The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness is a worker-placement game themed around life simulation. Players start with their character at the teen stage, represented by a player board. You lay out various cards including projects, items, activities, partners, and jobs. Each player receives a set of time workers (hour-glass tokens) that represent their available time each round, along with starting money and happiness tracking.

The main objective is to live the most satisfying life possible. You guide your character from youth through adulthood and old age, pursuing your dream lifestyle by balancing career ambitions, relationships, hobbies, and personal health.

During a turn, players use their time workers to perform actions on the board or on cards they've acquired. Actions include getting temporary jobs for income, studying to improve skills, building relationships, purchasing items, or resting to recover stress. Every action consumes precious time, and characters age by one life stage each round, moving from teen to adult, middle age, and finally old age.

Scoring happens at the end of the game based on accumulated happiness points, successful completion of personal goals, life milestones, and remaining resources. Different paths—whether focusing heavily on career success, leisure, or relationships—offer various avenues to victory.

The game concludes when all players have progressed through all age brackets and eventually pass away in old age. Once everyone has reached the final stage and finished their actions, players tally up their total happiness points to determine the winner.