Adulthood – Relatable Life Strategy Board Game, Navigate Challenges of Growing Up, Fun for 1-4 Players, Ages 13+

I want to say this is a surprisingly good game, but most games are "good" on some level. This game was easy to pick up and learn, the aesthetic is very nice and comforting. Plays well with all the different player counts.As a board game collector, this one stays as a keeper and not likely to be culled anytime soon.

This was a fun game. A little more complicated than some, maybe not as good as others. But we had fun with it and played it quite a few times. Not sure if it'll make it back out to the table again. Components are nice. The game is designed really well visually. Sturdy parts.

Fun game once you get going.

Its a boring game! I tried to like it but your just going through the movements. Nothing exciting to look forward to at the end of game.

This game is fun for kids who have just left the house. The only thing I wish is that it had the ability to have more players.

The instructions are a book.

The best way to describe this game is, “The game of ‘Life,’ but with agency. We thought it was cute, simple to pick up, and fun to play!

My wife bought a copy of Adulthood at Gen Con 2024 in Indianapolis (largest tabletop/board gaming convention in North America, with over 80,000 attendees). While a buddy and I were off doing other stuff, she went to the exhibit hall and happened to walk by a booth where Adulthood was the only game being marketed at that booth. While there, she saw some demos of the game going on, which she watched for some time before deciding to buy.Looking at the cute art on the box and thinking about this game's name—as well as the 13+ age rating—let's just say I had my doubts about whether adults (particularly those at least 21 years old) would actually want to play this game.Well my friends, my skepticism was ... not warranted.I will start by characterizing this game as "The Game of Life, for the Modern Era." I played the game with my wife and our 24-year-old daughter on the third night of Gen Con at our hotel room, and it was a blast. Ironically, we had just gotten into a bit of an argument earlier that day with our daughter (who did not join us for Gen Con and instead visited a friend and did some remote work), and rather than playing the new "hot game" of Arcs together (which I was dying to do, actually), I felt that Adulthood seemed quite appropriate given the nature of that day’s parent-child disagreement!I would score this game an 8 out of 10 (which I translate to four stars for Amazon). For reference purposes, my personal top 10 (all of which I rate at 9 or 10, by comparison, on my personal scale) includes games like Hegemony, Twilight Imperium (fourth edition), Food Chain Magnate, and Eclipse.I would assign Adulthood a 3 out of 5 on the complexity scale for "hobbyist" board gamers (players of modern era board games like Catan (released in 1995), who have since "graduated" to post-2015 "Golden Age of gaming" offerings). For more occasional gamers who play traditional board games like Monopoly and Life, however (and there's nothing wrong with playing those games), Adulthood most likely will be a fairly complex game that will take some getting used to. Fortunately, it is HIGHLY thematic, making it a lot easier to "get into" for families and friends alike. Much of what happens in the game makes intuitive sense for anyone who, well, has lived some life.Before I go on, allow me to share a bit about the gameplay."ADULTING" IN THE 2020sAn alternative name for the game—other than a souped-up, highly modernized Game of Life (or, when I was growing up in the 80s, simply "Life")—would be "Adulting in the 2020s." In fact, at first I was a bit surprised that "Adulting" wasn't incorporated into the game's name. But, having played the game, "Adulthood" is a better choice.The game features a dual scoring track, with "Happiness" and "Impact" being the two dimensions (think Ark Nova, where the game ends when the two tracks, which go in opposite directions, meet). At game start, eight actions are available on your player board (in two rows—think of the game of Scythe), with the possibility (if not likelihood) of more being available later, to be placed to the side of the player board (think Scythe again, with its factory card). But unlike Scythe, you can replace the "starter actions" in the top row (not the bottom one, which remains the same throughout the game) with enhanced versions of those actions (by placing a card on top). The bottom row actions are generally used less frequently. (And unlike Scythe, it is possible to use the bottom-row actions very early in the game, without having to develop a strong engine to do so.)What's more, for some cards in play, there is a "starter" or basic version of the action, as well as an advanced version. Thus, for example, for working a career (the top-left action on your player board), you have a worker-bee (basic) version of the job, and then (let's say) a middle manager or "boss" (advanced) version of the job—but only after you are promoted. And to be promoted, you must interview for a higher-level position, using the bottom-left action space on your player board.I'm jumping around a bit, but there is a lot going on in this game (which is why I give it the 3 out of 5 "hobbyist" complexity rating mentioned above).In addition to action selection, at your disposal are three primary resources: (1) time, which is the preeminent resource; (2) energy, which can be substituted for time (but not vice versa); and (3) money.In playing this very modern Game of Life, you are deciding how to spend your time and energy to (1) work a career (which could include seemingly anything, from being a novelist, an engineer, a janitor (at game start), to many other possibilities that, in my view, include a fairly wide range—just as in "real," 2020s life); (2) earn money; (3) make an impact; and (4) gain happiness.You will spend more of your time working your career (go figure) than on other things such as leisure, exercise, and supporting the community, and you may decide to get married and have a family, but are not required to (again, just like in real life). But before you can get married, you must