Game: Careers

Thread: Re: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versions

Philip Thomas — 2008-07-29T19:35:00+00:00

I think I have the 50's version with Uranium Prospector et al.
Certainly it has "You are the first man to land on the moon" which must put it pre 1969.

We've never played to 100 points and I'd be suprised if it was suggested in the rules. That said, I've managed to use retirement pretty frequently with a 60 pt target. You only need to go through one career 3 times.

For some reason, we used to play that you start a career straight away when you land on the space, rolling again, but we now know you're meant to wait a turn. Opportunity cards can be sold, swapped or used.

I've never played another version, but I have heard that the "Careers for Girls" edition is appallingly sexist.

Thread: Re: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

Great_Mazinga — 2008-07-29T19:33:13+00:00

He/she does mention trading and negotiating.

"You can sometimes acquire a few by trading with impoverished opponents, but experienced players soon learn to hang on to their cards."

Also mentions negotiating not to bump each other as part of trades, etc. Too lazy to quote that part also.

Thread: Re: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versions

ackmondual — 2008-07-29T19:21:33+00:00

Great_Mazinga wrote:
Sounds like you've already made up your mind about the 03 version? The 50's version has just been reprinted. It's at thoughthammer.com and other retailers for about $13.yep... got it way long ago. I'm gonna stick with that since I stand to save $20 (est total price aft S&H), and the modern theme and denominations work better for my preferences

Thread: Re: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versions

Great_Mazinga — 2008-07-29T19:03:46+00:00

Sounds like you've already made up your mind about the 03 version? The 50's version has just been reprinted. It's at thoughthammer.com and other retailers for about $13.

Thread: Re: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

dkeisen — 2008-07-17T00:57:25+00:00

I note that the original poster omitted a key part of the game: it is a negotiation and trading game. You can buy and sell cards to other players. This is something I never noticed as a kid and have only adopted in recent plays.

Thread: Re: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

dkeisen — 2008-07-17T00:54:31+00:00

It is. It's the only board game from my childhood that I will still play. Well, chess, I suppose. You guys know what I mean.

Thread: Re: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

Fortuna — 2008-07-16T21:31:58+00:00

Interesting. I liked it a lot when I was a kid, but was remembering it as basically another roll-and-move game. This makes me want to play it again and see if it is still enjoyable.

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Jan X — 2008-06-09T18:19:00+00:00

Swedish edition

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l10n0fjudah — 2008-05-15T01:53:10+00:00

Careers board by Sonofdeemar

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l10n0fjudah — 2008-05-14T17:47:14+00:00

Careers by Sonofdeemar

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handofachlys — 2008-05-04T18:03:45+00:00

Game of Careers by Emily Bartram

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handofachlys — 2008-05-04T18:01:47+00:00

Game of Careers by Emily Bartram

Thread: Re: Winning Moves reprinting the 50's edition

Verkisto — 2008-04-15T18:38:52+00:00

Blott wrote:
That's wierd...I just bought this version towards the end of 2006:

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The artwork, careers, and (if I'm not mistaken) the rules were changed for that edition. Rumor has it that if you want the "true" Careers experience, you should opt for the red box edition.

Thread: Re: Winning Moves reprinting the 50's edition

Blott — 2008-04-15T17:00:09+00:00

lenrob49 wrote:
and out of print for the past five years

That's wierd...I just bought this version towards the end of 2006:

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Thread: Winning Moves reprinting the 50's edition

lenrob49 — 2008-04-15T16:16:44+00:00

"Careers, the all-time cherished classic, is making a re-appearance in 2008. First on the scene in the 1950’s and out of print for the past five years, Careers is again available with its original play, look and feel."

It looks like Winning Moves has reprinted the original game.

http://www.winning-moves.com/B248E7C47573406FA00E4443EFE8E0F...=

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TakeMeToYourLizard — 2008-02-18T17:28:18+00:00

UK 1971 Edition Pay Day Square - And we're off!

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

Barticus88 — 2008-02-18T04:10:50+00:00

dkeisen wrote:
The version I had as a kid, the College degree was merely what people chose once all of the real ones were gone. Still got you into Big Business for free, but didn't get any specific other perks.
Yeah. There are four specialized degrees, and only one person can get each. If you are the fifth (or sixth) person to complete college, you just get the generic college degree.
ilcavaliereinglese wrote:
I think that historical information explains the 1971 problem. They obviously changed the board and career paths but forgot to update the degrees - I guess if Uranium Mining switched to Ecology they should have changed the Engineering Degree to 'Environmental Studies' or something like that, and it would have all made sense!
I know the 1971 game played exactly the same as the 1955 & 1965 versions; only the words had changed. It's possible that one of the degrees was illogical, but it let you into a career.

Thread: thanks for the reply!

ackmondual — 2008-02-06T00:35:23+00:00

Don't know if you were implying opp cards in the 2003 version can ONLY be used after the turn you get them, but in 03, you can still trade, sell, and buy them to other players. Come to think of it, I don't recall that opp cards were explicitly mentioned as waiting until next turn to use, but even if it wasn't, it would make more sense to me to do it that way.

AFAIK, all the versions suggest the success forumula be 100pts for 2 players. Interestingly enough, still 60 for 3p and above. I may use a house rule of 80pts for 3p games. The game does seem to end too quickly. A recent 4p game went on for 1.5 hours, but everyone else was new, I forgot to check my $$ and notice that I had what i needed to win except for 3 hearts, and another player would've won sooner, but lost all his hearts for +10 fame.

I would consider getting an older version like 55 or 71 now that I have some (altho still not enough) info on the older versions, but I don't anticipate Careers will get played enough anyways to justify $10 to $35 (plus the time, effort, and some aggravation buying on ebay) when there are sooo many games out there that others will play as well.

Another thing is i've become to Careers board game what others are for other franchises and interests. For examples, the new generation has no or not much love for the 8 bit and 16bit video games that those of us who gamed in the 80s and 90s had, now that the Gamecube and Wii generation has been firmly planted. Kids who like Alvin & The Chimpmunks movie liek it for THAT, and not the cartoons that everyone grew else up on. Careers (2003) was the first version of it I've seen, so I found myself in that same boat.
Looking at previous versions, they look so archaic and relic-y. Going out to sea isn't really a career in my books. Space was the big thing of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but now, it's more about Medical Research. Sure, there's still a space program well and kicking, but all that "jazz" and interest isn't around anymore. I rather enjoy the new look of the 03 version. IMO, it looks more sleek, stylish, and modern than the previous versions. Like comparing a Mac G5 to an Apple Lisa workstation.

