A Solo Guide to The Pursuit of Happiness Expansion Modules
Find out more about the different content to add to The Pursuit of Happiness in this solo guide to the expansions and modules.
It has been absolutely wonderful to explore everything there is for The Pursuit of Happiness, and I’m happy to say that I’ve now seen it all! Combining all of the expansions and modules at once can feel like a lot, although this is how I always plan to play. Discover what the new content adds in this guide to help customize your solo game experience!
Collecting Content
The biggest additions are included in the 3 main expansions, which I’ve written about previously and will go into a little more detail here. They add a lot!
Modules are mainly contained within the smaller packs, but it can be tricky to know where to find everything. Never fear! I’ll highlight how to find what you want.
There are a few other promo packs with more unusual card sets, but they don’t offer any new modules.
Seen here are all of the smaller card packs. You don’t need everything, though. Read on to pick and choose!
The Pursuit of Happiness New Content Guide
The base game contains 170 cards across the various decks. All of the expansions and packs listed below add 625 cards, bringing the total card count to 795. Other promo packs have specific themes but are not included with this guide. Even more content!
An Overview of the Main Expansions
I’ve played the game many times now with a combination of everything, and I absolutely love the full game with all of the content added in! However, this isn’t always a feasible option. There are many related posts that go into more detail, yet for a general idea, these are my thoughts about the trio of large expansions that are currently available:
Community Expansion: Adds a new way to add to a life by participating in different community activities and events.
- A new meeple ensures that at least 1 Community Card may be engaged with every round at no cost to time.
- The Popularity Score can provide more long-term happiness and allow time to be spent in the community.
- My final tableau is always enhanced by these new cards, yet I don’t have to spend any extra time to participate.
- Shifting to spend more time in the community is a viable strategy and can replace jobs, projects, and more.
Experiences Expansion: Adds dreaming to store cards, along with happenings and trips as life milestones.
- A new cloud token allows the Dream or Plan Experience action to be taken every round at no cost to time.
- The dream board stores cards between rounds so they accumulate long-term happiness before they are chosen.
- My final tableau always includes a handful of these cards, yet dreaming can be more important than planning.
- Shifting to spend more time on experiences can work, but these are designed to be limited, major life events.
Nostalgia Expansion: Adds connections to childhood with clever ways to realize old memories in adulthood.
- A set of checkmark tokens allow passive triggers and free actions to happen every round at no cost to time.
- The nostalgia board keeps up 2 Nostalgia Cards on their reminiscence sides to be worked on at any point.
- My final tableau varies with realizations since these take a lot of time and resources to fully realize.
- Shifting to spend more time on realizations is rather tricky because the card interactions are more complex.
I like each expansion for different reasons, yet read on to find out what might be the best choice if you’re starting out!
Nostalgia
Expansion- Adds realization actions.
- Includes 64 Nostalgia Cards.
- Provides triggers & free actions.
- Makes a child phase narrative.
- Offers complex, pricey abilities.
Community
Expansion- Adds a Popularity Score track.
- Includes 48 Community Cards.
- Provides 1 free action per round.
- Makes more story moments.
- Creates more connected stories without taking up extra time.
Experiences
Expansion- Adds dreaming & storing cards.
- Includes 50 Experience Cards.
- Provides 1 free action per round.
- Makes Services & Kids possible.
- Focuses on costly milestones.
The Events Module
Events add a bit of randomness to all of the adult phases. These might be positive or negative, and it’s never guaranteed to be an even mix from play to play.
However, events don’t automatically trigger! They come out during the round before they cause any effects. Something must happen to either ensure or prevent them.
In this way, it’s possible to plan ahead. Positive events can be skipped over, while negative ones are fully known.
Although far from essential, this is a simple module that I like for creating major life events, good or bad, to plan for.
The Friends Module
A-ha! The biggest issue with having a higher level partner is the upkeep… Time must be spent, which makes sense, but means it’s the only way to have a relationship.
Friends are very different, offering platonic connections that can still be worked on. The difference is in the fact that they typically don’t cost time to maintain.
The final level may be repeated, making best friends very lucrative! They add another layer to think about, though.
