EastGirlsWest

So vacation here on Cape Cod is a true step back from the usual pace and activities of our real life. For instance, we don’t usually play board games in San Diego, but every summer here we end up gathered around one at the dining room table. A few nights ago, it was the game of LIFE.

Remember LIFE?

You start off with a car, a little bit of cash and a dream. Then you start spinning to move around the board. One of the first decisions you have to make is whether or not to go to college. I choose the academic route and lucked out by landing on the space that made me a doctor. A doctor! My $20,000 salary added up, which is important because GUESS WHAT? In the game of LIFE, the person who ends up with the most money wins.

It’s so sick. You either end up on the ‘Poor Farm’ or at ‘Millionare Acres’. Clearly, Milton Bradley was able to predict the dissappearance of the middle class long before it started to actually happen. And did I mention that every player is FORCED to get married? My mother rebelled by putting another pink figure in the car next to her own.

Plus, you have to buy insurance, worry about your investments, pay too much interest on debt and shell out lots of money for gifts every time another player has a child or a wedding.

Really, I can’t explain why it’s fun to play.

Oh - there is one thing: it’s really fun when you win, which I did. It’s Millionaire Acres for me, suckers.