One plus about the older versions of the boards could be the font appears bigger... easier to read by all. Esp. w/o having to lean in and bend forward. That could be attributed to the older versions having larger boards tho. The 2003 board is pretty compact when folded out.

please provide further opinions and comments if you have them!

Thread: Re: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versi

Dmart — 2008-02-05T22:33:47+00:00

I have both the 1971 version and the 2003 version: the 2003 version gathers dust. The board in the 2003 version is garish, loud; the 1971 version is spartan. For comparisons, look at a more recent version of Aggravation versus one of the original versions. The money values are increased tenfold in the 03 version (starting salary of $10,000; in 71, $1,000). In the 03 version, Conservation replaces Ecology, Entertainment replaces Arts, and Medical Research replaces Space. In the 03 version, to leave the Hospital, you need a '6' or less; in 71, a '5' or less. In 03, you can only use an Opportunity Knocks card as your turn; in the 71 version, you can use immediately upon drawing, use as your turn, or sell to another player.

This is a game (at least the 71 version) that I played as a kid and that now my kids enjoy sporadically. We only play the 71 version and opne of the very few house rules I use (I hate house rules) is that we set our formula with 100 points, not 60. We found that a game to 60 points just went to fast, with never an opportunity to make use of Retirement (which works the same in both versions: three times through the same occupation permits you to opt to go to the Hawaiian Vacation (03: Tropical Vacation) instead of taking your normal turn (which earns you Happiness (hearts). I still consider this game enjoyable on occasion and am glad that I sought out a copy of the 1971 edition. I think we actually purchased the 2003 version and found it to be so bad that we actively searched for the earlier edition.

Thread: Re: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versi

Twinge — 2008-02-05T06:35:16+00:00

I haven't personally played this at all, but everyone says that pre-1971 versions are better (possibly 1971 and earlier; not sure on the 1971 edition itself). I know newer versions mix up the professions (getting rid of the awesome uranium prospector), and I believe they dumb down the gameplay as well, though I can't say for certain.

Thread: 4 those of u who played BOTH older and more modern versions

ackmondual — 2008-02-05T05:37:59+00:00

I heard that the older versions, particulary as you get closer to the original version was the best. Can someone who's played old and new versions elaborate why this is so? Also provide which year of the games you've played if so.

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chrisnd — 2008-02-01T05:00:27+00:00

1979 Version of Player Pawns

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chrisnd — 2008-02-01T04:59:36+00:00

1979 Version Box Contents

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chrisnd — 2008-02-01T04:57:44+00:00

1979 Version of Board

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chrisnd — 2008-02-01T04:56:54+00:00

1979 Version of Board and Box

Thread: Re: where to find specific version of Careers NOT listed on

Barticus88 — 2008-01-29T22:15:12+00:00

ackmondual wrote:
This is what it looks like (box cover and board), which would've been more helpful if it was more high res and clear, but at least it gave me something to work with.
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Yeah, I hate those crummy images. Enough to know it's what your looking for, but not enough to see what you want to see.

going clockwise from Pay Day, the career loops are:
Medical Research, Conservation, College, Big Business, Teaching, Politics, Entertainment, and Sports

That's a little different from the 1971 edition, but I would expect it's still all the same numbers as 1955.

As for lumping vs splitting, ANY philosophy or idea why Monopoly, it's gazillion spinoffs, and even its clones (not designed, published, nor licensed by the same folks as Monopoly, doesn't contain the word "Monopoly" in its title neither) such as San Francisco in a Box have been seperated? As far as I know, they ALL play the same except for the artwork, themes, and cosmetic appearance of components.

http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Monopoly_Fiat

I hope you weren't expecting logic. BTW, I can vouch for the fact that Monopoly - Spongebob Squarepants has an option not in the original. It includes a Plankton token, which circles the board as 1s are rolled. If you land on an unowned property when Plankton's there, you get a discount, and when Plankton makes it all the way around to Go, the game is over. I would guess that rule is found in some others, but I just don't know. I really don't want to play Monopoly, but my friend's kids had just gotten it, and I got play Squidward.

Thread: Re: where to find specific version of Careers NOT listed on BGG?

ackmondual — 2008-01-29T01:55:19+00:00

Thanks for getting back to me However, those are NOT it! Still, interesting infos on the Sailing --> Teaching. I wouldn't have expected THAT revision, but it does make sense. I've managed to figure out the version I played was the 2003 edition, as well as confirm what some of the squares are.

This is what it looks like (box cover and board), which would've been more helpful if it was more high res and clear, but at least it gave me something to work with.
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going clockwise from Pay Day, the career loops are:
Medical Research, Conservation, College, Big Business, Teaching, Politics, Entertainment, and Sports

The corners are:
Pay Day, Job Search, Hospital, and Tropical Vacation,

Everything else includes but not limited to:
Taxes Due, Auto Show,
Food, Auction
Mortage Due, Mall Shopping
and Stock Market, Yacht, and Charity.

.

As for lumping vs splitting, ANY philosophy or idea why Monopoly, it's gazillion spinoffs, and even its clones (not designed, published, nor licensed by the same folks as Monopoly, doesn't contain the word "Monopoly" in its title neither) such as San Francisco in a Box have been seperated? As far as I know, they ALL play the same except for the artwork, themes, and cosmetic appearance of components.

Thread: Re: where to find specific version of Careers NOT listed on

Barticus88 — 2008-01-29T01:30:41+00:00

You mean this one: ]]>1971 board

It's lumped in with the earlier edition. Lumping and splitting is pretty arbitrary here, but if the publisher calls it by the same name and there's no serious difference, they will not get split. The 1955 edition is the original. The 1965 edition is the same except for new board art. The 1971 edition has all new wording (and new art), but it is otherwise the exact same game. Sailing became Teaching, and therefore "double all happiness earned on cruise" became "double all happiness earned during tenure", but every fame, every happiness, every money value is exactly the same. I bought the 1971 edition when it came out, and compared it to my old one very, very carefully. (God, I can't believe how much Careers I played as a child.)

There was this one with six tracks instead of eight:
]]>1979 Board

If that one were somehow popular (no way), you might get that one split off, but there is no way the 1971 edition will be split from the 1955/1965 edition.

