WINNING AT The Game of Life

Last night Rich won The Game of Life. “Dadd yr eally creamed it tonight,” I say ,a s Rich counts hi sw ads of o range, cream, purple, and blue paper bank notes. Fearne and I tie fo rs econd place. She’s 7 ,I ’m 48, Rich is 46 .Wea re all millionaires. However only one of us owns a home by retirement – Fearne.

“But I’ madoc tor,” Rich says, “I should hav eaho use.” Too bad, he never lands on one of t he p urple house squares. Rich invests in a sports team though and that pays off. I’m a pilot ,e ven thou gh I ’m terrified of flying, and Fear ne i s a politician but only because we talked her int oi t. “I wan tt o be a model, ”s he says. “Yeah, but a model only pays $40,000 a year, the politician gets $140,000 as a bonus.”

“Can we play again?” Fearne begs ,e ven though i tw as past her bedtime.

The mo st s atisfying thing about The Game of Life i st he white plastic spinner. “Mummy can I spin fo ry ou? ”s he a sks. “Yes,” I say becaus eIkno w bette rt han to say no. Fear ne i s a savage player. Competitive, impulsive, temperamental, prone t o po uting and going wild when she can’t hav ee verything she wants.

She spin st he wheel and it cl-cli-clicks as it turns .Ilo ve tha ts ou ndofit spinning, the feeling of the game in motion, our plastic cars a tt he start again. The boar d ha s changed since my childhood. The little plastic peg people aren’t just pink and blu e an ymor e– there’s als og reen, purple, red and yellow pegs. We load our cars up with coloured pets ,pa rtners and friends because we can cash each in for $50,000 a tt he end. I invest edinac ricket farm becaus e in sects are t he p rotein of t he f uture. Fearne refuse st ob uy eithe rt he ski chalet o rt he d ream villa and selec ts t he cosy cottage, even thou gh i tw a sw ort h le ss. “I don’t care! ”s he sa ys w it hah umph. A hous ei s a very emotional purchase.

Sadly, Rich and I hav e no t landed on the house squar e in real life either – w ea re generation rent ,e ven though we shouldn’t be. “What does money mean to you?” our financial advisor asks during our first meeting. Rich looks at me. We share a long, befuddled pause. Then Rich says: “Security?” I an swe rw it ha true story about how my mother died in late 2019, in a rented room and I had to clear out all he rt hings. “She never had a house,” I say. “So, peace of mind? ”t he financial advise rr eplies.

“Yes,” I seize on peace of mind. Who designed The Game of Life? Milton Bradley, then a young American lithographer .In18 60, Bradley printed thousands of lithographs of cleanshav en p residential candidate Abraham Lincoln. But b yt he time Lincoln won the election, he had grow nabea rd. Bradley’s portraits didn ’ts ell, and his business nearl yw ent bankrupt . No t long afterwards Bradley invented The Checkered Game of Life. I tw as an instan tsu ccess .No cash was involved in the game. Instead, there were square sr epresenting suicide, poverty, and ruin. Playe rs w ere rewarded for making virtuous moral choices, and the winne rw a st he fi rst to reach “happy old age”. The game also us ed a teetotu m–o rs pinning t op–onp urpose. Bradley didn ’tw ant playe rs t o use dice, “the devil ’s t ools”, then associated with gambling.

But in 1960, The Game of Life was completel yr evamped fo rt he Milton Bradley company’s first centennial. Inventor Reuben Klamer created the post-war Baby boomer board game most of usr emember. He added the plastic station wagons, the highway of life and i tst opography and also the wheel of fortu ne– yes, that plastic spinner. The teetotum wa sr eplaced b yt he spinner ,fo rever turning and clicking, in the centr e of the board, like a roulette wheel.

“I sa wt he word life and it inspired me,” Klame rwr ites .Inhi s memoir, Blitz, Sizzle and Serendipity: My Game of Life, he identifie st ha tt he potential market fo rt he game wa s“literally everyone on earth!”

Indeed. The Game of Life is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian and an inductee to the National Toy Hall of Fame.

“What do you like best abo utt he game?” Ia sk Fearne.

“Tha ty ou can get houses,” Fearne says.

We never owned The Game of Life when I was a kid, but I remember playing it at someone else’s house. In t he8 0s, you could par ko ut front of a dinky plastic white church t o ge t married i.e, add a blue peg to your car. That church has gone now –b ut you can still get married and have a mid-life crisis. Thank god. Rich and I agree that it is good Fearne learns ho wt o play The Game of Life now. She need st o kno ww e will never let her gro wu p t obea vlogger .O r a social media influencer ,no t for $40,000 a year.

Megan Dunn is the author of Things I Learned at Art School. Sometimes she talks about art on RNZ’s Saturday Morning with Kim Hill. She plays The Game of Life.