Tom Vasel
United States
Homestead
Unspecified
Top 100 Games of all Time
Dice Tower Convention, July 2012!!!!
-
"Roll-and-move" - these words will many times cause a shudder to go down the delicate back of a modern "Eurogamer", as many American games use this tired mechanic to slap yet another mediocre (or worse) game together. However, while the mechanic of rolling dice to move pawns around a track isn't necessarily a death knell to a game. So when I heard that it was the main premise of That's Life (Ravensurger - 2005 - Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling), I wasn't concerned - especially with the caliber of the designers.
I have to admit that I'm fairly impressed by That's Life - a light, simple game that has a decent amount of tactics. Moving a few pieces around a line of spaces seems simple in theory - which is rather true - but the game offers enough choices to keep it entertaining without seeming brainless. It plays rather well with only two and takes only about half an hour, making it remarkably easy to get to the table - I've already played it almost ten times this year.
Thirty-two "route" cards are placed in a specific order as specified in the rules, forming a linear path from a start space to the end. Spaces are one of three types, either a positive number from "1" to "8", a negative number from "-1" to "-10", or a fortune card, designated by four leaf clovers. On each fortune card (and the two highest positive cards), a "guard" pawn is placed, and players put two or three of their pawns on the starting space (depending on number of players). The youngest player goes first, and play passes clockwise around the table.
On a player's turn, they simply roll a six-sided die and move a piece the amount of spaces indicated. A player may move either one of their own pawns, or one of the guard pieces, if and only if that guard piece occupies the same space as at least one player pawn. If a player moves one of their pawns off of a tile, and no other pawn is on that tile (including guard pawns), then they take the tile from the track and place it in front of themselves. The tile is now skipped when pawns are moving, causing the track to therefore shrink as the game progresses.
When a player pawn reaches the end tile, it is out of the game, and the game ends when all player pawns arrive. Each player then totals up their points, adding the positive and negative tiles for their final scores. Each fortune tile, however, changes a player's highest negative tile(s) into a positive one. The player with the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game…
1.) Components: The tiles on which the game occurs are wonderfully thick - full of chunky goodness. Being of the highest quality, each shows some cartoonish picture, which I suppose has something to do with the ups and downs of life. The guards are big wooden cylinders, while the pawns are colorful wooden pawns of your typical nature. Everything fits rather nicely into a plastic insert in a typical sized box - with more comic humor highlighting the bright orange colors.
2.) Rules: The rulebook is very nicely formatted - all four of the pages that are in English - and shows color examples and illustrations that explain the few rules of the game rather easily. Frankly, I've explained very few games as simple as That's Life, and everyone seems to pick up on it fairly easily. Even my six-year old daughter picked it up in only an instant, although she needed some help with the counting of negative numbers near the end.
3.) Age and Players: Having mentioned my daughter, I will mention how much I enjoy how That's Life seems to work with all age groups. I've played it with varying ages and numbers of players, and I haven't seen a place where it hasn't gone over well yet. I do notice a difference in play styles when I play against my wife as opposed to my daughter, but that doesn’t meant that my daughter - with a bit of encouragement, can't give me a decent game. I think that my sweet spot with the game is four players (although I haven't yet tried six). It's a nice little two player game, but it seems that there are more choices in a four player game, as players can move guards more often.
4.) Tiles: So which tiles should a player attempt to get? Obviously the positive tiles are great, but with twice the number of negative tiles on the track as positive ones, this can be a bit of a risk. Going for the fortune tiles is more of a sure thing; but they are often hotly contested, and there are only six in the game. Should I grab a high negative tile early on - in hopes to convert it to mondo points with a fortune tile? But what if I never get a fortune tile? These sorts of questions are interesting, but not nearly enough to make players pause for long periods of time - just to make quick, snappy decisions. Really, a player usually only has the choice between moving two to six pawns, and they often bank on future luck.
5.) Luck: Any game that involves rolling a die to move a pawn (hence, the "roll-and-move" moniker) is going to have at least a smidgen of luck. And That's Life! has luck - there's no denying it. Having a choice of what pawn to move isn't something new, either - I've seen that choice in games such as Sorry! And while I generally despise games with this mechanic - such as Parchisi and Trouble, for some reason it isn't nearly as bad in That's Life. Part of that is because the board is constantly changing, as tiles are removed. Another reason is that players are never "sent back to home", but rather keep progressing with the worst problem being the fact that they are forced to take a negative tile. Still, That's Life won't move up into my top tier of games, simply because every once in a while, a game will be decided by luck, not strategy.
6.) Fun Factor: It's fun to try and figure out the best possible move and change that horrible negative tile into a positive one. It's also fun to sit on the same tile as another player, and play a little "chicken", to see who will be the first to move (be forced) of the tile. Each time I bring it out, everyone enjoys it, which I think is partially because the game is fairly short.
7.) Variants: As soon as I saw the variable board, I immediately figured that a randomized board rather than the set one in the rules (which has half the negative tiles first, then the fortune tiles, then the positive tiles, then the rest of the negative tiles) might be interesting. And indeed, this is one of five variants listed in the rules. Oddly, however, I found that the basic setup is rather useful, and that randomized setups can occasionally have a loophole that slightly detracts from gameplay. The rest of the variants are interesting, but I'm rather happy with the basic game.
I think that the best use of That's Life is to introduce it to those who have been entangled with games such as Sorry all of their lives. That's Life is familiar enough to those games to attract them but is quicker and offers up more choices, ensnaring them in the wonderful world of gaming. With fabulous components and simple, easy gameplay That's Life is a game that I would recommend to those seeking something to teach new gamers.
(This review originally posted at Fairplay Games)
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com
-
David Bohnenberger
United States
Swarthmore
Pennsylvania
-
Quote: The tiles on which the game occurs are wonderfully thick - full of chunky goodness. Being of the highest quality, each shows some cartoonish picture, which I suppose has something to do with the ups and downs of life
The cartoons on the tiles are fairly hilarious. They add a lot to what has become one of my favorite games.
-
-
In my opinion, That's Life is a mediocre game, but with the first expansion it gets much better - too bad you have to pay additional money to get it, as it should be included with the base game.
-
Mark Jackson
United States
Fresno
California
Am I a man or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet then I'm a very manly muppet!
-
hobb3 wrote: In my opinion, That's Life is a mediocre game, but with the first expansion it gets much better - too bad you have to pay additional money to get it, as it should be included with the base game.
I've found that I enjoy it both ways... Verflixxt nochmal works well with a mid-range of players (3-5) while the original game handles 4-6 better.
There's also a second expansion (Verflixxt hoch 2), but I haven't got to play it yet.
-
Mikko Saari
Finland
http://www.lautapeliopas.fi/ - the best Finnish board game resource!
-
I consider both expansions must-haves. I wouldn't play the game without (at least) Flixxy and the hats.
I've played lots of two-player games with my wife, the game works quite well that way. Latest game was with six using best bits of both expansions, and that was also a blast.
-
|
|
Top 100 Games of all Time
