The NEW Game of Life by Hasbro; Fresh Twist to a Family Game night Classic.
This post was made possible by Hasbro Games. Thoughts are my own. I received The New Game of Life for review purposes.
We love to play games as a family. Board games are such classics that they always provide great entertainment for the entire family and offer good clean fun. Plus it is a great time to teach kids how to be good sports, be happy for those who win and be gracious losers as well. Plus it builds family relationships.
One of my favorites as a kid was The Game of Life. I have been wanting to get this game to add to our own family collection for quite a while but for some reason, I just never got around to it.
What’s New with the Game of Life Game Features?
Well, finally thanks to Hasbro; we now have the NEW Game of Life. And let me tell you it is a huge hit with my kids! This is the first experience my boys have had with this game. It was a lot of fun to see the excitement of someone who is playing the Game of Life for the very first time. Like I said, this was a favorite of mine and I had played it many times growing up. But the New Game of Life has quite a bit different from the original game.
First of all; the set up is a lot easier and faster. It no longer takes 20 minutes just to get the game started. So that is a big improvement. I like the new design of the board and game play actually goes a lot faster. And it is really simple for my boys to understand.
Not to mention the rule sheet is a lot easier to breeze through, it is easier to find all the rules for each square too. Plus there is a lot less money options. Now everything is in the thousands with $10,000 being the lowest, then 50K, 100K, and 500K. That is all. That means it is a lot easier to do all the math in the game.
Everyone starts with $200K and before the game even begins you decide if you are going the college route or just starting with a job. If you are going to college you pay $100K before you even spin the wheel. So at first, my kids didn’t want to go to college. But when they saw the difference in the pay day prices of career vs college career jobs they quickly changed their minds.
I personally love the idea of how they use cards to pick the careers now. Now you all have an equal shot of getting the best paying career and not have to worry about getting the exact number spin to land on the right square.
There are also a lot more opportunities to get kids and houses in the New Game of Life than in the original as well. And a lot of fun action cards and more ways for everyone to gain money throughout the game.
And as I mentioned multiple times before; the gameplay just goes a lot smoother and faster. So while the game still takes a good chunk of time to play; it doesn’t take as long as the original game used to take.
Although; we do miss a few features of the original. Such as only 4 people can play the New Game of Life. Instead of 6. Right now that isn’t too much of an issue because Miss Jade isn’t old enough to play yet, but as she gets older we all won’t be able to play the game together because our family is too big. So I think that was a big mistake in the game change.I would like to see future versions go back to the 2-6 players option.
And the cool “mountain” attachments to the board are no longer part of the game. That’s a silly feature to miss I know, but I do miss the cool mountain passes.
Also at the ending, you no longer have to guess if you should go to the Millionaire Mansion or not and pray that you have the most money otherwise you lose the game. It is now simply that the first person to reach the end gets the biggest cash bonus. With each subsequent playing getting a little less in bonus pay.
To finish off the game; you turn in all the action cards you earned, sell your house/homes, and get cash for each kid (yeah for child tax credit!). The person with the most money wins! Super easy. And cashing in the money is a lot faster with the smaller option in bills too. Although we did find that we often ran out of $10K bills and had to do a lot of cashing in as the game progressed.
NEW Life the Game Instructions!
For those that have been looking for the instructions, I found ours, and here are some close-up pictures, so you can remember how to play too!
But overall; our family has absolutely loved playing the New Game of Life. It is a classic that is a great addition to every family board game collection! My boys ask to play it every weekend when we have time. And on the other Snow Days or Holidays when we don’t have school. It is a hit and I think it will get a lot more gameplay for quite a while to come. We’ve already had to take it to the grandparent’s house so the kids to play it with the Grandparents.
And if you follow us on Instagram; you already saw it’s a great game for all these SNOW Days with school canceled. What a fun way to pass the time and enjoy the day together!
We give The New Game of Life two thumbs up. The Game if Life is available for purchase at mass retail stores nationwide, on Amazon and from Hasbro. Be sure to like Hasbro Game Night on Facebook for more great Family Game night ideas!
I remember playing this when i was younger i used to love it i would love to get this copy and play it with my kids we do not have enough board games.
I have an old (like from when I was a kid) version of this game and my family loves to play it. I think it’s probably time for an update, though, huh?
I haven’t heard of Game of Life before, but looks like something my family would love to play. Thanks for a grear review!
Looks like a really fun game… we also liked the old game of Life. Games are so fun to play with the kids.
I love board games – and The Game of Life was a favorite of mine as a kid. I didn’t realize they’d updated it.
Me and my little sister use to love playing this game when we were younger. I bet we would have loved this updated version even more!
I always hated waiting for everyone to get to the end and then counting up the money. I like the new change for that part of it. With you on the mountain pass though!
I used to play this with my step kids all the time when they were little. My 6 year old is having a blast learning how to play she’s gotten pretty good at waiting her turn but every once in a while she will forget the rule and try to take her brothers or sister turn.
This looks much simpler than the old version of Life! My kids and I always enjoyed playing Life on game nights but it was hard to set up and get started.
I haven’t heard of Game of Life before, but it sounds like an interesting game. I’m sure it would be a great addition to our collection.
i haven’t played Life in forever but this one looks way simpler will have to check it out and see if little man would like them
I used to love to play the game of life! My second favorite-Monopoly!
I absolutely loved this game as a kid! Looks like a good comeback!
I haven’t ever played Life, and we’re huge game players. Crazy, right?
That game is so amazing, a definite classic!
Seeing photos of this game is such a blast from the past. I remember playing it with my siblings when we were little.
I have a really old edition of Game of Life in my cupboard which still comes out from time to time though the wheel has got a little dodgy. I love the new simple look of this one 🙂 x
I sucked at board games as a kid, haha. I never played this before, but maybe I should look into it 🙂
I hate to admit it, but I haven’t played a board game with my kids in forever. The last time was an impromptu game of monopoly with my kids and my best friend and her kids and it was so much fun!
HOW FUN!! We love playing board games and know my family will enjoy this. I didn’t know they redid the game.
I always loved this game and I like the changes. I used to hate fighting to get all those little ramp pieces put on.
Aside from limiting players to 4, this sounds like a great update to the game! I think I’d miss the odd little mountains too. My burning question, though: does your family actually stay in the car now, or do the kids still fly out when you take a turn too fast? LOL. I always loved this game. I’ll definitely have to get this and introduce it to my son.
Ha! Funny you should ask that. Sadly the “people” pegs do still fall out if you happen to “turn” too fast. lol.
LOL! I guess it’s back to the drawing board on that one. Maybe we just need to super glue our families in place! Still, it sounds like a fun update to the classic.
We love Hasbro games! My kids would love this! Perfect for their age too!
This looks a like a fun interactive board game for the whole family! Never played it before!!
That looks like fun. We used to have tons of good times playing this when the kids were little.
Where are the rules? We have this version and have already lost the rules. I can’t find the 2014 rules anywhere.
I have photos of the instructions that came with my game! YES – time for a party dance! But my hard drive died, /cry so that has put me behind getting them uploaded.
I sent it off to get recovered and It just got back to me, so I’m transferring all the data back to my computer as I type this and as soon as I find the pictures again, I can get them added in. 🙂 I’m hoping for this afternoon…if the transfer goes well. So keep checking back. Either tonight or tomorrow I’m hoping.
@Katie, you just check at the top of the page, where the rules are posted.
The Game Of Life is amazing. Although, I like the one with pets. Also, me and my brother played it last night (but it was the one with NO pets:)
Thanks for posting the pictures of the rules. Picked this up from a garage sale as my copy had been destroyed by the kids at some point.