My biggest gripe is the limited number of unique friends, as this module means the Friend Cards will be reshuffled.
Mutual Friends Module
Sadly, this is the lone module that isn’t compatible with the solo mode. Mutual friends are meant to be placed between players with a shared track to move against.
Not having them available for solo isn’t the end of the world, especially since the friends module itself offers so much. But I did devise a little way to use them for flavor…
I simply slide one underneath a friend to give them a little more of a personality. Just an option to use these cards!
Still, they really are designed for multiplayer and could easily be left out of solo play without losing anything.
The Pets Module
YES. Do I need to write anything else? Ha ha! Pets are just so great. The wide array of pets are mixed in with items and activities, but they must be taken at the lowest level.
During the upkeep phase, there is a required cost to advance them to the next level. In this way, they age during each phase of life to provide long-term happiness.
Sadly, nearly all of them must bid farewell at some point. Those memories always stick with us, though.
I don’t love the way pets must pass away, although it’s realistic. This is a simple but wonderful module to have!
The Stand-Alone Jobs
It can be brutal to focus on a career with the base game, as a character can get stuck spending a lot of time on the upkeep of a top-level job. Other actions are then limited.
Stand-alone jobs don’t have levels and typically use a single hourglass token. Their claim to fame? It’s possible to work harder up to 2 times to boost the rewards!
With the right planning, what might look like a level 1 job can turn into something closer to a level 2 or 3 job.
I love these new options and the ability to not get stuck on a career track. Just note these jobs don’t have any levels.
Store Owners Module
Still looking for other job options? This new content introduces business owners of different store types!
The highlight here is that level indicators accumulate over the course of play. At any point, the business may be sold to collect rewards based on the number of level indicators.
Store owners don’t have to spend as much time during upkeep, and the ability to sell at any point is awesome! This can be done for any sort of payout, big or small.
This module mostly just adds more variety, yet it’s another example of an option outside of a standard job.
Safety & Security Jobs
Even more job options! This is a limited set of content, but all of the safety and security jobs function differently from the base game options… Lots of stress is involved here.
However, this increase in stress only replaces some resource requirements. With the right planning and ways to reduce stress each round, these are excellent choices!
I enjoy having more variety, too, and these jobs might be more appealing if low stress isn’t a priority during a play.
They are few and far between, though, so mixing them in the jobs deck may mean they show up very rarely.
The Services Module
Rather than adding in new items, services are simply slightly adapted items. They function in exactly the same way and have the same card backs as items and activities.
There really isn’t a reason not to play with this module! Some of the other related cards look for services, so it can be important to add them in to achieve certain life goals.
I would label these as a simple extension of items. You’re just not really able to own a butler or photographer. Ha!
Services are a simple module, yet they add enough to the stories that they’re pretty much an obvious choice to add.
The Group Items
Not surprisingly, group items act like the item version of group projects. Nothing entirely new here, aside from the fact that these can found with the items and activities.
There are so few of them that it seems silly to leave them out. Although I wouldn’t say they do much, the variety makes them worthwhile to mix in with every play.
Remember, too, that group projects and group items allow a single player to participate up to 2 times. Very helpful!
I don’t think these offer anything groundbreaking, as they’re like group projects to convert coins into resources.
The Health Activities
One of the most difficult things to achieve in the base game is a longer life, which requires completing projects with the heart resource to move up to another stress tier.
The health activities module might seem really small, yet these function like a hybrid project and activity.
Only the first level is available, and then they must be worked on with time. They’re all very expensive, but provide a new way to pick up another heart resource!
I don’t see them too often since they’re so rare, but this module is perfect for making a longer life possible.
Ongoing Life Goals
Just a small trio of cards make up this module. It makes more sense in the multiplayer game, although the solo life goals are still possible and make sense!
In reality, these simply add some interesting variety with the selection of solo life goals. Collecting a large amount of a resource can be very challenging, and also fun.
My only hesitation might be in wondering what a solo play would look like with all of these drawn… What a life!
Still, I think it’s great to see some other ongoing or mid-game solo life goals to work on that are rather unique.