Thread: where to find specific version of Careers NOT listed on BGG?

ackmondual — 2008-01-03T06:39:11+00:00

I played the version with the following career loops, starting from payday going clockwise around:

medicine
conservationism (? IIRC)
college/education?
big business
teaching
*politics
*media/film industry
athletics/sports

*perhaps these 2 should be swapped

Can't contact the person who owned this copy, so it looks like I'm left to find out other ways. I do remember the vacation spot was just called Vacation, unemployment was called Job Hunt or Job Search, and the career loops were more "freehand" (like a cobblestone path in a garden) road and less gridlike (like following square tiles in a bathroom or kitchen)

Thread: Re: Better than Monopoly and here's why...

ackmondual — 2007-11-04T00:21:20+00:00

I played the version with the following career loops, starting from payday going clockwise around:

medicine
conservationism (? IIRC)
college
big business
teaching
*politics
*media/film industry
athletics/sports

*perhaps these 2 should be swapped

Perhaps I got sick of Monopoly palying it all those years of childhood, but careers seems to have more character and substance to it. I do enjoy being able to choose victory conditions. The opportunity and experience cards add some fun abilities for the players while serving to keep the flow of the game from becoming stagnant and making things more interesting. And much of it does relate to the real world. IIRC, a group of 5 of us trying out the game for the first time were wondering why the sports career loop yielded such relatively low chances to boost fame, but it didn't detract from the game.

Thread: Close but no cigar...wife wins again!

wryone — 2007-09-11T01:41:21+00:00

Careers is the one game my lovely wife will play with me – mainly I think because she usually wins. Anyway, here we go....

Initial objectives, since I think fame is the hardest to get I (white) go with 10 fame , 25 money, and 25 happiness. My wife (purple) goes with a balanced plan of 20, 20, 20.

I’ve tried to summarize the game in what happened to each of us for each trip around the board.

Purple round 1. Purple starts and jumps out to great position by landing on College on her first roll. By the time she’s done she’s racked up two hearts, six fame, a Law degree and the automatic 2K salary increase. She then bops over to Big Business.

White round 1. Meanwhile, White gets opportunity knocks for Sports and reaps 4 hearts. Another opportunity knocks sends me to Big Business where I promptly get canned and sent to unemployment.

Purple round 2. Purple’s time in Big Business treats her well, she gets an extra 5K added onto her salary, bringing it to 8K and then goes to Hawaii via opportunity knocks for R&R and 4 hearts. She leaves Hawaii to land exactly on Payday for a cool 16K.

White round 2. This is starting to look like one of our typical games, however, I get out of unemployment and make it to Hawaii. I loiter there for two more turns racking up 8 hearts total.

Purple round 3. Purple then lands on Auto Show and collects an easy 8 hearts for 8K. She then enters the Arts and collects six more fame and two hearts. An opportunity knocks card sends her to Ecology and a cool 8K for passing payday.

White round 3. I’ve used an opportunity knocks card to enter Politics and I burn all my experience cards to make sure it goes well. Showing massively poor foresight, I rack up a total of 26 fame (having only planned for 10) and 5K.

Meanwhile, I know I’m in trouble because Purple has landed on Auto Show after getting out of Ecology, where she scored 2 hearts and 5K, and decides to take the one heart hit for just looking. Uh-oh....

White round 4. I head to Ecology and roll well, scoring a total of 2 fame and 10 hearts. I’ve almost won! I land on Auto Show but my pitiful salary only allows me to gain one heart. Just four hearts short of victory....

Purple round 4. And it looks like I have a chance as Purple is in the Hospital after getting a worm in her apple from a malicious student as part of her teaching career, though only after collecting another 5K and 6 hearts. Sensing my impending victory, she spends the 4K to get out of the hospital and lands on Unemployment! But she immediately rolls a hard eight and escapes to Hawaii.

White round 5. I have a chance as I’ve used a fortuitous opportunity knocks card to make it into college! Hearts await! But on her next roll Purple lands on Charity and can spend some surplus cash to buy all the fame she needs for a win!

Foiled AGAIN!

I’ve submitted an image as well, if it’s approved we’ll have a picture of our champion!

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Thanks for reading!

Thread: Re: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

Taavet — 2007-05-03T16:43:22+00:00

Careers is a great game. Unfortunately, I wasn't privaledged to grow up with it and only discovered it at a friend's house in my early twenties. Since then we bought our own copy and have enjoyed every play with our friends.

I would have to agree that it is the best 'roll and move' game out there. It has high replayability as well because of all the cards/dice but is still as you say a game of skill. You have to choose the right success formula and actively use opportunities, experience cards, bargaining to get where you need to go.

We haven't introduced it to anyone new and had them not like it. Even for the players who don't quite get there I think the progress one makes on their individual goal and as mentioned the social and varied experiences the board provides are excellent.

I'll have to admit I decided to start skim reading through your review because it was so long, but thanks for adding it. Careers should have been the 'continually remade game' which monopoly has become. Gaming would have been far better at a far earlier time although it is rapidly catching up and expanding.

Thread: Careers: Family Classic or a Game Ahead of It's Time?

Larry Levy — 2007-05-03T03:20:00+00:00

[This review first appeared in Counter magazine]

An important rite of passage for most American children growing up in the sixties and seventies was the day they finally stopped playing Candyland or The Game of Life and were able to compete with Mom and Dad at an "adult" game. Usually, this meant Monopoly, but first forays into what was then considered the upper strata of gaming also included Easy Money, Rich Uncle, Game of the States, Clue, and Careers. Later the kids might graduate to Risk or Stratego (or at least the boys might; girls weren't expected to enjoy such violent pastimes). These were the traditional games of that time and place and familiarity with them was very much a part of the early education of the Baby Boomer generation.

Well, I played all those games in my formative years, but I discarded them for more challenging pursuits as I grew older. All but one, that is: Careers, a game I still play and enjoy today. In fact, while Careers is unquestionably a great family game, it resembles the German ideal more than the American in that it can be appreciated by the young and the old, and by the casual and the sophisticated gamer.

Since so many of you are no doubt familiar with this game, I'll try to keep my description of its mechanics to a minimum. By the way, there have been many different versions of Careers (Parker Brothers hasn't considered its design nearly as sacrosanct as its sister game Monopoly); as far as I know, all of the differences are in the board's text and not in gameplay. My description will refer to the 1965 edition, perhaps the most popular.

