The Pursuit of Happiness and a Set of New Experiences
Plan experiences from happenings to trips, dream of life-long desires, and add kids to stories in The Pursuit of Happiness.
The fun with expansions continues! The Pursuit of Happiness has been on my solo table since it arrived earlier in the week and I simply can’t get enough of it. Even with all of these constant life stories, each feels quite unique. Still, it was time to explore the second major expansion to see what all of these experiences, dreams, and kids were all about!
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
This is a game all about creating the life story of a character. Many options exist to customize what each life stage focuses on. Although the base game is complete, the second expansion rewards the completion of dreams and adds exciting happenings and trips to remember!
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
Experience This!
I suppose the base game might vaguely feel like it’s missing milestones or the very memorable experiences. It doesn’t stand out, but feels like a subtle missing piece.
Voila! The Experiences Expansion focuses on a new type of card to provide a variety of happenings and trips. These can be planned for, and then experienced at some point.
These aren’t the standard sort of events everyone has. Being rather expensive, not all get beyond planning.
Dreaming is another new action that I’ll touch on later, but take a closer look… Kids are another new module!
The Services Module
I could assess each module completely separately, but a lot of them are more like variations on existing content.
Take these new services, for instance. They’re not quite items or activities, yet they have the same card backs and sort of function like a hybrid of them in some way.
A few life goals, partners, and traits tie into these new cards, which can make them valuable… Though they are rather rare to come across in the giant deck!
In the same way, the kids module brings them in as an option that serves as a sort of item. An expensive one. Ha!
Sherry the Charismatic
Onto another story! I stopped writing down the details because there could be so many. Things develop naturally over the course of play, too, often with little effort.
Based on this trait’s ability, I knew Sherry wanted to find a partner, and likely one who was technically out of reach.
It was that personality that made everyone gravitate towards her! Another fun way to create a character.
Note that the majority of these traits feel very balanced. The benefit is usually fairly minimal, but can help guide the choices that make the most sense during play.
The Final Play Area
I’ve noticed that I often have very different assortments of cards in the play area and finished section. For Sherry, this might look like her last life stages were boring.
Ah, quite the contrary, as I’ll show in a moment! She mostly fulfilled everything and didn’t focus on items.
Her poor play never got published, even though she had it finished since early adulthood. Can’t do it all!
She finished with an incomplete experience to the Taj Mahal, only getting so far as studying India’s history. But don’t we all have lots of plans that don’t always happen?
A Full Life Story
This is where Sherry’s life shone! Her first community card involved saving someone from drowning… And that turned out to be Cameron, her future husband!
She had a wonderful time as an event coordinator, inspired by the basketball match she attended as a teenager. Little Nick also joined the family and grew up!
It was very tricky to complete a life goal about experiences, but she had a great time on her many trips.
Sherry also quit her job as a TV host to focus on those last few trips… A little stressful, but absolutely worth it!
Is the Experience of Experiences Worth It?
Time for a quick evaluation of this expansion! I was a little more reserved about the happenings and trips. A new cloud token means it’s possible to plan or dream during every round at no extra cost. Dreaming makes more sense in the early phases since desire hearts left on the dream board are worth negative long-term happiness in the end. Avoid that!
In this sense, planning becomes like a free action later in life. Effectively, this comes down to finding a completed requirement and taking the bonus. It’s not necessarily a bad idea, yet this can lead to a lot of planned experiences that never actually happen. Maybe I’m overthinking it, yet this can feel like someone never got to do what they wanted to.
However, the kids and services modules add some very meaningful choices! Services might not seem that interesting, yet they function like rare items or activities that add more variety. And kids? Absolute monsters, yet they’re worth it. Ha! And they’re never required to do well, which is nice. They’re there as a fun optional path to more happiness.
My husband pointed out that planning so many experiences is often a real part of life, and doesn’t mean that someone is unhappy in any way. So maybe I just need to work on weaving these ideas into the stories! After all, only the dreams that don’t come true are truly negatives. Trips can’t always be taken, yet the plans can sometimes be just as fun!
Dreams of Tomorrow
I felt a little torn on the experience cards, for they added some unfulfilled elements. The characters might enjoy planning for them, but many trips never happened.
Still, I moved onto the life of Martha the persuasive! Right away, I used the new dream action to reserve a project.
Dreaming allows up to 3 cards to be saved up. During upkeep, a desire heart is added. If one of these cards is chosen later on, those convert into long-term happiness.
It took her some time, yet she had her summer fling late in life with Oliver, who turned out to be the right one!
An Unfulfilled Life?
This highlights my slight issue with the experiences, and only the experiences. At the end of Martha’s life, she had 4 different experience cards that had only been planned.
A cloud token offers an additional action to plan or dream each round, but extra dream cards can be worth negative long-term happiness when not realized.
I felt driven to take experiences even when that didn’t make the most sense. And was Martha happy in the end?
Part of me felt a little sad that she never got to visit these special places. Blame Isadora’s arrival. Ha ha!
Extending a Lifetime
However, take a moment to look at all of Martha’s set aside and completed cards. This doesn’t tell the story of someone who didn’t live a full life: She had a great time!
Actually, I managed to keep her alive the longest. There are 3 phases of old age, and it’s very hard to extend life.
But with the hearts on her trip to Tibet and spiritual growth, Martha was my longest-lived character yet!
Also, she let her bodyguard go during her last life stage… When she prevented a fight on the neighborhood watch. That was one tough old lady no one wanted to cross!
Session Overview
Play Number: 5 and 6
Expansions: Community and Experiences
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Kids and Services Modules
Outcome: 67 and 71 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
Another awesome session! I know I classify some plays as technical losses, yet my scores are always close. Besides, the real charm lies in the storytelling. All of my characters have lived great lives, and winning is just cause for a little extra celebrating! I may have had a few reservations about the experience cards, yet I enjoyed this expansion a lot!
%
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)
- There is nothing quite like seeing a character’s life take shape and come to life with a surprisingly detailed story.
- Dreaming is a fantastic new option in this expansion that feels thematic and also helps reserve some cards.
- Kids and services are included to offer new options without taking away from any of the other aspects of play.
- Even with a lot more to consider with experiences, play time is still very reasonable and never drags on.
- Playing back-to-back over the course of many sessions still presents lots of unique options with all of the cards.
- Winning in the solo mode feels very balanced with the slight adjustment to the long-term happiness threshold.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The experience cards can lead to a lot of unfulfilled aspects in the end, which might feel a little too realistic or sad.
- A lot of cards can be stacked once completed, yet the play area is still large and only expands with expansions.
- Some solo life goals can be rather difficult to accomplish when paired together, particularly related to experiences.
- Experiences aren’t entirely separate, so considering all of the options can take noticeably longer each round.
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 do enjoy about The Pursuit of Happiness? Does it remind you of any other solo games? I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy telling these life stories initially… Fantasy often appeals to me, and I didn’t know if something with a modern or realistic theme would appeal to me. Yet this is such a great way to tell stories! I can’t wait to play again. More to come!
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