LIFE Choices - An Old Game but TRUE to Life

Ok, so I have been posting about old games this week but I couldn't resist posting just this one more. I laughed at some of the things that are in this game. I play life with my kids frequently and didn't even notice that the game we were playing was different than the game I played with my family growing up. This one is a first edition from 1960. However, Art Linkletter who is endorsing the game on the front, has trees on his game so perhaps this is not a first edition but just first copyrighted edition?

When I saw this game at the second hand store the other day, I thought it was a bit more than I wanted to pay as it was more than the Yahtzee or any of the other old games I purchased as they were mostly $2 or less. However, after looking at the game and seeing that it had all its parts and was like the game I played growing up, I bought it just to show the girls and actually play it with them. I figured it could be my Christmas present. It was only $8 but having Princess 5 have surgery and needing braces and just putting $500 on the dance team for payment and still owing $500 on it for school fees, $8 can be a lot for a game. There are some other costs coming up and me writing this shows the need I feel to justify spending $8 on something. 

The girls have so much going on and I want to send Princess Four on a graduation trip along with the choir trip so she will be getting those for Christmas and her birthday etc. Driving is something that seems to be put off for her right now and I can't say that I am sad about it for the cost of insurance but it would be nice to have her driving so I am not a taxi daily.

Well that little excursion from the post kinda fits this game as I talked about medical bills, driving, insurance and vacations. Move ahead three spaces and pay a Dr. Bill of $3000 for braces. Move ahead 5 spaces and win the Lottery (see my winning posts by typing "win" in the search box at the bottom of the page to see about all my big wins.)  Spin and move ahead and pay for a vacation. I guess my daily living is like playing the game of LIFE.

The insurance policy's are different in the old game than the new game and in real life I just paid two large sums as I changed insurance companies so that my house is now covered for earthquakes. It made my premium go up some but not as much as I would have expected. My former company allowed payments with a small fee, however my new company charges a larger fee so I paid most of it up front which has drained the coffers. I hope I don't have any need for insurance but like in the game of LIFE, sometimes it is nice to have.

I laughed when I looked at the money in the old LIFE game. It seems like there are more bills but the faces on the bills are so funny. They look like munchkins from The Wizard of Oz. 

I took a picture of the center of a couple of the bills so you could see. One especially looks like the Mayor of the munchkin city.

I ran into a friend while buying the game and she said she bought an armload of old game the other day as well. I wondered what games as I bought many and most of the old games I know about I bought. 

I asked her which games and she said, "Oh, these are before your time. These are games my sister and I played when we were girls." She is probably twenty years older than I am so that makes the games quite old. She said that she bought them to send to her sister for Christmas as they were all the games they played together. The main one she mentioned was "Pollyanna." I have never even heard of that game so I wouldn't have purchase those games most likely as I wanted games I played and my girls play with me.

At first, I thought there were some cards missing as in the newer game, you pick cards for salary and profession but on this game, you land on a spot and stay with that profession and salary the entire game. 

The other thing I noticed was that they had 8 cars to play and 8 of all the insurance papers etc. I am sure there are not 8 players in the games we have now. 

Families were larger then. It was funny, one time I remember playing with my family and my mom had 8 children in real life. She had at least that many in the game as she kept landing on every baby space. She had so many she had them laying in between the other people standing in the car. I don't know why I remember that but obviously I have fond memories playing it with my family

The old game is a bit more interactive and you can collect cards and use them against other players and you have cards that keep you safe from other players getting things from you. It reminds me of the old Monopoly game. 

The salary spots are quite funny as well as a lawyer makes $15,000 annually and a Dr. makes $20,000 annually. Now, if you work at McDonald's, you make more than $15,000 annually.

I think playing this with the girls will be fun. Not sure when the next time they will all be down again but I am looking forward to playing some of our old games. Mousetrap and Candyland are both on the list. 

I spruced up the boxes with a bit of clear Duck Tape on the inside as well as some glue sticks and they look great and nothing shows on the outside. 

I wish they had a cardboard box looking duct tape but as of yet, I don't think they have that style. I think I would know as we own almost all the styles they offer. Click here to see a post about that. 

Aren't I blessed with a happy LIFE!