Back to Solo Games and Joy with The Pursuit of Happiness
Live a life full of memories and joy through life stages and the many choices to be found in The Pursuit of Happiness.
Hello again! After putting a pause on solo games for over a month, I was excited to jump back into the hobby with one of my favorites, The Pursuit of Happiness. Just setting it up made me smile as I started to think about the sort of life my character might experience. With all of the expansions in play, I couldn’t wait to see what surprises might pop up!
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
Life goals and a scoring threshold provide the basic parameters for success, yet this is all about finding ways to make a life better. There is no set path, as everything is optional and there are clever ways to find joy. Each life plays out in its own way, often with very different choices!
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
The Thrill of It ALl
When I play solo, I like to randomly draw a partner card to give me a specific character. This time, it was Nicole!
Setup can be one of the most interesting parts of the game. A single trait determines the unique ability and starting resources, yet I love using this as a guide to my decisions.
Nicole was clearly going to be seeking out thrills, likely with a few trips or happenings along the way!
I slowly shuffled the giant decks and got to know more about her with nostalgia cards. And I won’t spoil it all yet, but it was pretty clear what she was about to do in life!
Trends and Life Goals
There are a trio of objectives to fulfill. Failing to do so is considered a loss, even if a life was enjoyable. This helps guide choices, rather than leaving them open-ended.
My scoring threshold is always 75 victory points with all of the expansions in play. Yet as in life, I’m more about making a memorable life. That’s always a success!
I also include one of the small modules for trends. These offer additional victory points for completed projects.
For the most part, I use these as a general backdrop for what’s most important in the world during my play. Fun!
Busy Teenage Years
Most of the game takes place during the adult life stages, yet a character begins as a teen. Nicole had herself a very exciting time, setting up her life for success!
Look closely, and you’ll see that she enrolled in school to become a race car driver. Thrilling! That was bolstered by the fun she had karting. See? It all makes sense!
But even more than that, a nostalgia card had her as a racing enthusiast with strong memories from childhood.
How could I not tie those together?! Ha ha! I enjoy scoring well, but creating a character’s story is the ultimate goal.
A Very Happy Life
This isn’t a creative storytelling game, though. There are some deeper strategies around resource management and trying to plan how to make everything happen.
Newsflash: No one can do it all! Yet finding the best options that would matter to a character is what makes the game special to me. I’m making things happen.
Nicole did a lot during her life, which was mostly about racing, but she branched out to write and tell her story.
Oh, and let’s not forget that she mastered parkour in old age! She still achieved a lot right near the end of her days.
Picking the Right Game to Return to the Hobby
After an extended time away from solo games, the prospect of getting something to my table was actually more stressful than it should have been. I worried about how quickly I could absorb rules, either for something entirely new or even with something I was familiar with. And then I had to wonder if I needed to pick an iconic favorite for myself.
In the end, it was all on a whim! I saw the box and started thinking about all of the cards. So much potential, and it said it right there in game’s name: Happiness. That’s what this hobby is all about at its core! With that, I also remembered that setup was more about lining things up and shuffling decks. Not too much work for me, and the rules came back.
Nothing bad happened that really took me away from solo games. It felt like I had a lot going on and I wasn’t sure that setting aside time to play when I was feeling so exhausted was the right thing to do. I’m glad I waited! This hobby is one that doesn’t mind if you take a break for a week, a month, or even years. Games remain to bring us joy in their own way!
Zooming Up and Away
Pardon the odd angle of this photo, but it was apparently captured in mid-flight via Nicole’s hoverboard. Ha!
She didn’t end up with a lot of items, but after her race car days, it seemed accurate for her to drive around in a hypercar. Or show off those racing hoverboard skills!
I had hoped to complete a few more trips or nostalgia cards before the end. Yet as I looked at the text, she had hoped to drive a hypercar… And technically, she did!
The nostalgia cards continue to be one of my favorite elements. Just so cool to see how they influence choices!
