A Lifer's Diary, Part 1: New Set Of Wheels

A Lifer's Diary, Part 1: New Set Of Wheels

Not long after discovering the spinner wheel set used for the CEL Challenge, I quickly realized that it could be used to simulate Hasbro's Game of Life. There was just one problem: there could be no more than eight wheels for any given set, but I was able to work around this. After due consideration, I came to the conclusion that Generations II and III lent themselves better to being simulated with a set of spinner wheels, so I decided to start by making a set for the former. The resulting wheels are shown below.

A set of spinner wheels that can be used to simulate a Game of Life (Generation III).

The functions of each wheel (left to right, row by row) are as follows:

• Spin: Created to simulate the spinner in the real-life board game (or a 1d10/10-sided die, which is functionally identical if you treat the 0 as 10), each player must spin this wheel once at the start of the game to see who goes first, and at least once for every player as they move along the board. Also spin this whenever any player lands on the Pension space, or is in a Spin to Win.
• Start/Choice: Spin this wheel once for every player at the start of their first turn, to determine whether or not they go to college; if they do so, they must borrow $100,000 to pay their tuition fees. The result of such a spin determines which one of the next two wheels is spun when that player gets to choose a career. In addition, this wheel is used to simulate a player's choice between taking a new college career or a $20,000 Pay Raise for their current one. Under this circumstance, the "Career" option simulates the Pay Raise, and the "College" option simulates the career change (although this is not available if all other College Careers are taken, in which case the "Career" option will be chosen automatically). This wheel also simulates whether or not a player makes certain decisions upon reaching a Stop Space other than the first two on the board, such as returning to school, taking the Family Path, trading up to a House, and taking the Risky Path of Life: in this case, if the spinner lands on Career, the player rejects the offer, but if the spinner lands on College, the player accepts the offer.
• Normal Career: This wheel can only be spun whenever a player chooses a normal Career Card. Note that any player who does so when landing on a Lose Your Job space must immediately return all of their Pay Raises to the bank. Each space on this wheel shows a different Career and its corresponding salary range. If the wheel lands on a space that represents a career belonging to any player (including the one whose turn it is), spin again until it lands on a space representing a currently unused Career (unless all other normal Careers are taken, in which case this wheel will not be spun; instead, that player must retain their current Career, but they must also return their Pay Raises as usual).
• College Career: This wheel must be spun twice (or once if only one College Career is available) whenever a player chooses a College Career Card. Note that any player who does so when landing on the Change Career space must immediately return all of their Pay Raises to the bank. Each space on this wheel shows a different College Career and its corresponding salary range. For each spin of this wheel, if it lands on a space that represents a career belonging to any player (including the one whose turn it is), spin again until it lands on a space representing a currently unused College Career (unless all other College Careers are taken, in which case this wheel will not be spun; instead, that player must retain their current College Career and receive $20,000 in Pay Raises).
• Share The Wealth: Spin this wheel three times for each player at the start of their first turn, and once for whenever a player lands on a Take a Share The Wealth Card space.
• Starter Home: Any player who lands on the Buy a Starter Home space must spin this wheel once to determine the Starter Home they will buy. Each space on this wheel shows the name of a different Starter Home, along with its purchase price and resale value. If it lands on an option that is already taken (including by the player whose turn it is), spin again; if only one Starter Home is available, it will automatically be sold to that player. Note that Starter Homes are mandatory purchases; Houses are not.
• Life Tile Value: Each space on this wheel represents a different Life Tile denomination and how many times at most it can be spun. When all players reveal the values of the Life Tiles in their possession, spin this wheel once for every Life Tile they have, but if the spinner lands on a space for which you have reached the maximum number of spins (3 spins for $50k, 4 spins for $40k, 5 spins for $30k, 6 spins for $20k, and 7 spins for $10k), spin again until it lands on a value for which you have not reached the spin limit for that denomination.
• House: Any player who lands on the Buy a Better Home space must spin this wheel once if they choose to trade in their Starter Home for a new House. Each space on this wheel shows the name of a different House and its purchase price (the latter of which is also identical to its resale value). If it lands on an option that is already taken (including by the player whose turn it is), spin again; if a player reaches the Buy a Better Home space when only one Starter Home is available, it will automatically be sold to that player. Note that Houses are optional purchases, unlike Starter Homes.

With the set of spinner wheels described above, I hope I can more easily simulate this version of the Game of Life than ever before. In fact, I could create a similar set for Generation II, but any versions of the Game of Life from Generation IV onwards (as well as Generation I) may be less well-suited for such a project; as such, I have less interest in making spinner wheel sets for those. Even so, if and when I choose to simulate another Game of Life (using the Generation III rule set), I will certainly use this specific set of spinner wheels.