Customer Reviews

Game of Life - Pirates of the Caribbean  Dead Man's Chest Edition

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I always liked The Game of Life as a kid and picked up the POTC2 version on a whim, thought it would be a cute joke. Imagine my delight when it turned out to be a fun game!

Players are randomly assigned a captain, one of the characters from the movies, and then the adventure starts. Like the original game you encounter life's ups and downs. Eventually everyone gets a ship and at least one mascot. The goal is to get the most treasure, the best ship and be the first to retire.

Here's the really fun part. Once the pile of treasure is gone, players began stealing from each other. You can even take another player's ship! This element keeps you guessing until the very end as to who will win.

We played three games in a row the first night each one very different. Our players ranged in age from 19 - 49. I would say that some elements of the Pirate theme make this a game more suitable for mature players who can appreciate the humor in "stealing" as part of the game. There are references to other typical pirate behavior that might not be appreciated in some households. We however, were thoroughly delighted and can't wait to play again! Arrgh!

With DVDs and MySpace ting much of my daughters' free-time, I'm always happy when I can find a game that grabs their imaginations. This new version of LIFE did just the trick. Not only did it bring to life all the fun and adventure of the movie, it gave us a chance to laugh and create our own fun.

The concept isn't much different than the original board game, but it pits players against each other on the high seas, searching for treasure, amassing riches, and getting their own ship mascots. Some reviewers have complained about the thievery concepts in the game, but if your kids are able to separate imagination and fact than they'll have no problem with this. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The set-up was easy. The rules pretty simple. The graphics colorful.

This recent trend of merging successful movies with successful board games has breathed new life into our family nights together. (For a more strategy-oriented game, try the Narnia version of Stratego. It's incredible!) We'll continue to look for creative combinations such as this. Until then, it's the pirate's life for me.

This incarnation of the Game of Life is a lot of fun and well worth purchasing... However, I think that the designers really dropped the ball on making this game as fun and challenging as the original. To start, in the original game you get to choose up front whether or not you go to college - if so, then it takes longer to start building income, but over time you build income faster (usually)... In this version, you draw cards at random to choose a character, and if you are lucky you get the choice between landlubber and pirate, but the choice may not be yours and the benefits of each type of character are a lot less obvious (pirates seem to start collecting booty sooner than landlubbing captains, but also seem to be more prone to adversity in the life cards).

Once you aquire a ship, then fun begins, because you can attack other ships - if you win the battle, then you can get booty from the other player. However, since there's absolutely no consequence for attaching another ship of you loose (which makes little sense), the game lacks that element of risk that would make it more interesting.

Also, during the course of the game you can aquire a mascot, which does next to nothing interesting for you during the game, and only adds a little to your score at the end of the game. It would have been nice if the mascots helped you in some way beyond a few extra points at the end. And it would also have been more interesting if you could steal mascots from another player...

And lastly, though the mascots feel like a feeble attempt at duplicating the babies in the original game, there's no duplicate for the auto or homeowners insurance that protects you in the face of advesity. It would have been nice if you could at least purchase insurance for your ship - especailly since the Kraken is likely to attack at random - and it would have been nice if you could purchase armament for your ship to improve your odds in the battles (and take the armament from ships you defeat).

Anyway, if you love POTC and you like the Game of Life, I'm sure that you'll enjoy this version - just don't expect it to be particularly challenging, and once the novelty wears off the game-play itself is just so-so.

This game is so freakin' awesome!!! It's better than the old life because you get payed each time you pass payday or should I say "Share of the Loot". You get to be a captain and have your own ship, and the life is the life on the sea of a pirate. It is so fun to play. The first day I got it I played it like 10 times and still couldn't get enough of it. It's super awesome and I HIGHLY recommend getting it. It's a fun game.

First off: We used this with kids in the age range of 10-15 years old and all of them liked it very much. In fact, one night the kids played this the entire evening, playing several times, in SPITE of the fact that they had plenty of other options, including the (usually) irresistable video games.

Listening to them at play, I realized the great value of board games, which is that they allow a lot of time to interact and talk, as well as think about strategy as you role play, moving your ship around the board.


Even though this is VERY different from classic Lifem the guys really enjoyed the way they'd adapted the characters and cards to fit the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean. There was suspense, pitfalls and the ability to make or lose a great deal of money, depending on which squares you landed on and how much money you could keep. I only played once so I haven't figured out how much strategy plays a role in this game, if any. But I CAN say it was great fun!

If you want to know a bit about this particular verions of Life, each player gets a certain sum of money at the beginning and then sets out in their ship to "make their fortune". They also pick two characters at random, each worth a certain sum of money.

This has become a favorite in our house. I'm tempted to get the Monopoly version, too, so if anyone has comments about that, I'd love to hear them!

Generally liked the game. The Pirate wheel was hard to spin. When you
choose captains we take the $[...] card out of the pack. To hard to win
with little chance of improving your Captain. Takes a few games to understand the rules. My nine year old daughter and I enjoy playing the game.

This version is much more enjoyable than the original and I like the original! It's easy to follow the rules - especially if you have seen the movie. Colorful gameboard and highly detailed game pieces add to the fun.
A great game for any age pirate!

If you are a fan of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, you will love this game!They have used the characters and themes from the movies in very clever ways.
I played LIFE as a child 40 years ago, and hadn't played since. My husband, son and daughter-in-law played one night and had a ball! My husband doesn't like board games, but enjoyed this one so much he wanted to play again, so this one is not just for kids!

This game is based on the Pirates of the Carribbean movie. It's not terribly innovative but still fun as you get a pirate ship and then travel through the "seas" accumulating loot on the way or stealing from the other ships. However, I prefer the original version of Life. This one is a bit too simple, they could have made it more interesting and less of a game of chance. It is more fun with at least 4 people and works well for tweens. My kid liked it better than the original version of Life as she finds that one "too grown up". Board games like this are definitely more fun than just watching more mindless TV on family and friends nights.

I purchased the Pirates of the Caribbean Life Game for my children for Christmas and truly enjoy the fun and excitement. The game takes about two hours to play, but you don't even notice the time. My husband and I also love to play it as well. From stealing the Black Pearl from other players, trading Captains and getting caught by the Kraken - I highly recommend this for Pirate fans.