The School Module
Onto one of my favorite new modules! Depending on what you have, you may or may not have the large cardboard tile… Yet this is entirely cosmetic and not required.
This module offers a new action during the teen phase to make a career choice. You may look through the full deck of degrees and athletic and performing arts careers.
Although not mandatory, these provide ways to get a boost with certain job types or start off with a career!
I love this addition, as it makes the teen phase a little more interesting and helps narrow down future job choices.
The Relatives Module
A new card type provides a random draw during setup, which sets up a relative your character is close with. They all have various requirements for their inheritance…
And they all will die at some point during play, which can add a little too much realism and sadness.
The idea is that each one has something they wish for your character, and achieving that means the relative is happy.
I don’t mind this addition, as it creates an early goal to try to achieve, but the fact that relatives are meant to pass away might not be for everyone. This module is just OK.
The Trends Module
Included in this module are trend cards that correspond to all of the project types. During setup, a trio sets the stage to define the popular categories during a lifetime.
In the end, having a certain number of matching projects provides extra long-term happiness. Very nice!
Trends feel like they should have worked during each life phase, for something that’s trendy is pretty short-lived. Still, I enjoy the added bonus that can influence choices.
My plays don’t necessarily mean I work hard to complete trends, but the cards provide subtle guidance at times.
Kids & Single Parents
Such fun! The option to have kids is entirely by choice, and these additions are realistically expensive. They age during each upkeep phase with specific requirements.
Typically, kids arrive by taking the highest level action with a level 3 partner. However, there are also single parents who bring a kid into the relationship.
I love this module! It can be very challenging to juggle even one kid, yet it’s nice to see the family possibilities.
Not all of my plays even feature kids, yet it’s a wonderful module to have available. And yes… Twins are possible!
The Pursuit of Happiness Modules Guide
The only module that requires multiple expansions is the school module, which only offers degrees as educational projects from the KS3 Pack. The athletic and performing arts careers are included in the KS4 Pack. You can play with either, but note the split.
KS2 Pack
KS4 Pack
Gratitude
KS2 Pack
KS4 Pack
Promo Pack
Gratitude
KS4 Pack
KS3 Pack
What are the Must-Have Modules?
I think it mostly comes down to personal choice, especially since there is so much content to choose from! Yet for myself, I have some definite preferences when it comes to my favorite modules. At this point, everything is mixed together so it would almost be more difficult to separate anything out! However, here are my favorites in order:
- School
- Friends
- Pets
- Kids & Single Parents
- Stand-Alone Jobs
- Health Activities
If you’re looking for the bare minimum you would need to have at least some of each module, I would recommend picking up the KS3 Pack and the KS4 Pack. Expansions add the most, and you may want to pick up additional packs for more variety in these modules. There really isn’t a wrong answer: Find what interests you, and enjoy!
Continue the Conversation
What are your favorite expansions or modules for The Pursuit of Happiness? I hope this guide helps highlight all of the content, as there is a lot to choose from! Have you had any surprising changes in your stories from any additions? This is a wonderful solo game that I plan to enjoy for a long time to come. Best of luck with your character’s life story!
Thanks for the detailed analysis! This was super helpful for making my decision.
You’re very welcome, and I’m glad this was helpful to you! This makes me want to get the game back to my solo table right now… Ha ha!
I own all of the content too, and generally agree with your assessments. Haven’t tried to include everything at the same time, solo or otherwise. But plan to do so in the future. In a bit concerned Experiences and Community add a lot of time though when not being a central expansion anymore. So I’ll likely test-run “All-In” solo first.
Hope you have a great time playing! I do notice that some plays move a little more quickly than others, regardless of the expansions used, so the added time may not be accurate for every situation. Things tend to pick up after a handful of plays, although I never like rushing through. Always fun to enjoy the stories, and I wish you lots of luck when you try playing solo with all of the content!
Thank you! This was really well written and helped me determine what to buy.
You’re very welcome! Always glad to help. I hope you have a great time playing with whichever modules and expansions you decided on… Even the base game is an excellent experience on its own. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment!