Live to Spend (Playthrough of Pursuit of Happiness)

As a boy I often dreamed about what I would be when I grew up.  I didn't worry so much about what my career would be, a job was just a source of income.  My goals in life had nothing to do with specific career aspirations.  No, I wanted to live a long, long life; long enough that I could do all the things and own all the stuff that I really wanted!  Being a natural born haggler (thanks mom and dad), I could get those things for less as well.


As a young man, I was released into the world!  What would I do?  What projects would I take on?  Would I pursue love?  In what way would I accomplish my life goals?

In order to live a long life, I knew that I needed to be healthy.  I devoted a lot of time to exploring yoga, focusing my body and mind.  But, we have to have fun too, right?  My board game collection was getting quite impressive.

I quickly became a yoga instructor and used my newfound flexibility and fitness to take on martial arts.

Of course, my body needed a rest after all of this rigorous effort, right?  That's why I added video games to my gaming collection.

After honing my physical self, it was time to look inward focus on my spiritual self as well.  After meditating and finding myself, I gained my own followers and eventually achieved enlightenment!

Even an enlightened, yoga-instructing ninja needs some RnR time, right?  I needed a room to keep all of my games, so I had to go shopping!  I consider myself a patron of the arts, so I attended some local plays as well.

Life was going great!  Due to my healthy living, I was living a stress-free life, much more so than those around me!

My life was beginning to get expensive.  Those gym memberships and shopping trips don't pay for themselves.  Maybe a job can help support my life?  Easy - any middle-aged idiot can be a surgeon, right?

My parents had almost given up hope that I'd ever get married at this point, so I thought I'd throw them a bone and go on some dates.  I went out with Jamie a few times.  She was nice and I learned a lot about her, but there was no spark.  Plus, she took away time from my gaming.

Eventually, as happens to all of us, old age began to catch up with me.  Luckily, because I had spent most of my life living quite healthily, it seemed that I would achieve my goal of a long life.

There was no denying it, my body began to deteriorate.  I became obsessed with my physical appearance.  I began to purchase large amounts of make up to cover my wrinkles.  I also regularly went to the beach to work on my tan.  I wasn't going to let Father Time take me down without a fight!

As age caught up with my, my stress level grew and I knew that I didn't have much time left.  

I wanted to share what I've learned and experienced with others, so I signed up for a realty show.  Things went pretty well and I turned out to be a pretty likeable character.

After just losing out on the realty show, I decided I would get away for one my holiday and so I took off for a nice, warm resort.  Shortly after returning, I had a serious heart attack and ended up in the hospital.

As I lay hear, reflecting back on my life, I'm happy.  I accomplished all of my life goals, whether they were the best goals or not.  I felt like I had acquired a lot of long term happiness throughout my life's experiences.  Maybe in another life I could be even happier...

* * * * *

I've only played this game a handful of times (1 solo and 3 competitive), so it doesn't feel fair to do a full review yet.  Once I've gotten it to the table a few more times I'll do a full review.  Here are some initial thoughts.
+ Art is fun; colourful and quirky
+ Lots of decisions to make, lots of ways to win
+ Lots of room to add story/narrative of your own
- Relationships seem mostly useless so far?
- Hard to keep track of where you've spent your hourglasses