There are three things that players need to acquire to win Careers: Money, Fame (in the units of Stars), and Happiness (in the units of Hearts). At the beginning of the game, each player secretly sets his Success Formula; the number of thousands of dollars, Stars, and Hearts have to sum up to 60 (100 in a two-player game). The game board consists of an outer track and eight inner tracks, each of which corresponds to an occupation, such as Farming or Politics. When on the outer track, players move by rolling two dice, but if they begin their turn on one of the inner tracks, they move by rolling a single die.

Most of the Money, Fame, and Happiness awards come from the occupations. A player can enter an occupation either by landing by die roll on its entrance square (which is on the outer track) or by an Opportunity card, which allows a player to move to a particular occupation's entrance square, either immediately upon picking the card or in lieu of rolling the dice. There are quite a few squares on both the outer and inner tracks that direct the players to pick an Opportunity card. There is a second deck of cards called the Experience deck. Each Experience card has a number from 1 to 4. A player may use an Experience card instead of rolling the dice and move his counter the appropriate number of spaces. Some of the occupation spaces let the players pick an Experience card, but they are also picked when a player finishes an occupation and exits onto the outer track.

When the players pass the start space on the outer board (which is called Payday), they receive their salary from the bank. Players begin the game with a $1000 salary, but it can be raised or lowered by landing on certain occupation spaces. It's not unheard of for players to raise their salary to $10,000 or more.

There are numerous special spaces on the outer track. Two of them (Hospital and Park Bench) force you to stay unless you pay cash or roll a certain number. Players can be sent to both spaces from certain occupation squares, or can be "bumped" to Park Bench if an opponent lands on their token. Another special space is Florida Vacation, which allows you to stay and accumulate Hearts as long as you roll a 7 or less. You can land on this space normally or move there at the beginning of any turn as long as you have completed one of the occupations at least three times. Finally, there are several special spaces where you can buy Hearts and Stars.

When one of the players meets or exceeds the requirements for cash, Stars, and Hearts he set for himself at the beginning of the game, he reveals his formula and wins the game.

Given that it was first published in 1955, Careers is a staggeringly innovative game. This is so even though it belongs to a family of games I have heard derisively referred to as "roll yer dice and move yer mice". True, that is its central mechanic, but the designer took the usual foundations upon which such games are built and turned most of them on their ear. Consider: multiple movement tracks, variable number of dice rolled, not one but three ways of moving in lieu of rolling dice (Opportunity cards, Experience cards, and moving to Florida Vacation). These innovations alone would raise Careers above the typical dice movement game.

But that's only the beginning. Games with multiple objectives are surprisingly rare, even today. (One of the reasons two of Reiner Knizia's tile laying trilogy games, Euphrat & Tigris and Samurai, attracted so much attention was his use of multiple objectives in the winning conditions.) As far as I can tell, Careers was the first game of note to use this innovation, and may very well have been the first game, period. There are also very few games in which players have secret, variable winning conditions (Steve Jackson's Illuminati is probably the best known example), but I can't think of any others in which the players are able to *choose* these conditions. After 45 years, this is still a unique aspect of Careers.

But wait--there's more. One of the occupations is College and when a player "graduates" by exiting that track, she raises her salary by $2000 and gets to pick a degree. Three of the degrees are associated with three of the occupations and allow the player to waive the payment that must normally be made before entering that occupation. The fourth degree allows the player to receive the payments opponents make when they exit the Hospital space. What's so interesting about this is that the players acquire an ability in mid-game that allows them to break one of the game's rules! This is the aspect of Cosmic Encounter that is always mentioned when that game is cited for innovation, and yet it was there all along in Careers, albeit in a much more limited form.

The game has even more innovative ideas (for example, altering your salary during game play), but you get the idea. Of course, all the innovations in the world don't mean a thing if the game doesn't play well. Fortunately, Careers is a lot of fun to play. There's always a lot going on and lots of little decisions to make. Player interaction isn't the greatest, but between trading and making various threats (more on that later), the game remains highly social. It can be played at whatever skill level you prefer, so that kids and adults can easily play together. And, for an older game, playing time is quite good, usually only one and a half to two hours.

One of the most satisfying aspects of the design is that the three objectives each have their own personality, so that different players will have their favorites and so that you can really tailor Careers to the sort of game you want to play by varying your Success Formula. Money is generated steadily by passing Payday, and you can affect its rate of increase by concentrating on occupations that raise your salary. However, money is also the only commodity that is routinely diminished. It also can be used to buy the other two commodities on certain squares. I usually make cash my smallest objective, since I feel I can always exchange it for either Fame or Happiness if necessary (and it often is). Happiness appeals to those that prefer the slow and steady approach; there are more squares that award Hearts than Stars, but the amounts tend to be smaller. Moreover, you can usually accumulate Hearts without taking many risks. Florida Vacation can also be an important supply of Happiness, particularly near the end of the game. Finally, Fame can be acquired in huge amounts, but only in occupations in which you risk losing the other two commodities. You get to pick your poison in this game, and that means that choosing your Success Formula isn't just a clever gimmick, but a meaningful aspect of the game.

A corollary of this is that certain occupations favor certain commodities. If you want to increase your salary, go through Big Business. You can pick up a nice chunk of Hearts if you go to Sea, while Politics or Hollywood are your best bets for acquiring Stars. The occupations' different aspects mean the players' choices have real impact; you'll have greater success if you can move through occupations that best match your Success Formula.

Much of this many of you already know, but it's probably not enough to convince you of my contention that Careers is a game of considerable skill. At the risk of blowing my own horn, let me present one piece of evidence. I used to regularly play this game with two friends. The first thirty or forty times we played, I won. Now, obviously there were extenuating circumstances (I knew the game well and they didn't, and clearly they weren't as quick to pick up the basic strategies as they might have been), but the point is that such a result would be virtually impossible if the game were truly dominated by luck. A skillful player has a huge advantage in Careers.

The principal technique that needs to be learned is card play. You should try to rely on the luck of the dice as little as possible and cards are the way to do it. Ideally, you should be able to map out your play so that on the last half dozen or so turns, you don't use the dice at all.

