The Game of Life Trouble Board Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play (Game Mashups)

Objective of The Game of Life Trouble

The objective of Game Mashups The Game of Life Trouble is to be the first player to get all three of your cars home first.

Setup for The Game of Life Trouble

• Place the gameboard in the middle of the table. Place the Pop-O-Matic popper-spinner in the center of the board.
• Sort the people pegs by their color and place them into the trays around the spinner.
• Each player chooses a color and places the three cars of their selected color on the corresponding Start space.
• Shuffle the cards and place the deck face down next to the gameboard.
• The youngest player starts the game. Play passes clockwise/left throughout the game.

Playing The Game of Life Trouble

You will begin your turn by pressing down on the Pop-O-Matic popper-spinner. Pressing the Pop-O-Matic popper-spinner will spin the spinner and roll the die inside the popper. Depending on what number the spinner lands on and what symbol is rolled on the dice, you will move one of your cars.

The number on the spinner determines how many spaces that you will move one of your cars.

The symbol on the die determines how you will move one of your cars.

Die Symbols

Forward

You will move one of your cars forward/clockwise around the board a number of spaces equal to the number on the spinner.

U-Turn

You will get to move one of your cars backward/counterclockwise a number of spaces equal to the number on the spinner.

Double

Choose one of your cars to move twice the number of spaces shown on the spinner. You will move your chosen car clockwise.

Switch

This symbol gives you two options.

First you can move one of your cars forward/clockwise spaces equal to the number on the spinner.

Your other option is two switch two of the cars out on the board. You can swap the position of any two cars as long as they are not on a Home or Start space. If you move cars with this ability, the associated actions for the spaces that they are moved to are not taken.

Moving Around the Board

You will move one of your cars based on what is spun and rolled. Depending on what space that you land on, you will then take a special action. 

Start

You can move any car out of your own Start based on the number on the spinner. You can have as many cars as you want out on the game track at the same time.

If you roll a Switch, you cannot switch a car out from one of your Start spaces. You can only switch cars that are already out on the track. Therefore you either need to swap two other cars, or you can use the number spun in order to move a car out from one of your Start spaces.

If you roll a U-Turn, you can move a car counter-clockwise out of your Start space.

Yellow Spaces

Whenever you land on a Yellow space, you will draw the top card from the draw pile. You will read the card and take the corresponding action.

Baby Spaces

If you pass a Baby Space, you will add one peg to your car.

Should you land on a Baby Space, you will add two pegs to your car.

If your car is full, you can add pegs to any of your cars that are on the board. You may not add pegs to a car on a Start or Home space.

Speedway Spaces

When you land on a Speedway Space (by exact count), you may either choose to take the corresponding action or pass on taking it.

If you choose to take the action you will move your car to the Stop sign next to the space.

You will then push down on the Pop-O-Matic popper-spinner. The number you spin determines what happens:

• 1-2: Remove 1 peg
• 3-4: Do nothing
• 5-6: Add 1 peg
• 7-8: Add 2 pegs
• 9-10: Add 3 pegs

After adding/removing pegs from your cars, you will choose one of the other Speedway Spaces on the board to move your car to.

Home Zone

When you move a car into its corresponding Home Zone, the car is safe for the rest of the game. You do not need an exact count in order to enter your Home Zone. You cannot move backwards into your Home Zone though.

Before entering your Home Zone, you need to acquire enough passengers for the car. In order to enter the Home Zone, you need to have at least four pegs inside the car.

Occupied Spaces

If you land on a space occupied by an opponent’s car, send that car back to its corresponding Start space. Your opponent does not lose any of the pegs from their car when they are sent back to their Start space. You will then move your car onto the space that was previously occupied by the other player.

If your only possible move on a turn would have your car land on top of another one of your cars, you will skip your turn and take no action.

Adding and Removing Pegs From Cars

Throughout the game you will gain and lose pegs from your cars due to passing/landing on Baby Spaces or drawing cards. When adding and removing pegs from cars you must follow these rules.

• Unless otherwise directed, you do not have to add or remove pegs from the car that you just moved.
• You can add pegs to any car that you want as long as it is currently on the road (not in Start or Home). If you acquire more than one peg, you can distribute the pegs between more than one car.
• When forced to remove multiple pegs, you can take them from more than one car.
• You may never move pegs from one of your cars to another car unless a card directly tells you that you can.

Winning The Game of Life Trouble

The first player to get all three of their cars into their Home Zone wins the game.

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Year: 2020 | Publisher: Hasbro | Designer: NA | Artist: NA

Genres: Family, Roll and Move

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High

Components: gameboard, 120 pegs (the instructions say 96 but my new copy of the game had 120), 12 cars, plastic Pop-O-Matic popper-spinner,

Where to Purchase: Amazon, eBay Any purchases made through these links (including other products) help keep Geeky Hobbies running. Thank you for your support.

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