Getting All Nostalgic in The Pursuit of Happiness Expansion
Look back on early memories and bring them into adulthood with the newest expansion for The Pursuit of Happiness.
Life doesn’t slow down, and neither do my plays of The Pursuit of Happiness! Caught up on the earlier expansions, I set out to try the latest addition that just came out. This experience hasn’t gotten tiresome in the least, and I was even more excited to try out a completely new set of double-sided cards. Back to the adventure of lovely storytelling!
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
Over the course of play, a character’s full life story is told through all sorts of cards. Projects can be worked on, items might be collected, and both jobs and partners offer expensive yet rewarding outcomes. Yet with this latest expansion, childhood memories continue into adulthood!
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
Consolidating Space
With this play area constantly expanding, I tried to find a way to save a little space without sacrificing anything.
I found it! I used the spaces on the play mat to act as draw and discard piles. Not much was obscured and I managed to save the space of 2 card piles next to the play mat.
If everything is compacted down a little more, I would say the game area might roughly fit in a 42″ x 34″ space.
However, this really tightens things up and can be tricky with the expansions. It’s likely more reasonable when playing just the base game, but 50″ x 34″ is still my area.
Early Memories
With all of the expansion content, I haven’t felt like much has been missing! However, there really isn’t a child phase to enjoy, nor do the basic actions really convey anything.
For example, the play board action adds 3 creativity and the interact board action rewards 3 influence. That’s all.
It’s hard to create stories from these, and that’s where the Nostalgia Expansion comes into play to add personality!
Double-sided cards start out with childhood memories and a passive trigger tied to a specific action. So the interact action might be tied to meeting an astronaut!
New Nostalgia Cards
During setup, 8 nostalgia cards provide a backdrop for a character’s strongest memories. It’s not feasible to realize all of them, yet they can truly ground a story!
The reminiscence side provides 2 different triggers that must be achieved before taking an action to realize it.
This action flips the card over to its realization side with a delightful new piece of artwork that shows the adult version of the scene. Really adorable and neat!
There are different types of nostalgia cards that can provide all sorts of new benefits, as Bobbie here learned!
More Possibilities
The previous expansions allow for strategies that focus pretty heavily on community or experience cards. They don’t really replace anything, but rather enhance stories.
Nostalgia cards are a little more complex in that the triggers are pretty easy to achieve, but working on a realization takes extra time and is a new option.
With that said, though, these are amazing! Bobbie realized the career-minded nostalgia card very early on.
She managed to get a job as a professor very early, and that resulted in lots of long-term happiness. So fun!
Is Nostalgia Worth It, Or is Nostalgia Too Much?
I would not recommend this expansion as a starting point if you’re new to the base game. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, but it isn’t as straightforward as some other content. You need to be able to understand how the costs will pan out and eventually turn into something else. Realized nostalgia cards can also add ongoing effects to keep track of.
However, for those who have played the game a lot either with or without the other expansions, this adds a really neat element! It’s so wonderful to see the starting nostalgia cards, which represent some of the strongest memories a character might have. Not all of them will actually come into play, although they can help influence choices.
I’m far from skilled with the nostalgia cards, though! There is an important balance because they take time to realize. Remember that a single community card can always be chosen for free each round, while planning an experience is done with the cloud token. These can take extra time to take on a focus, yet a card takes up 0-1 time in most cases.
Nostalgia cards require more card actions, or time. Some of these are quicker to complete, but many need a dedicated amount of time… Typically about 2-4 time to reach the top level. That’s not insignificant! This is also what makes them a little trickier to plan for since spending time just to do the bare minimum doesn’t necessarily make sense.
This is an expansion designed for more thoughtful play. Memories bring in childhood in a very nice way that adds to the theme, yet there are a lot of other decisions to make from a purely mechanical standpoint. It all works well, but expect to take a little more time adjusting to this one than the other expansions. Nostalgia is a lot more nebulous. Ha ha!
Happy as Happy Can Be
I had to think carefully through all of the options, as the nostalgia cards added a layer of complexity. However, they didn’t take away from the storytelling… Just had to think!
Bobbie had a wonderful life that was pretty light on the experiences, and even her projects were on the light side. But those community cards are always there!
In the end, she barely squeaked by with a victory. It came down to that nostalgia card for 6 long-term happiness.
This expansion probably isn’t best to start with since it does create complexity, yet it adds a fun challenge.
Trouble with Babies
Goodness, Christopher! My next play was going nicely until Christopher and Rachel had their first child, Tiara.
Kids require upkeep as they age, and her final adult phase called for 8 coins… Which I estimated at $80,000 USD. Tiara! Why do you need the expensive stuff?! Ha ha!
I may have strayed from some of the life goals a bit, mainly to focus on too many nostalgia cards. He also had a demanding job, leaving him with just 2 time each round.
At the end, there was no way Christopher could do what he wanted, so I leaned into his social and family preferences!
Session Overview
Play Number: 7 and 8
Expansions: Community, Experiences, and Nostalgia
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Kids and Services Modules
Outcome: 76 and 55 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
My undoing this time was that mismanagement of time, along with an attempt to do too much with the nostalgia cards. As with real life, life is for living, and making everything about childhood memories isn’t possible. Still, Christopher’s life was a happy one! I’m looking forward to finding a better balance with the nostalgia cards!
%
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)
- Bringing in a childhood phase without playing it makes this expansion clever, both thematically and mechanically.
- The way nostalgia cards flip with different artwork later in life is a lovely way to see an old memory preserved.
- Although storytelling remains the focus, it’s a challenge to complete the life goals and reach the victory threshold.
- Even though some parts of the nostalgia cards may feature sad moments, they all tie into overall happy memories.
- It’s wonderful to be able to tie together all of the different cards to create a full life for the character in play.
- Projects, items, and activities are enhanced with the nostalgia cards and the way they create fun stories.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Nostalgia cards add a level of complexity that can be a nice challenge, but also increase the decision space a lot.
- Whereas it’s possible to focus more on community or experience aspects, it’s difficult to focus on nostalgia cards.
- The play area is quite large and requires a lot of reaching, even when consolidating a little space on the play mat.
- A random assortment of nostalgia cards can mean that some basic actions have too much overlap in options.
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 moments from playing The Pursuit of Happiness? It’s been wonderful to see what each expansion adds, and it feels like I have the complete experience! Are there other unexpected solo storytelling games you enjoy? This seemed like it would be more strategic, yet it’s definitely narrative. Onto the modules next!
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