That's Life!

If you have fond memories of classic childhood roll-and-move games but wished for a little more control over your fate, "That's Life!" (also known as "Verflixxt!") might be just the ticket! The setup involves laying out tiles to form a path, some featuring lucky clovers and others numbered from -10 to +8. Special guards protect certain spaces, and each player has pawns to advance along this track.

On your turn, you roll the die and move one of your pawns. If you're the only one leaving a space, you collect it, shrinking the path for everyone else. But watch out! If a guard is still on the space when you leave, the treasure isn't yours. And speaking of guards, if your pawn lands on a space with a guard, you can move that guard instead of your own pawn – a strategic move to hinder others or set yourself up for good things, as long as no one else lands on your space!

When a pawn reaches the end of the path, it's retired from play. Once all pawns have retired, the scoring begins. Each clover you've collected turns negative tiles into positive ones. Whoever has the highest score wins! The game also includes variants, such as randomly assembling the path, or a more recent version with "give/steal" tiles that make everything even more unpredictable and fun. It's a light, fast-paced game with that touch of luck that appeals to the whole family.