Opportunity cards get you to the occupations you need to be at. You're always in a hurry in this game, and time spent rolling on the outer path is usually time wasted. (This is as opposed to Monopoly, where you're usually better off in Jail than moving around.) Occupations are where you can pick up commodities, as well as crucial experience. Opportunity cards also give you mobility. You can use them to escape an occupation that has a penalty space looming ahead. Another common ploy is to use an Opportunity card to pass Payday, spend one turn in that track (you can use an Experience card if you're cautious), and then play another Opportunity card that advances you pass Payday again. If your salary is high, this can increase your bankroll in a hurry.

But if Opportunity cards are gold in this game, Experience cards are platinum. There is simply no substitute to being able to determine your fate. These cards are particularly valuable for the riskier occupations, such as Expedition to the Moon, which have some truly great and some truly awful spaces. You can rely on lucky rolls (and sometimes you have to, if you're losing badly), but with the proper cards you can avoid the disasters and pick the choicest plums.

The cards are most valuable in the endgame. With the proper assortment, you can arrange, in several steps, to land on just the spaces you need to win. One strategy that is sometimes missed is to use Experience cards on the outer track. One way to do this is to "retire" to Florida Vacation and then use a couple of Experience cards to land on the spaces that allow you to buy the Hearts or Stars you need to finish off your formula.

The real question is how to manage your cards. You can sometimes acquire a few by trading with impoverished opponents, but experienced players soon learn to hang on to their cards. Of course, you can hoard them until the end of the game, but you risk being so far behind at that point that all the cards in the world won't make a difference. Besides, early card play can actually enhance your card supply. For example, playing an Experience card that sends you to a space where you can pick two Experience or Opportunity cards. (If you have duplicated Experience cards, you might even play one of them to move to a Pick 1 Experience card space, in the hopes of winding up with a more diversified collection.) Or using experience to make sure you safely exit an occupation, giving you even more precious Experience cards. On most turns, you usually have a decision of whether to use one of your cards or save them for later. Even though the process is diluted by die rolling, the card play options are quite comparable to many current games--except they appear in a game that appeared before many of us were born.

One final strategy that should be mentioned is using Opportunity cards to bump other players to Park Bench. It's common in games with two or three players for everyone to accumulate a sizable stash of Opportunity cards, in anticipation of a wild orgy of card play at the end of the game. The problem is that one or more of your opponents may have the same Opportunity card you have. If you play your card to initiate some grand strategy, an opponent will likely play their card, bumping you to Park Bench. Not only might this cost you time or money you can't afford to lose (to leave Park Bench, you must either wait until you roll a 7, 11, or doubles, or pay the bank half of your cash), but you've wasted a card and, quite literally, an opportunity. Of course, you have the same option yourself if your opponent uses his card first. Even the threat of using your cards this way can be effective. The best way out of this stalemate is to wait until your opponent uses *another* Opportunity card. Since this locks him into spending his next turn in that occupation, you are now safe to play your Opportunity card. You can also make agreements with an opponent to avoid bumping each other for one or two turns. You might even use such an agreement as an extra incentive during trading.

(With more than four players, the bumping rule can make the game quite chaotic. There's just too many opponents to be able to guarantee safety, so usually Opportunity cards fly and there is a constant stream of players occupying the (hopefully enlarged) Park Bench. This can be a lot of fun, but can play havoc with any serious strategy. For this reason, it's hard to play anything but a casual game of Careers with more than four.)

In addition to requiring skill and being fun to play, Careers has a wonderful theme. Who can resist a game that allows you to set your goals in life and then meet them by working at a variety of interesting professions? It fit the decade of its creation, the optimistic 50's, like a glove, but the theme has such resonance that it has continued to appeal to both serious and casual gamers for almost fifty years. Every aspect of the game ties in naturally and delightfully to this theme, which, maybe even more than its fine gameplay, has contributed to its continued success.

One consequence of the game's long life has been its many different editions. It's fascinating seeing the changing trends of American life through the game board changes, as Farming becomes Ecology and Uranium Prospecting becomes Sports (I don't know, maybe success in both fields represent million to one shots). Less enthralling are the various spin-offs of the game which have appeared through the years, all of which have resulted in dumbed down versions of the original. Most egregious of all was "Careers for Girls", in which the little darlings were encouraged to follow their dreams and become nurses and secretaries. Appearing just when the Women's Rights movement was gaining momentum, it's high on my list of most insulting games ever, particularly since there already existed an excellent game in which girls could play at planning their future professions--namely, Careers itself.

Careers' components are in line with the Parker Brothers standard: attractive and professionally done, but in no way stylish. Two elements deserve special mention. The gameboard is excellently designed. Consider: it contains nine tracks, 112 squares, and an enormous amount of text, and yet everything is clear and easily perceived. The designer made particularly good use of color to help distinguish different types of squares and commodities. The pad of player information sheets also contains a huge amount of information--the Success Formula; Salary, Fame, and Happiness tracks; the Occupation Record; and the list of College degrees--and presents it clearly and logically. Careers requires a good deal of record keeping, but the sheets accelerate play quite a bit. The design of these two components add significantly to the game's ease of play.

The final mystery surrounding Careers--its creation--has been resolved recently, but not without adding a new set of questions. Like practically all vintage U.S. games, the Parker Brothers' editions of Careers included no information about its designer. However, the 1997 edition of the game (by Pressman, which apparently has purchased the rights from PB) proudly states that the game was designed by James Cooke Brown. Another small victory for game designers everywhere, but just who is this Mr. Brown? A little research uncovers a Dr. James Cooke Brown, a professor who was best known for creating Loglan, a constructed human language that remains an area of active academic study. Dr. Brown was also the author of several books and articles and seemed to be a person of considerable talent and varied interests--in fact, the sort of man, if you will, who dabbled in quite a few careers. But nowhere in these references did I find any reference to Careers or any other game. The only affirmation I have that the creator of Loglan and the creator of Careers are the same person is a note posted on one of the rec game boards following Dr. Brown's death. So apparently we've got our man. But how did such an individual come to invent a game like Careers? Did it have a previous life before Parker Brothers? Did he publish any other games? If any Counter readers know or can discover the answer to any of these questions, I'd be most grateful if they would pass the information on to me. Until then, I will raise a silent toast to Dr. James Cooke Brown whenever I play his creation.

Thread: Note on Happiness

FrankLJ — 2007-04-23T03:46:54+00:00

Most versions of 'Careers' have a space in the 'Go to Sea' section which says 'Terrific shore leave in Pago Pago'. Why this particular island?

