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How to Succeed in the Game of Life

The Game of Life, first published by Milton Bradley, is a board game in which players move a car- shaped token along a trail of spaces depicting events that can occur in the course of one's life. Players get jobs, get married, have children, pay for services and ultimately retire. To win, a player must finish the game with the most money. Although the game relies mostly on luck, as the number of spaces a player moves is determined by a spinner, there are strategies to follow that maximize your chances of winning.

Instructions

- 1
  Follow the college track option at the beginning of the game. Although it will cost you $40,000 in loans and require you to move extra spaces, it allows you to draw more career and salary cards and grants access to degree-only jobs. This will greatly increase your potential earnings.
- 2
  Select the highest possible salary card that you have drawn.
- 3
  Select a career that features many spaces on the board with the potential to pay you. For the most lucrative career, select the card that corresponds to the most total money paid -- not necessarily the most Pay Day spaces -- on the board (editions vary). The cop career, which earns money each time an opponent spins a 10, is a stronger career in a game with five or six players.
- 4
  Watch other players' spins if you are the police officer. Players need to pay you only if you see that they have spun a 10. If you miss it, they continue on for free.
- 5
  Pay off your loans only when you are sure you will not need to borrow more money. Each loan of $20,000 costs $25,000 to pay off, and having to take extra loans because you paid off too soon is wasted money. Wait until retirement if you are unsure.
- 6
  Purchase stock only if the game has several players still on the first half of the board. You get money from your stock only when the number you have chosen is spun. The number must be spun five times just for you to break even, so stocks do not pay off late in a game or in a game with only two or three players.
- 7
  Retire at the estates only if you feel you have the most money and if Life tiles remain in the draw pile, as any players at the estates who have less money than the wealthiest resident don't earn tiles and because players who land on Life spaces when the draw pile is gone may take tiles from residents of the estates.
- 8
  Retire at Countryside Acres if you think you don't have the most money or are concerned that other players will take your tiles. Every player at Countryside Acres receives one tile.

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