In This Japanese Version of the ‘Game of Life’, The Only Dreams You’ll Have Are of Debt and Regret
Don’t expect any good news. In The Super Difficult Game Of Life you’ll be reprimanded for lazy work, and your parents will find your secret poems.
I’ve been living in Japan for about half a year now. And it’s great. The people are kind, the cities are so easy to navigate, and the food is delicious and so cheap. Plus, tons of history and culture.
The one major hurdle I’ve been dealing with over here is the lack of board games. It’s just not as much a thing over here. Even, imagine my surprise when I found out most Japanese people have never even heard of Monopoly! But one game that has gained some traction over here is The Game of Life.
It got really popular in the mid 60s, as Japan was experiencing momentous economic growth. Japan has dozens on dozens of different version of the game, all themed around popular trends of the time. But as that growth waned, and the economy started to struggle, and people become more dissatisfied, the game followed suit.
The Super Difficult Game of Life
In 人生ゲーム極辛 (Jinsei gēmu gokukara) [lit. Game of Life Extremely Spicy), players are still playing the same basic game they know. Anytime a player lands on one of the Trouble Spots (marked with a skull icon), they draw a Trouble Card. But the events they’ll run into are going to be very different from the versions you are probably used to.
- You don’t get married, only work
- You definitely go into debt, probably from over gambling
- You’ll probably lose your house and your friends
- You might get a job at an infamous black company, who exploits you for up to 80 hours a week of unpaid overtime
- Your phone might get hacked and all your data is leaked online
Unless you got some crazy hookup, I wouldn’t expect any luck finding this game in the west. But you can find it on Japanese Amazon.
As with many things in Japan, The Super Difficult Game Of Life takes something great and makes it even more fun and bizarre in the best possible way. Hopefully, one day, they will stop bogarting all the coolest board games that never got released outside Japan.