W. Somerset Maugham set a story there in 1921 called 'Miss Thompson' aka 'Rain' which is fairly brisk, and would have been known to game designer James Cooke Brown.

Read it and you will see: Boardgames are corrupting our youth!

Thread: Re: Better than Monopoly and here's why...

Partizan242 — 2007-03-04T07:37:04+00:00

Thanks for the review. I remember finding this one in my grandma's closet once. I agree with you, this one was pretty fun for what it was.

Thread: Better than Monopoly and here's why...

Mr Bassman — 2007-03-03T23:02:36+00:00

Overview:
A distressingly large number of board games I encountered in the sixties seemed to be inferior variants of Monopoly: one rolled the dice, moved one’s token around the board, and either achieved an objective and won, or not. Careers stood out as perhaps the best of the mediocre lot, and in this review I will try to analyze why.
Components:
Square game board folded in the center, depicting outer circular track with inner career tracks. Plastic pawns, dice, score sheets. Experience and Opportunity cards are printed on card stock which deteriorates over time, but not to the point of unplayability.
Game Play:
Before you begin play, you get to pick your victory conditions! How cool is that?! Your objective is to achieve “Success”, where success is defined as a combination of cash ($), happiness (hearts), and fame (stars) which total up to sixty points. Every player is given $1000 to start the game (1/60th of the way there already!) and the game is ready to begin.
During your turn you roll the dice and move your token around the board. Every square on the board has something on it – either the entry to a career track, a chance to pick from the Opportunity deck, a possibility of spending cash to buy either fame or happiness, or a variety of penalties (yes, the Wife’s Shopping Spree square is sexist, but at least the occupations themselves are gender neutral.) Passing the starting square allows you to collect your salary. If you land on the entry to an occupation track, and have sufficient cash (or prior experience), then you may move along the inner track and hopefully accumulate some of that happiness, fame, and cash that you’ll need to win the game. You can also travel to the starting square of an occupation if you play the appropriate Opportunity card, (which is also a good way to pass Start and collect your salary.) Successfully traveling along a track allows you to waive the entry fee the next time, and also gains you an experience card (or cards if this isn’t the first time you’ve been.) Each experience card has a number from one to four on it and, when played, allows you to travel that many spaces during a turn instead of rolling the dice. Traveling a track three times allows you to take a Florida Vacation anytime you want, which is a quick way of earning happiness (and cash).
Strategy Tips:
Usually cash and happiness is easier to come by then fame, so choose your starting victory conditions accordingly. Go to college early – it raises your salary and allows you to enter some of the more expensive careers for free. You initial choice of victory conditions should affect your career choices. If you want happiness, go to Sea. If you want cash, go Uranium Prospecting. Fame is best achieved by entering Politics. Going to the moon can get you a little bit of everything, but has the disadvantage that it forces you to bypass the Starting space (and foregoing your salary.)
Why Careers is better than Monopoly:
1) Initial choice of victory conditions.
2) No player elimination (on rare instances you can be forced to start over, but are not eliminated from the game)
3) Finite playing time
4) Much more opportunity for movement choices/career choices
5) Requires math! (e.g. one of the squares forces you to lose (roll of d6)*10%*(cash on hand) )
6) Some of the event squares are very amusing
Downsides:
1) Little player interaction. If you land on the same square as another player, you can force them to pay you a penalty or force them to go to Park Bench, but I’ve not seen this event used as a defensive strategy. In theory, you can trade or sell Opportunity and Experience cards (although you cannot do the same with fame and happiness), but I’ve not seen it happen much. Maybe it’s just the group I’ve played with.
2) Complex score sheets. When I first got this game, we always played it lightly with pencil, and oh-so-carefully erased the sheets after every game. Not a problem any move with the advent of cheap copiers.
Rating:
A bit lighter than chess or your average war-game, but still a surprising amount of decision making. Plays well with both children and adults. Rules are clear and straightforward. Scales easily between two and six players. High replayability. Overall, I’d rate it a 6.5.

Thread: Re: User Review

fmoros — 2007-02-10T13:06:14+00:00

Thanks for this nice review.
I bought this game as collector item, but after reading your review I will definetely give it a go

Thread: Happiness is a Warm Experience Card

ssmooth — 2006-08-12T10:55:59+00:00

To start with something light for all six of us, we chose Careers. Jack has a post-Parker Brothers edition of Careers from around maybe 1980 which doesn't look nearly as nice as the original, but we're familiar with the game and have played this edition before, so off we went.

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We agreed not to use the "bumping" rule, where you can send a fellow player to the Park Bench (in this edition "Unemployment") if you land on the same square, since this slows the game down and with six it's already a bit slow. But I was surprised when apparently I was the only one who remembered the rule that, upon exiting the same career for the second time, you draw two Experience cards, and upon exiting it for the third time, you draw three. (I offered to place a cash bet on my being able to find this rule in the original edition but got no takers.) In the event, we didn't do it because the rule didn't appear in the edition we were playing -- but for those of you keeping track at home, it's on page 6 in the original rulebook under "Completing Careers."

There are other odd changes from the original. Instead of the Trip to the Moon, you are now offered the career choice of Computer Science... where for some reason you can land on a square that gives you 10 stars (fame points) but sends you to the Hospital. Look out for those crash landings in Computer Science, kids!

I won by a nose, Jim being set to go out on his next turn. Having contracted for 11 stars, $13,000, and 36 hearts -- I enjoy feeling that I don't have to worry about money, which I can only do in a game and not in real life, so this is my typical approach -- and after an early bonanza in hearts with the "double your happiness" card (now applied to Teaching, the stand-in for the original Go To Sea career), I clinched the game on the "win by a landslide" square still found in Politics.

Thread: Re: User Review

FranklinT — 2006-04-06T04:56:20+00:00

Excellent review. I just picked this game up at a Habitat for Humanity store (like Goodwill). I have only read the rules, but I was absolutely shocked at how foward-thinking this game was. The fact that this game has a low rating here on the geek seems like a joke. This game has so many elements of our favorite german games that it boggles the mind, and it was released 50 years ago! Trading/bargaining, multiple paths, hidden victory conditions, etc...And I love that you can cut deals not usually allowed in games...like borrowing money from other players in order to spare yourself from bankruptcy. I just can't wait to play this.

Thread: Re: Not a bad little game

Philip Thomas — 2006-03-26T12:11:21+00:00

It is a good game in its genre. Better with more players of course.