Popcorn Tricylce Race
It was only fitting to celebrate Nicole’s life with some of my newest Calico Critters! They put on a good show, bringing together a race car driver with the circus activity.
Is this an attempt to start up a popcorn tricycle racing league? Well, I see I need to listen up. After all, I do own a pair of these. Plus a hot dog van. And an ice cream truck.
Every game ends at the end of a character’s life, but it’s interesting to see how I don’t find this to be sad.
All of the cards tell the story of a nice life, regardless of the final outcome. Great life lesson right there for myself!
Surviving Disasters
Another small module I include are the events, which can be either good or bad. These only come up during the adult phases, and most can be avoided. Except this pair…
Nicole wasn’t too concerned about the epidemic with the way her life panned out, but the natural disaster saw her life savings decimated. It was quite catastrophic!
But she still persevered, and I found some community events that helped her earn a little extra money.
That’s another highlight: Partners, kids, and even jobs aren’t required to do well. Just live a cool, happy life!
A Very Handy Friend
Partners are the cards that develop into relationships and families, yet there are also friend cards that are meant to be just that: Friends! Nicole met Ivy early on.
I kind of laughed at how I never developed her into a best friend, but she was there from early adulthood to the end.
Mutual friends are the only cards not compatible with the solo mode, yet I still use them for their handy adjectives! And fittingly, Ivy was a handy friend. Ha ha!
I imagined their chats about tuning up hypercars, pulling off wild hyberboard tricks, and probably parkour!
Not Quite Done Yet…
This is a game that probably does best when played just once, yet I can never get enough of it when it’s sitting out in front of me! So onward I went for another play.
Yvon had the productive trait, and he certainly leaned into his job! Just like before, I tied together a bunch of early cards to guide his life. It was all about fireworks and art!
He won a light painting competition as a teen, and went on to be an animator who dabbled in painting.
Projects were tricky, yet he found success in other ways, like his marriage to Erin and their daughter, Mia!
So Much Creativity
A-ha! More abstract fun with a dapper Calico Critter who wanted to admire Yvon’s creativity. Well, that is certainly the way to do so in a properly artistic way. Ha ha!
I made a little more of an effort to complete some nostalgia cards, which offered a lot of extra victory points.
All of the single round projects resulted in extensive wins for Yvon, so him becoming an overachiever with his productive trait seemed perfect. It all worked out!
Even with fewer cards, I got quite close to my current personal scoring goal of 90 victory points. I’ll get there!
Session Overview
Play Number: 15 & 16
Expansion: Many
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: All Solo-Compatible Modules
Outcome: 81, 86 (2 Wins)
It was quite nice to see everything come full circle for Yvon. Right near the end, he started having a blast with laser tag. Reminded me of his light painting days as a teenager! This game always offers such lovely stories, and I continue to enjoy how very different each play is. Can’t wait to find out what characters emerge next time!
%
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)
- Each play offers a very different story with the high degree of card variety, goals, and action choices to make.
- Strategic turns are important to do the most, but the experience is more important than the final score.
- There is no set path to do well, and finding clever ways to combine interesting cards offers a very fun challenge.
- All of the expansions add a lot of elements, yet each one adds more to create a more fulfilling sort of life story.
- Nostalgia cards are amazing, tying in childhood memories to goals to achieve through adulthood and old age.
- Although death is the end result, the game doesn’t take itself too seriously and is all about bright colors and joy.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Some degree of luck is involved in chaining together cards for very high scores, although there are lots of options.
- The play mat is enormous and doesn’t feel as optimized for the space as it could be, as a lot of reaching is required.
- A few icons aren’t that intuitive, and some modules work in very specific ways that require a read of the rules.
- It can be very tricky to keep the play area neatly organized with the way a lot of cards stay out the whole game.
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 is your favorite part of The Pursuit of Happiness? Have you had a particularly memorable experience with a character? There is something quite special about this one in how it combines fun mechanics with nice life lessons. I can’t do everything, yet the cards of my life are telling a pretty great story… Board games and Calico Critters. Ha ha!
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