History TabletopGame / GameOfLife

** Cannonball: Two bills of each denomination[[labelnote:*]]$5,000 - $10,000 - $20,000 - $50,000 - $75,000 - $100,000[[/labelnote]] are hidden on a board. You have four chances to get as many pairs of those bills as you can; their denomination is added to your winnings.
** Crane Dump: Somewhat reminiscent of [[Series/ThePriceIsRight Plinko]], this game has you dump up to six balls with a crane into five slots, each worth a certain amount of money[[labelnote:*]]in that order: $10,000 - $25,000 - $50,000 - $25,000 - $10,000[[/labelnote]]. Each slot can only contain one ball at once: if another falls into the slot, both are destroyed, leaving the slot empty. You can quit before you use up your six balls.
** Get a LIFE: Three tiles of each letter that spells that word are hidden on the board. You have up to six chances to spell L-I-F-E entirely by finding those tiles. Getting it in six clicks wins you $50,000, in five $75,000 and in four $100,000.
** Safe Crackers: Twelve bills are hidden on the board. You have four chances to unveil the highest amount you can; you keep the last amount you reveal. You can quit when you want.
** Skunk Money: Among the twelve bills hidden are two "skunk" bills. You must try to find as much money as you can without getting a skunk, in which case you'd lose all your winnings. You can quit when you want.
** Trash Can: Crane Dump in reverse -- the crane is locked in the middle of the field and you must move a trash can in the slots to try and collect as much of the six balls as you can. Each collected balls wins you $50,000.
** Up or Down: In addition to one of each denomination, a color-inverted negative equivalent of each are also hidden on the board. Unveiling the positive bills adds to your winnings while finding the negative bills reduces them. You can quit when you want.

** On LIFE spaces, instead of collecting LIFE tiles, you spin again to determine whether you'll play one of "Life's Little Games" or collect a flat fee -- the numbers are randomized, but spinning 10 multiplies your payout and spinning 5 allows you to enact "revenge" with the payout (in those cases, you spin again).

* MinigameGame: "Enhanced Game" replaces all of the LIFE Tiles with [[CallBack some of the mini-games from the 1960-1990 board game]] (including revamped "collect presents" and "revenge" mechanics) and adds a few called "Life's Little Games". In addition, the wheel dictates how much your house costs initially, as well as how much you are able to sell it for at the end of the game.

* ButThouMust: You gotta get married at the "Marriage" space. It's the rules. Of course you can come up with whatever justification for this relationship that you want. Take the GayOption and get a same-gender spouse, or maybe the person is your HetrosexualLifePartner. Maybe the person is your paid secretary/servant. Any kids you have [[HappilyAdopted could be adopted]] or [[PromotionToParent children forced onto you by fate]].

* ButThouMust: You gotta get married at the "Marriage" space. It's the rules.

''The Game of Life'', originally known as ''The Checkered Game of Life'', is a game created by Creator/MiltonBradley in which you literally go through your life, from college to retirement. Along the way, you start a career, get married, and even have children, if you're lucky. The game has evolved drastically over the years; while play pretty much remained the same from the 1960's through 1990, dollar values were occasionally adjusted for inflation, with the biggest change to the game coming in 1991. In 1998, a CD-ROM version of the game was created for PC, and in 2005, the game was re-released with even further changes. As many as six (sometimes eight or ten) people can play the game, depending on how many game pieces Milton Bradley felt like putting into your copy of the game that day.

* GayOption: There has ''never'' been anything at all stopping you from choosing a same-sex partner peg when you get married in the game. Only the personal feelings of your fellow players has any effect on that.

* GayOption: There has ''never'' been anything at all stopping you from choosing a same-sex partner peg when you get married in the game. Only the personal feelings of your fellow players could stop that.

** Going for "Millionaire Tycoon" at the end of the game, when it was clear you had no other chance to win. You selected one number and spun. Landing on that number resulted in an InstantWinCondition; any other number resulted in an [[OneHitKill instant]] [[NonStandardGameOver loss]].

* CallBack: The 50th Anniversary edition of the game, which retains the LIFE Tiles and other elements of the 1991 reboot, and resurrects elements of the classic game such as Share the Wealth cards.

* MinigameGame: "Enhanced Game" replaces all of the LIFE Tiles with some of the mini-games from the 1960-1990 board game (including revamped "collect presents" and "revenge" mechanics) and adds a few called "Life's Little Games". In addition, the wheel dictates how much your house costs initially, as well as how much you are able to sell it for at the end of the game.

* MultipleGameOpenings: Before you begin your first turn, you must choose whether to start on the College path or the Career path.

* BigFirstChoice: Rare non-video game example: going to college affects how much money you start with, your career options, and your earning potential (which will in turn affect your likelihood of retiring well-off). Currently, going to college puts you $20,000 in debt from the start of the game.

** The best house to get is the "split-level", because it is the cheapest. The worst house to have is the luxurious Victorian, because it is the most expensive. There are no in-game benefits to living in comfort - although which house you get is entirely up to luck of the draw. A "Classic Mode" on the PC game remedies this somewhat, with the house gaining or losing value by the end of the game.

* MinigameGame: The Classic version had TONS of mini-games, each involving the wheel (the PC "Classic Mode" retains some of these and even adds a few):

* MinigameGame: "Classic Mode" replaces all of the LIFE Tiles with some of the mini-games from the 1960-1990 board game (including revamped "collect presents" and "revenge" mechanics) and adds a few called "Life's Little Games". In addition, the wheel dictates how much you are able to sell your house for at the end of the game.

* MinigameGame: "Classic Mode" retains some of the mini-games from the 1960-1990 board game and adds a few called "Life's Little Games". In addition, the wheel dictates how much you are able to sell your house for at the end of the game.

* ReTool: The game's rules were significantly overhauled in 1991 to allow for the collection of LIFE Tiles, discontinued "Share the Wealth" cards, severely lessened the impact of the Stock Certificate, and removed many of the classic version's mini-games.

* {{Narm}}, and ''how'', especially if you land on Baby Girl or Taxes Due.

''The Game of Life'', originally known as ''The Checkered Game of Life'', is a game created by Creator/MiltonBradley in which you literally go through your life, from college to retirement. Along the way, you start a career, get married, and even have children, if you're lucky. The game has evolved drastically over the years; while play pretty much remained the same from the 1960's through 1990, dollar values were occasionally adjusted for inflation, with the biggest change to the game coming in 1991. In 1998, a CD-ROM version of the game was created for PC, and in 2005, the game was re-released with even further changes. As many as six (sometimes eight or ten) people can play the game, depending on how many game pieces Milton Bradley feels like putting into the games that day.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Several instances, with the 1991 ReTool:

*** They had a more significant impact in the classic version, as each one was worth a significant amount of money at retirement.

** The "Save Polluted Lake" space in the original; landing on it cost a player a whopping $240,000 (over four Pay Days even if your salary was the maximum $50,000). Probably out of growing environmental awareness, changed to collecting a LIFE Tile in the reboot.