Thread: Re: Not a bad little game

TheCat — 2006-03-26T12:04:36+00:00

davebo wrote:
You begin by chosing how much happiness, fame and thousands of dollars you're going to have to earn to win the game (must add up to 60). I chose 10 fame, $20,000 and 40 happiness (you keep these amounts secret).

davebo wrote:
In the end, he beat me (I would have won in two more turns). He chose 15 fame, $20K and 25 happiness. He's been begging to play it, and this morning requested to play it as opposed to Carcassonne.

I'm not surprised he beat you - you spotted him ten points! Last time I checked, 10 + 20 + 40 = 70.

Thread: Re: User Review

ze_stom — 2005-12-31T23:46:46+00:00

I much prefer the old one version to the new one, mostly because it's funny to see people mining in space well before we actually got there.

I much prefer to play this game with the 100 victory point variation (instead of 60). There are a lot of bonuses that you can develop (ex. going through an occupation three times) but if the game ends at 60 points, it usually ends before any of those things happen. It adds a little length to the game, but I think that the fun of developing your piece more than makes up for the extra time.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

ilcavaliereinglese — 2005-12-29T22:13:19+00:00

I think that historical information explains the 1971 problem. They obviously changed the board and career paths but forgot to update the degrees - I guess if Uranium Mining switched to Ecology they should have changed the Engineering Degree to 'Environmental Studies' or something like that, and it would have all made sense!

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

Philip Thomas — 2005-12-29T21:35:42+00:00

I have an older edition than you, so ignore me.

4 specialist Degrees, Engineering lets you go Uranium Prospecting for free (the penultimate career track, very lucrative, normally costs 4,000) Law lets you get into Politics for free (just after the Park Bench, good for fame, normally costs 3,000). Medicine lets you take the Hospital revenues. Science lets you go to the Moon for free (last career track, dangerous but good stuff there, normally costs 5,000). If all specialist degrees have been taken, you can only get a Pass degree. Any degree lets you into Big Business (normal cost 500).

The careers are, in order, Farming (1,000, good for happiness), university (500, degrees!). Big business (500 or degree, good money), Sea (100, very good for happiness), Politics (3000 or Law degree), Hollywood (1000), Uranum Prospecting (4,000 or Engineering degree), The Moon (5,000 or Science Degree, skip salary.

We normally pick Science or Engineering first and the other second. I play it with my sister now and then.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

ilcavaliereinglese — 2005-12-29T21:17:40+00:00

Hi, yes your board and rule book look very like mine. I generally played careers as a 2 or 3 player game and we usually picked the Medicine (--> doctor), Law (--> Politics) and Science (--> Space) degrees and let everyone with any degree get into Big Business for free. I think if you follow the board and let the person who gets the non-specialized College degree get a free entry to Sports, then you are left with Engineering looking a bit lost - in fact I dont think anyone ever chose that degree in all the 2 and 3 player games we played! Whether you match Engineering to Space and Science to Ecology, as you suggest, or make Engineering the one degree which doesn't come with any extra priviledges I guess is up to House rules. I think that whoever wrote the rules at Parker Brothers for the 1971 edition was asleep when it came to the College Degrees! I'm glad it's not just me who found it confusing.

Simon D.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

Melsana — 2005-12-29T14:54:57+00:00

Interesting. Honestly I'm not sure if I ever really read the rule book, it was taught to me by my parents when I was young... so we just did what the board said.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

dkeisen — 2005-12-29T04:04:44+00:00

Every version of Careers is different, but I have *never* seen a version where you needed anything specific to get into Big Business for free. Having finished College with whatever degree you got was enough.

The version I had as a kid, the College degree was merely what people chose once all of the real ones were gone. Still got you into Big Business for free, but didn't get any specific other perks.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

surlyduff — 2005-12-29T03:40:43+00:00

Melsana wrote:

The Big Business and Sports paths are free with the College Degree

The College degree is a specific degree so if you have the Science degree it does not mean that you can also get into the Big Business and Sports path free.

I also have the 1971 edition. Based on what is on the board alone, I could see how the rules could be interpreted this way. However, p.6 and 7 of the rulebook state that "ANY College Degree, specialized or regular, may be used for entering Big Business" Since Science is a specialized degree, that means that you can also get into the Big Business path for free, if you have the science degree. Sadly, the sports track is not covered in the rulebook, so that one could be interpreted either way. (I've always played sports is free to any college graduate)

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

Melsana — 2005-12-29T02:51:01+00:00

My game and rules look just like these two pictures...

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If you got yours in Canada then it is entirely possible that your board and rules might be slightly different.

After your explanation, I can see why you would be confused. I would just say... start playing it with the combo I listed above, because like you said what would be the point of Engeneering otherwise.

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

ilcavaliereinglese — 2005-12-28T23:46:27+00:00

Hi, thanks very much for the quick reply. What you say makes perfect sense to me. BUT! - The rules and board that I have (Parker 1971 Made in Canada) say something very different. This has troubled me for a long time!

In my rules it says the medical degree is the doctor who gets money from the hospital - no debate there. And law gets you in to Politics - no problem there either. Where it gets confusing is with Engineering, College and Science. My board says that Science (not Engineering) gets you into Space for free. That leaves College and Engineering. Now my rules say that only 4 of the degrees are specialized, and one of the five degrees is just a 'regular college degree', but that 'any College degree, specialised or regular, gets you in to big business free'.

This has always left me with a problem, because the board also says that 'College' gets you into Sports, so the 'Regular College degree' sounds much more useful than the specialized degree in Engineering, especially as there is no mention of Engineering getting you into Space free or anything getting you into Ecology free on my board.

For all that, the scheme you suggest makes much more sense. I wonder if they made a mistake with the edition I have which was on sale in the UK in the late 1970s. Is your rulebook different from mine I wonder?

With thanks,
Simon D.

PS Does anyone else have a different rule they use for the degrees on the '71 edition?

Thread: Re: Careers - Question on College Degrees

Melsana — 2005-12-28T13:48:23+00:00

I too have the 1971 edition.

The Ecology path is free with the Science Degree
The Big Business and Sports paths are free with the College Degree
The Politics path are free with the Law Degree
The Space path is free with the Engineering Degree

The College degree is a specific degree so if you have the Science degree it does not mean that you can also get into the Big Business and Sports path free.

