Expanding The Pursuit of Happiness with the Community
Interact with the community and guide the life story of a unique character with an expansion for The Pursuit of Happiness.
My apologies for what will be a whole bunch of incessant posts about The Pursuit of Happiness… I’m simply loving the solo mode! After getting the basics down with the base game, I quickly moved onto the first expansion. There is plenty of new content to experience, and I hope all of these adventures will help shed some light on this wonderful game!
Game Overview
Game Name: The Pursuit of Happiness
Publication Year: 2015
Designers: Adrian Abela and David Chircop
Artist: Panayiotis Lyris
Publisher: Artipia Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The main game is all about watching a character go through life from their teenage years into old age. There are many options to help form a story from the cards. Although there are board game elements and scoring, the real charm is in creating a fulfilling life for a character!
First Play
June 13, 2023
Complexity
3
Latest Play
February 15, 2025
Expansions
11
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
16
Play Time
1 Hour & 20 Minutes
High Score
87
Game Area
50" x 34"
Low Score
49
Into the Community
The base game is very much character-centric, meaning that it’s all about personal achievements. Many options exist, yet there is a slight disconnect with the world.
The Community Expansion changes all of that! It includes some additional cards to improve the variety in some sets, but its main feature is in offering community cards.
Each card may be engaged with, and the resolution phase involves finding an outcome from costs or requirements.
Community cards are a little like delayed projects, but really help add deeper storylines to a character’s life!
Life as Jamie the Rich
Per my usual process of choosing a partner card, this play involved Jamie the rich! This trait only gave her a little bit of extra money, though. No golden limo. Ha ha!
I was still trying to find my way through the expansion content, which led to only a cursory community element.
However, there is always a way to act on a community card each round. A special meeple forms this basis, which is also why the long-term happiness threshold is higher.
Popularity offers the opportunity to use hourglass tokens for more community cards… But that wasn’t for Jamie!
Rich but Not Famous
As her life unfolded, Jamie turned out to be a little bit of a lazy personality. She took a low-level job and never advanced further, which still wasn’t terrible!
Her life with Kaylen was one of many lost opportunities, although they finally reached the top of their relationship.
All of the expensive possessions and activities didn’t amount to all that much, though. Jamie missed out on 2 of 3 life goals and fell short of the victory threshold.
Still, I think her life was rich in some senses, and her story was a positive one. Money simply can’t buy the best life!
Richer Stories
See? Community cards are supposed to be discarded after being resolved, but there are so many in the deck. They’ll never be reshuffled during a solo game, so I kept them.
This already tells a more interesting story about Jamie. Her early startup company helped her sell lemonade and become a rousing success. So many different memories!
To top it off, she participated in a huge singing festival as an adult, then performed with her community choir.
In the end, this mixture of personal and community cards really helped round out Jamie as a character in the world.
A Top Question: Is the Expansion Worth It?
Nowadays, it’s hard not to escape the world of endless expansions. I often don’t get a chance to expand past the base game before I want to move onto something else, which can make gauging the worth of an expansion difficult. Luckily, I’m focusing on a deep dive into all of the content for this game, which includes almost every expansion!
In terms of this first expansion, I loved it. Only 2 of the community cards technically aren’t for solo since they look at the most of some aspects, yet these can still be used for other outcomes. The sense of being connected to a busy community was the real heart of these plays, though. Characters weren’t simply out for their own personal interests.
The community cards aren’t all about giving back or volunteering, though! Plenty of them are simply geared towards more social events or memories that went outside of personal stories. Whereas I had maybe 3-4 set aside project cards with the base game, these characters had 10-15 cards with all of the community card options. Awesome!
Glen the Diligent
I wasn’t quite finished, though! To get a better idea of how different this expansion could be, I reset for another play.
Meet Glen the diligent! He was a really fun character to explore. Look closely, and you’ll see where he ended up at the very end with +3 short-term happiness.
Additionally, he nearly maxed out his popularity score! This new amount is tied into being able to engage with more community cards and higher long-term happiness.
The secret to Glen’s success? He never got a job. That’s right: He earned a modest living within his community.
An Active Community
His final pile of cards was fairly light on items and activities, but look at all of the community cards!
Glen started off raising awareness about a homeless shelter as a teenager, which seemed to give him a reason to be very involved. Everything tied back to that card!
I particularly enjoyed the round when he hosted a New Year’s Celebration, but also had to deal with a noisy neighbor. Who was trying to make the most noise?! Ha!
This also showcased how it was possible to win by going heavily into the community aspect, which was great!
Session Overview
Play Number: 3 and 4
Expansion: Community Expansion
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 57 and 60 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
Glen managed to claim a complete victory and was a very happy guy! These life goals guided my initial choices for him, and I think he matched up with everything pretty neatly. Money was rare for him, yet he collected enough. I enjoyed this expansion quite a lot! It gave me a few more things to think about, yet the end result were richer stories with practically no change to the play time. Fun!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- Community cards provide many more storytelling moments and help expand a character beyond personal goals.
- The popularity score can be a very important mechanic and helps gauge how connected a character is.
- A dedicated meeple means that a community card can always be engaged with each round at a bare minimum.
- There is a nice touch of humor present throughout all of the cards to keep the atmosphere very light and positive.
- Achieving a solo victory takes some careful planning, although this can happen without sacrificing the story.
- Even when a lot of the same cards come out between plays, the character’s story has a very unique feel to it.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The rulebook is a little text-heavy and hard to understand in some spots, making learning a bit of a chore.
- Although it’s close, this expansion still doesn’t add enough partners to offer unique options during a full play.
- Not every card combination will make sense in story terms, and it can be tricky to not want to focus on winning.
- Without a dedicated player board, the play area can get a little messy and out-of-hand at certain points.
Victory Conditions
Complete All Life Goals & Reach the Threshold
- Overall Goal Progress 89%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 50 long-term happiness.
Score at least 60 long-term happiness.
Score at least 70 long-term happiness.
Score at least 80 long-term happiness.
Win at least 1 game with the base game.
Win at least 1 game with the community expansion.
Win at least 1 game with the experiences expansion.
Win at least 1 game with the nostalgia expansion.
Score at least 90 long-term happiness.
Continue the Conversation
What are some of your favorite parts of The Pursuit of Happiness? Are there any expansions you highly recommend? I’ll continue to work through my full collection, and can’t wait to share more stories! This is exactly the sort of game I was hoping for, and it’s so joyful to simply go through a character’s life in search of happiness. Definitely a real life lesson!
Great article. I bought a copy from the Dice Tower East virtual flea market so I can give it a try soon!
Thank you very much, and I hope you have a great time playing your copy!