The game of Life these days is much more real to life.  We immediately were reminded how cruel life can be as our game came short of two of the buildings that mount into the board.  Yes, that means that you actually have to put the board together.  We also noticed that the spinner is just barely functional.

We had to read the instructions almost from front to back in order to play.  There were so many new twists to the game.  Its either that or we’ve forgotten everything we remembered about the game.  As an example, they now have a variety of careers; one of which is Computer Consultant.  I’m pretty sure that’s new.  You can also buy stock.  All in all, the game seemed much more like Monopoly now.

In case you are curious, I became a Doctor, got married, and had a daughter.  I bought a modest house at first and then upgraded to a pretty nice house.  And then somehow, I was forced to become an Artist briefly before reverting back to being a Doctor.  Several times through the game, my house had calamities, but I was always protected by my home insurance.  In the end, I retired comfortably and won the game.

Suzanne skipped college and became an Artist.  Then she briefly became a Doctor before reverting back to being an Artist.  Then she had a mid-life crisis and became a Police Officer.  She also got married and had a boy and a girl.  I saw her car fall off one of the hills a time or two, but that didn’t seem to affect her game.  She retired decently thanks to her better-paying job, but she narrowly avoided living in a trailer in the early part of the game.

So there’s my review of the game of Life.  Much different and quite sobering.  As such, have yourself some wine and beer to even things out.  Or maybe just go to a bar instead.

The favorite match-up then was John Wayne vs. Clint Eastwood — we had a guy who was over-the-top on John Wayne so he could usually argue well that John Wayne would come out victorious.

But it makes me wonder now who the amusing match-ups would be. The obvious ones come from the political ranks and sometimes I think it’d be more fun to settle things that way. Can you imagine pay-per-view of Bush vs. Kerry?

I also think we should put our terrible criminals in a room and have them help offset the money that they cost us in bringing them to trial. So I’m calling for Scott Peterson vs. Mark Hacking.

And by the way, if your daughter ever wants to marry a guy with the last name “Hacking”, please consider whether that’s really a good idea.