The Game of Life: Super Mario edition (review)

A few weeks ago, my wife and grandson came home from a shopping trip with a new game, the Super Mario edition of the game of Life. I grew up playing the game of Life. My brother, sister, and I gave the spinner a real workout. This grandson is a big fan of all things Mario, so this was a natural choice for him.

The game is easy for four-year-olds and grandparents. You move Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, or Yoshi around a board collecting coins and stars in order to fight the boss, Bowser. There is something very satisfying about the zipping of the spinner at the beginning of each turn.

Along the way, players play little mini-games against each other to collect more coins. Games include spin-offs, thumb wars, and rock, paper, scissors. Some turns include trying to beat classic enemies, like a Goomba or Boo, which gets you more coins to buy stars.

The best thing? It has kept my grandson busy all day. We watch him one day a week. Today, he walked into the house, said, “Hi,” to Gigi, opened up the box and began setting up the game. He set it up and played alone for several hours. He sorts through the cards, races the people around the board, and narrates the whole experience.

We did play a game after lunch. But he didn’t especially want to win. He just wanted to collect as many cards, coins, and starts as he could. Finally he got the best of Bowser and I declared him the champion. I got up to get some tea, he went right back at it.

I think we paid $20 for it at Walmart. Great investment!