The Game of Life


Our favorite game for a Family Game Night was “The Game of Life”. The game had just enough decision making for young minds to fathom, offset by the randomness of spinning a wheel that brought in the elements of luck. With its capitalist bent, in that, the wealthiest ends up winning, it opens up a healthy debate on the values we hold, an opportunity to discuss with children and gauge motivators in their lives. I don’t look at the game as a realistic simulation of life, just a fun way to introduce money management, with concepts of loans, insurance, stocks and paychecks intertwined with decisions about buying homes and starting families. In an interesting twist, recent versions added rewards for doing good, or adding fun life events and allowing adopting a pet. The game has a thought provoking concept of "life tiles". For example life tiles had events such as “Find a new Energy Source” or “Create a new teaching method” (the full list is at the end of the post) and the $ value attached to it, which a player can cash out at the end of the game.  Our family games expanded the concept of life tiles to having a non-cash value of "Life Points"- like reward points for life experiences and events. 


In “The Game of Life” the first decision starts at college. To my education focused Indian mindset, it was interesting to observe the impact of selecting college education instead of diving right into a career. More often the outcome of the game tilted towards the player who chose to take a longer route and an education loan at first, who, with the specialty, higher paying job options, ended up at the millionaire’s estate. I could see a shift in the choice based on experience from an earlier game where education had paid off. There were times when after choosing to plunge right into a career, I could see strategies changing mid game to go to night school so they could change careers. Of course, there would be interesting arguments about careers that tug at the heart - that of a Chef, or Singer or Firefighter, Teacher - and that everything wasn’t always about money!


In real life, education conscious desi parents have already spent fifteen years building the foundation leading to the decision about college. They start early, not only starting to save up for college when the child is young, even as early as in pre-school, but also being involved in providing the best learning opportunities for their child. They flock to towns with good school systems, if not the best. Sometimes the involved Asian community and the competition raises the bar higher. Occasionally parents may find the best private schools to fit the child’s personality. They will give up a few luxuries, or work extra hours or two jobs to provide for the best education for the child. Many Indian parents are willing to provide some support to their college age children, as they value education and consider it a prudent investment into their kids’ future. 

Every now and then one reads about successful Indian American CEOs, Technologists, Doctors, Engineers, Entrepreneurs and Scientists. Their journey is rooted in a strong foundation in Education and family support. It is usually not an easy call for family-centric Indians to leave their homeland. Having lived in a democracy, a quest for freedom is not a motivation to leave their country. The attraction to the land of opportunities ends up with a strong motivation to do better in their careers than they would have in India. A drive and desire for excellence in their fields - in business, research, technology, medicine. And the same aspiration for their progeny.


In our version of the Game of Life, while we emphasized the importance of a higher education for whatever career one chooses; we tried to introduce the philosophy of "work hard, play hard" by balancing with "Life Points". Though the actual game mostly only rewarded wealth, we had fun with life events like marriage and having kids or adopting pets. We would come up with our own life events and experiences and brainstorm their weight in life points. We even extrapolated the concept of life points to real life experiences and willingness to trade to the opportunity cost of accumulating wealth. At the end of the game, we turned over the life tiles and celebrated each one as a victory - it wasn’t only the one who reached the Millionaire's estate that won! 


Full List of Life Tiles





https://howdoyouplayit.com/life-rules-play-game-life/

Pic credit : Beginning of high school - India Today

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