, after which the second player to pass the bridge can collect tolls.
Toll Collector: A term applicable only to Generation I, used to refer to a player who collects tolls from their opponents.
Toll Transfer: This refers to when a player gains the ability to collect tolls by being the second player to pass all of the Toll Bridge spaces after the first player to do so went bankrupt or was sent back over them due to Revenge.
Trade Salary Card: This is one of two types of Blue Space found only in Generation II; it has the words "Trade salary card with any player" printed on it. A player who lands on any of these spaces may trade their current Salary Card with one belonging to another player if one is available, or they may instead choose to retain their current salary. In Generation 2.5, its function remained unchanged due to Salary Groups not affecting the values of salaries that can be traded.
Track: The route followed by the Path of Life. It is divided into many spaces, with the exact length depending on the version being played and the route a player chooses.
Tragedy Space: A term used to refer to a Pay Space whose instructions make an explicit reference to damage to a house or car, thereby forcing any player who did not have the appropriate insurance property to pay the bank the amount of money stated on them. This is a particularly undesirable space to land on in Generation III, which did not have Insurance Policies; however, they are not present in Generation IV, where payments are usually (but not always) tied to specific Action Cards.
Turn: The actions undertaken by a player when they make their move (spinning the spinner, paying or collecting money, etc.). In Generations I and III, this includes the use of Share the Wealth Cards.
Twins: This is a type of Baby Space that will cause any player who lands on it to receive two children (instead of one), both of which can be any gender that player chooses.
Tycooned: Slang for a player who loses the game due to an opponent successfully becoming a Millionaire Tycoon. This only applies to Generation I due to the Millionaire Tycoon victory condition (and its requirements) being removed from Generation II onwards. Conversely, the act of winning the game by becoming a Millionaire Tycoon is called Tycooning.

Underspin: This occurs when you spin the spinner, but it does not travel as far as you expected it to.
Uninsured: In Generations I and II, this refers to a player who does not own any insurance policies.
Unlucky Spin: Slang for a Spin to Win in which the number spun does not match any of the numbers chosen by any of the players who placed a wager. Only applies to Generation III; this became impossible in Generation IV due to every Spin to Win resulting in a Lucky Spin (see above).
Unspin: This can occur in Generation III when a player lands on a Spin to Win space, but none of the players (including the one whose turn it is) place any wagers, ensuring that no money can be gained or lost due to the Spin to Win effectively not taking place. It is impossible for this to occur in Generation IV, which requires every player to take part in a Spin to Win regardless of whose turn it was when a player landed on a Spin to Win space.

Victory Condition: The objective that must be completed in order to win a game. In most versions, this simply means having the most money at the end of the game, but some versions and spin-offs (including many video game adaptations) have other requirements in place of (or in addition to) this simple requirement. In addition, Generation I has an additional victory condition that can only be attained by becoming a Millionaire Tycoon (see above).

Wager: The value of a player's bet during Side Bets/Lucky Days/Playing the Market (in Generation I) or a Spin to Win (from Generation III onwards). Wagers are completely absent from Generation II, which does not have any betting mini-games by default. In Generation IV, all wagers have a fixed value of $200,000.
Wedding Gift: A small amount of money that can be acquired from other players by spinning the spinner upon reaching the Get Married space. The amount earned depends on the number spun and the game version being played. In Generation I, no gifts could be earned if a player spun 7 or more; however, spinning a 4, 5 or 6 would earn that player $500 per opponent, and spinning 3 or less would yield a wedding gift of $1,000 per opponent. This is in contrast to Generation III, where no gifts could be earned if a player spun any number less than 5, but spinning a 5, 6 or 7 would yield a wedding gift of $5,000 from every other player, and spinning an 8 or higher would yield $10,000 per opponent. Finally, in Generation IV, wedding gifts are now worth $50,000 if an odd number is spun, or $100,000 if an even number is spun.
Whammy: Slang for any space (or, in Generation IV, an Action Card) that requires any player who lands on it to make a large payment (usually at least $50,000) or to replace their Career Card (and, in Generation II, their Salary Card as well).

X-Ray: Another term for an overtake (see above), used to refer to the fact that a player must pass over (and never land on) a space occupied by another player during their turn.

Youth Phase: A slang term some players use to the spaces on the board before the Get Married space.

Zero Net Worth: Not to be confused with bankruptcy, this is a very rare situation that can befall a player if the net worth of all their possessions (including debt) is equal to (or less than) zero. The Lawsuit mechanic in Generation III makes it more common in that version, though, since a player who is sued too often will be more likely to reach this state.

Adventures in Steam Games

Friday, July 1, 2022

Game of Life Glossary: Key Terms Explained

Game of Life Glossary: Key Terms Explained

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