first date someone, which provides an additional action (again, like the factory card in Scythe) that I'll call the "relationship action." (If you decide to date someone else later, you can.) Getting married to the person you're dating makes the advanced version of the relationship action available. (There is even an option, depending on what cards are drawn, to have an open relationship, which certainly was not an option back when I was playing the Game of Life in the 80s! If you plan to play this game with your family (especially children of a certain age), you may want to remove this card from play. This suggestion is not meant as a judgment on that lifestyle, just more of a "heads up" for some people.)In addition, you start the game with three personal values, only one of which you know. To find out the others, you need to meditate (the action at the bottom-right of your player board), and it is even possible to change your values through more meditation. Your personal values are, in effect, achievement cards that will only score at the end of the game. So it helps to become more self-aware (in-game, just as in real life) as the proceedings go on.Also possible during the game is to recognize traits you may have, such as beauty or generosity. Having these traits is like gaining a technology (for you Twilight Imperium or Eclipse fans ... couldn't resist). Thus, for example, if you have the trait of beauty (regardless of gender), you don't have to pay for dates. (Seems about right.) Sometimes when you recognize a trait you gain an immediate bonus, in addition to an ongoing or passive ability.Hopefully I've done an adequate job above of describing theme, core mechanics, how to win, etc. Now, on to the pros, cons, and my concluding thoughts.PROSWhen I was first exposed to Hegemony in 2023, after playing it I immediately thought, "How did they manage to pull that off?"—meaning, how could you possibly design a game that essentially is a simplified simulation of running a modern, developed economy and polity ... a country, if you will. This, coming from a political science major who included a lot of economics and history courses as part of my college experience.Well, the designer of Adulthood has managed to pull off what I would not have considered possible. He has taken some of the basic concepts of The Game of Life (again, I really prefer "Life," but I don't want to confuse anyone with my capitalization or lack thereof) and added many design elements that modern board game hobbyists can easily recognize and appreciate.In short, it's a very thematic and reasonably realistic simulation of becoming and then being an adult (albeit simplified, just as Hegemony simplifies the running of a modern economy and polity). The designer's combination of mechanics, theme, and other aspects of gameplay is solid. (As I usually do, however, I add the disclaimer that there surely is a segment of the board game playing world that would disagree and would simply hate this game. So certainly try before you buy, and read other reviews from various sources.)This is a game I would gladly take to different venues, including my Thursday night "Euro-only" group as well as some of my TI4 and Eclipse buddies. Mind you, I would carefully consider which of those Eclipse and TI4 buddies I would choose to introduce the game to (certainly not everyone in those groups!), but my point here is that this game likely will appeal to a wide variety of board gamers. Furthermore, I can easily see this game being a "gateway game" for teenagers, young adults, and adults in their middle years of life—or beyond. (Meaning, a game that may lead to people becoming more interested in board gaming, or in the more "modern" form of it.)CONSMechanics-wise, the game is pretty solid, though I encountered one or two cards that, to me at least, didn't make thematic sense. In particular, the "Museum" card didn't immediately click for me thematically. Maybe it's obvious what the designer was going for and was just oblivious, but that's my take on it.Regarding the game's artwork, though I admire what the artist has done here, I am concerned that the art may deter some 21+ players from trying out the game. I recognize that with a 13+ age recommendation, you probably need artwork like this to be more inclusive. Also, to be fair, one can say that Arcs’ artwork and Root’s artwork certainly go against the grain when compared to games like Eclipse and TI4, yet largely succeed. (Indeed, Arcs' publisher even uses the word "silly" when describing the universe in which that game is set, and "silly" certainly matches the vibe given off by the artwork used with that game.)When it comes to the production process, there are some cards that refer to a deck that does not exist, as well as other anomalies or printing errors—but our copy was bought at Gen Con and my understanding is that a second printing is underway (or may have already happened by the time you're reading this review).Also, the rulebook is not as efficient and clear as I believe it could have been. It's not bad, mind you, but it took longer for me to figure out how to play the game than it should have taken for a medium-weight game being learned by someone who has been picking up, playing, and teaching games almost his whole life, going back to kindergarten. Perhaps the second printing will address some of these issues.Are these deal-killers? Absolutely not, for my own tastes.CONCLUDING THOUGHTSThis is a fun game. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to introducing it to and playing it with anyone who is up to give it a whirl.Although this isn't a Hegemony or an Arcs, and I wouldn't call it a masterpiece like I consider those games to be (10 out of 10 on my personal scale, for those games), I'm very comfortable giving the game an 8 out of 10 (again, 4 of 5 stars using Amazon's scale) and recommending it to a wide audience well beyond the 13+ starting point of the publisher's recommended age range.

Gran juego, una temática bien implementada. Mecánicas sencillas. Juego rápido para el promedio de este tipo. Las ilustraciones son geniales y le dan personalidad.

Está muy sencillo de jugar y muy divertido! Mi carta favorita es la de insomnio jajaja