Game of Life zAPPed Edition
This year at Toy Fair we noticed an unbelievable amount of games that are going to be brought to market that involve apps for use on the iPhone or iPad. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Hasbro is one of the dominators in the family game market, so I don’t know why I was surprised to see they had taken one of their classic games, The Game of LIfe, and spiced it up now allowing the iPad to be integrated into game play. The Game of Life zAPPed edition is recommended for 2-4 players, ages 8 and up.
You must own an iPad to use this board game which retails for $24.999. However the app is downloaded for free. Simply download the app from the app store, then place your iPad in the middle of the gameboard. On the iPad you are able to customize your person by naming it, choosing either a blue or pink peg, and choosing an accessory such as sunglasses, etc.
Just like the traditional Game of Life game you still manually push your car around the game board, inserting small pegs for getting married and having children, all while fantasizing about your dream job and ultimately retirement. There is a banker that manages paper money to the players. I personally think the introduction of the app really helps to create novel game play but it helps facilitate taking turns between players.. When it’s your turn, you tap your car on the iPad, and use your finger to activate the virtual spinner. There are designated spaces on the board where you must stop and make decisions.
Do you chose the career path or college path? If you chose a college path, what will you be when you graduate, a scientist, web designer or games tester? Will you take the family path earlier in life, later in life, or not at all? There are special board spaces that will impact your personal funds positively or negatively that you have no control over that the app decides. Will you sue another player when landing on the Lawsuit space? Will you have 1,2, or 3 kids when landing on the Family Space? The LIFE space lets you collect virtual LIFE tokens that will help earn you more money at the end of the game. The app also enhances the gameplay by including some short outakes from America’s Funniest Videos (AFV). There are additional games included in the app that will also allow you to win additional money by testing your skills with memory or attention. The game ends when all players hit retirement. Then using the app, each person enters the amount of money they have accumulated. LIFE tokens and kids are cashed in for money as well, which the app totals, and the person with the most money wins. Though the paper money includes high amounts (10K, 20K, 50K, 100K) at the end of the game players count the amount of 10K notes, then enter the simple number into the calculator on the app, making this a great way for younger children to be more independent when playing with older siblings and friends.
The only issue we had playing was that if you are a little impulsive and happen to hit the wrong icon on the app when it’s your turn (LIFE token, lawsuit, etc.) there was no way of being able to go back and pick the correct one. This could alter the game dramatically in terms of finances when determining a winner. Amongst adults we were able to rectify a solution, but I’m not so sure that kids would always be able to come to a successful solution. It is funny, now as a middle aged adult, there are times in my life when I stop to think, how did I get here? What if I had made this decision versus another one? It was really fun to dream again and make life decisions and play out the outcome, without the real fear of finances.
Hasbro provided this game free to facilitate this review. The opinions are my own.