Revolutionizing LIFE (tm)

This holiday season, give an old board game some new LIFE. Children of all ages love this classic game (currently #65 within the Amazon Board Games category). Here's how to add their experiences within this popular game "for ages eight and older".

Lets Update LIFE for All Ages!

Via thebiggamehunter.com

There once was an young lithographer named Milton Bradley who took a popular portrait of beloved (beardless!) President Abraham Lincoln. However, once the president grew a beard, Bradley had to find another source of income. And so LIFE was created in 1860, called "The Checkered Board of Life" (above).

In 1960, the game was updated for its 100th anniversary. The red and white checkers disappeared and a jaunty yellow road took its place, along with more relevant 'life' experiences such as "Recycle" or "Win the Nobel Peace Prize" (both from the 90s version I grew up playing). However, along with the opportunity to land in "Intemperance" or "Gambling," the experience of "Infancy" is taken off the board.

Why Include Children's Experiences?

Children (or at least those under the age of 18) and their life experiences are unrepresented in the game. Real life does not begin with the decision to attend college or start a career. As a result, this board game should be reformatted to include the experiences of the under-eighteen.

HASBRO (the current owners of LIFE, having bought out Milton Bradley Company) does not listen to user-suggestions of this kind. To be exact:

"In addition to not accepting new product ideas, we are also unable to accept suggestions on current products we are making," and so letters/prototypes are returned to sender, unopened (Thanks Veronica from the HASBRO Customer Service Chatline).

So instead of sending my board game prototype with fourteen exclusive spaces for children to HASBRO (along with a nicely worded letter about the importance of including children's experiences), I'm going to show everyone interested in a more equal representation of age-related experiences (such as "Learn CPR" or "Run for Mayor") how to do just that with their own LIFE...

Think of this as a wicked cool present if you're looking for a cheap holiday gift for your family or friends! Or a craft activity to do with children. Plus this alteration comes with the twin bonus of being both environmentally friendly and sticking it "to the man" (HASBRO being a corporate entity advertising that children's experiences are not worth representation).

Lets do a LIFE Update for inclusion.

Materials Needed:

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-Board game of LIFE (1960s edition or older)*

-The spinner which comes with the board game

-Pencil (optional but necessary for the person who doesn't want stray lines)

-Markers (any color but people who care about matching should probably make sure to have gold-yellow and olive-green)

-Paper, preferably the standard 11.5 by 8.5. I used white printer paper.

-Scissors

*My family moved last year and gave away our circa-1996 edition. As a result, I went to Target and got the newest edition for $16.84 (above). This edition is very different from the one above, but still childist for its exclusion of children's experiences. Ages 8 and above can play (yet the experiences of 8 to 18 year olds are absent).

1. Take the spinner and place in the center of the paper, tracing it with a pencil or marker.

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Notice the sticky-outty slots from the spinner? Don't include those in your template.

2. Stick the paper over the board game. Figure out where the college/career lines match up

I can't really display this step because of the new edition I obtained, but I hope it makes sense to curve the lines down near the end of the spinning island, blocking off into their own spaces just above the College/Career arrow

3. Determine the amount of spaces you want for children's experiences.

I recommend 10 to 12. The first space should be BIRTH, for all players to park their car until spinning.

Slot out the spaces as needed (draw lines sticking out from the original spinner frame, don't close them off since you might need more or less space for your writing). If you want it as even as possible, start by finding the halfway point and marking that line. Then find the halfway point of the two divided spaces, and repeat this division as needed.

4. Write out the different LIFE choices

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You can:

-Draw from the general consensus on childhood experiences (high school prom, extracurricular activities, sugar-highs from too much candy, fighting with siblings, learning to share, etc).

-Draw from your experiences of being a child-be prepared to explain! (for example, I once set a lamp on fire with a rubber Halloween mask when I was eight. I could include that along with the consequence of losing a turn for a time-out).

-Come up with any experiences ("Win a dance-off, get 20,000 dollar scholarship") that might match the ridiculousness of certain LIFE experiences on the rest of the board ("Host online concert, Pay 100,000 dollars is one such example).

My suggestions:

-Win Toddler Pagent, Get $20,000 scholarship! (obviously only applicable toward college)

-Sibling! (Life Tile**) (also, you can add that brother or sister you always wanted to your car!)

-Return missing cat, get 5,000* dollar reward

-Star in the school play (Life Tile).

-Birthday Party! Get 5,000* dollar bond (meaning, don't collect 5,000 dollars until you hit College/Career)

-Geography Bee Champion! Get $15,000* scholarship! (only applicable toward college)

-Grounded for talking back! Lose next turn.

-Start a school-wide recycling campaign (Life Tile).

-Summer School, lose a turn and pull up your grade!

-Go on a school trip to Paris! Pay $5,000* (do this one after the Allowance/Pay Day space-explained below).

-Prom Royalty (Life Tile)!

-Total your parent's car on the night of graduation. Lose Next Turn.

*In the new version, the $5,000 dollar bill is nixed. Rather, replace those figures with $10,000 if using the new deck.

**Life tiles are also not employed in the newest version. Instead, players should participate in Spin to Win despite that children cannot gamble until they reach the age of majority.

5. One space (somewhere in the middle-ish) should be an Pay Day/Allowance spot for $5000

Here's the math:

At the age of eight (second grade), my theoretical middle class American child starts receiving $10 a week

That's $520 in one year.

By the time this child is 18 years old (and therefore, according to the inherent rules of the game, 'independent'), s/he will have received $5200.

Since there is only a 5,000 bill option, we will assume that the parents forgot a couple of weeks over this ten year period (like mine), leading to the $200 loss.

*In the new version, there is no 5,000 dollar option. Rather, we will assume that this lucky child was given $20 a week allowance, reaching a $14,000 lump sum if the allowance sum is drawn into the game. However, this space is not as necessary because gameplay now requires that each player receive $200,000 at the beginning of the game, indicating that allowance/massive family inheritance in that person's life before LIFE totalled up to $200,000.

6. After writing in all the spaces, close off the spiral.

You've created a new beginning-game path! Color to your preference.

7. Cut

(both inside and outside the ring)

8. Don't Freak About the Overlap

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It will overlap with the original game path. I don't recommend affixing it permanently to the game. Instead, insert on top of the spinner and take it off after the last person must decide between College and Career. Think of it as a physical way to indicate that childhood is over if it helps you move into the more independent life experiences portion of the game!

In the case of the new edition, I'm actually going to put the ring in the corner spot because it completely overlaps the college/career path space-as seen below-(unlike older editions where the space around the circle is clear).

9. Play!

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Maybe snap a picture and upload it to social media as a way of showing your support for a family game to include the experiences of children in gameplay.

Additionally, I will add for the record that the 2013 version of LIFE is terrible compared to the 1996. But I will try playing it again when I can get over all the changes.