Hope that clears things up a bit. It is all cleary written on the board though.

Thread: Careers - Question on College Degrees

ilcavaliereinglese — 2005-12-27T23:24:21+00:00

Can any one help with a querie I have about the 1971 version of the game Careers. Despite having played this game hundreds of times, there is one thing about the College Degrees I've never understood. Of the degrees available, the medicine degree makes you the doctor so you can make money from the hospital square. 'Science' gets you into space free, 'Law' gets you into politics free. This leaves 'College' and 'Engineering'. Am I right in thinking 'College' gets you into the Sports Program free, leaving Engineering as the last degree which doesn't give any extra priviledges (except free entry to Big Business as with all of the degrees). If someone could clear this up I'd be very happy.

Thread: Re:Not a bad little game

dkeisen — 2005-02-14T01:15:40+00:00

ntwarrell (#81578),

Played it last night. First time in ages I had played it with more than two players. Had never thought of it as a trading game, and yet we were very aggressively trading and selling Opportunity cards.

Thread: User Review

Melsana — 2005-02-06T16:51:31+00:00

I enjoyed playing this game with my sister many times when we were younger. This is probably one of the first games I played where it was a little more complicated than a simple roll and move game. The big novelty in this game is that you get to choose your victory conditions. Just as in real life you have to figure out when have you become successful. For some it is when they are famous, for others it is when they are rich, and for others all they need is happiness. Maybe you are a combination of all three.

Before you start playing the game you must decided how much fame; $_,000; and happiness you want to achieve. (They must add up to 60.) After you have decided this, which of the 3 things you need to receive impacts the choices you then make during the game. I have and play the 1971 version of the game where the Occupations are Ecology, Big Business, Teaching, Politics, The Arts, Sports, and Space. Other versions have different occupations, which reflect the era in which it was published. Each occupation will provide you with different chances to receive on of the 3 victory items.
Teaching is a great career path if you want happiness. Space is a great career path if you want fame, (but you loose out on your payday.) Big Business is a great career path if you want money.

There is some strategy as you choose which careers paths to adventure down and when to use your opportunity knocks cards (cards that allow you to move to the start position of a given career), or when to use your experience cards (cards that allow you to move a given number of spaces rather than roll the die). But as with any game that involves dice, luck is also a big factor. This game is by far one of the more fun roll and move games out there and with each version having different career paths, I’m sure you can find a version that peaks your interest.

Thread: Re:Not a bad little game

ntwarrell — 2005-01-31T21:11:12+00:00

davebo (#81499),
i agree - a fun little game and a good intro to "deeper" games

Thread: Not a bad little game

davebo — 2005-01-31T17:56:01+00:00

I bought this game off of EBay because I was hoping my son would like to play this instead of "The Game Of Life" (anything but that). Come to find out, even though Amazon doesn't carry it, Hasbro is still publishing the game. Oh well, at least I get to play on the same board I did as a kid.

Anyway...

I played with Jacob (8 3/4) yesterday. Having Daniel (7) "on my team" didn't really work out, there's just nothing a non-reader can do "on your team". He got bored of watching us, and split.

You begin by chosing how much happiness, fame and thousands of dollars you're going to have to earn to win the game (must add up to 60). I chose 10 fame, $20,000 and 40 happiness (you keep these amounts secret). After landing on "Marry a ballet star, gain 10 fame, lose all happiness" in Arts I realized pretty quickly that the "experience" cards which all you to move 1, 2, 3 or 4 spaces without having to role are instrumental in winning the game. I made up for this pretty quickly by vacationing in Hawaii for a few turns, earning happiness.

Jacob had a lot of fun moving around the board and didn't seem to mind that there's not a ton of strategy involved in the game. He liked the "manage your own portfolio" aspect fo the game.

In the end, he beat me (I would have won in two more turns). He chose 15 fame, $20K and 25 happiness. He's been begging to play it, and this morning requested to play it as opposed to Carcassonne.

Thread: Re: Careers for Girls

godard — 2004-01-25T21:39:58+00:00

The insults of Careers for Girls can't be emphazised enough:

Animal Doctor?
"Super Mom"?
Rock Star?

Ugh!

These are all perceptions of what girls want to be, in the minds of old men.

As an added insult, you can't just collect the fame and happiness points on most spaces -- you have to tell a story or act something out.

Give me Uranium Mining any day.

Thread: Session Report

Chegigo — 2003-12-09T05:35:50+00:00

I sat down with Dex and Maya to play this game. Due to my lack of education (I wouldn't go to college for 10 more minutes) I made a mathmatical error and added my numbers to 70 with a 15 fame, 35 money, 20 hearts.
Fortunately for me Dex couldn't stay out of the hospital, except when he went to Unemployment. So Maya was my only competition.
I was able to get my salary up by hitting the right spots in Big Business. One trip past the start space and a few other bonuses got me my goal, despite my adding gafe and the win.
Good game from the past. Doesn't last too long, which is nice.

Thread: Re:User Review

paulstreet — 2003-02-23T23:56:50+00:00

Larry Levy (#255),

If you are looking for clues about the game designer, there is a player review on the Funagain site posted on 24 September 2000 by Don Haff (dhaff@gte.net) from Seattle who says that Dr Brown was his English professor at the University of Florida in 1956, and had excitedly announced to his students at the time that he had sold his game to Parker Brothers.

regards
Paul Street

Thread: Session Report

ssmooth — 2002-11-24T17:31:39+00:00

Finally it was Jack's turn to win the nightcap. We chose Careers, one of our frequent lighter diversions, and decided to play to 90 instead of the standard 60. Choosing your Success Formula is always interesting, and tonight I decided to go way off-balance with a goal of $15,000, 20 Fame points and 55 Happiness points. I find that it's fun sometimes not to have to worry about money at all, and just spend left and right without a care in the world! So naturally I wound up going through Big Business, which is where you'd normally want to go if you're trying to amass cash, twice before I did anything else and attained a salary level of $11,000. But in this game, money CAN buy happiness, and eventually, having just bought 11 hearts for $11,000 and started through Teaching a second time, my $15,000 in hand, with 22 Fame points and needing just 4 more Happiness points to clinch the game -- a roll of 4 would have given it to me on the next turn -- Jack grabbed a few hearts and announced HIS silly victory.

With the observation that I had enjoyed all the games I had won and all the games I had lost, we called it a night.

StvenC