How To Play: The Pursuit of Happiness

Overview

Ready to live your best cardboard life? The Pursuit of Happiness is all about making choices, juggling projects, and trying not to lose your actual mind from stress. In this guide, I’ll give you a quick outline of the rules (so you don’t look clueless like I did at my first game night), and the best strategies for winning. Spoiler: There’s more to it than just not dying!

What’s in the box

• 1 Game Board
• 4 Player Boards
• 4 Player Aid Cards
• 216 Cards
• 48 Wooden Hourglass Markers
• 88 Wooden Resource Cubes
• 24 Wooden Discs
• 1 First Player Marker
• 50 Cardboard Tokens
• 1 Rulebook

How To Play The Pursuit of Happiness: Rules Summary

Setup

1. Lay out the main board in the center of the table. Trust me, putting it on a wobbly coffee table is risky business.
2. Sort the project, job, item, and activity cards into separate decks. Shuffle each deck well. If you mess this up, blame the cat.
3. Give each player a player board and two markers: one for stress, one for time. Set your stress at zero and time at three. Unless you have a time machine.
4. Each player picks a color and grabs all matching tokens. No, pink is not an attitude. It is a color.
5. Place hourglass tokens, resource cubes, and marker pieces in easy reach. Basically, it will look like a tiny, organized garage sale.
6. Choose a starting player. The person who last took a nap usually wins this nomination.

Gameplay

1. Players take turns spending time tokens to take actions. Actions include starting projects, getting jobs, making friends, and buying stuff. I always make the mistake of spending all my time making friends with a puppy. Don’t be like me.
2. After each turn, pay resources or gain benefits as listed on your cards. Sometimes you get a new gadget, sometimes just a midlife crisis.
3. Advance your age marker as rounds progress. Yes, you will get older, but at least you won’t need anti-aging cream.
4. Keep your stress in check. When stress goes too high, bad things happen. I learned this the hard way. My board looked like a train wreck by the end of the game.
5. Repeat the process until you reach the end of life stage. At this point, you will have made more life choices than a soap opera character.

Winning

1. Add up all your Long-Term Happiness stars. These are found on your items, projects, and relationships.
2. If you have the most stars, you win! I once won by marrying a rock star and owning six cats. Anything is possible.
3. In case of a tie, the player with the least stress wins. If you both have equal stress, just share the victory and go get a snack.

Special Rules & Conditions

1. Certain jobs, relationships, and projects have unique requirements. Read those cards carefully, preferably before your second cup of coffee.
2. If your stress marker reaches the max, you lose a time token. Yes, stress really does steal your time. Even in board games.
3. Some cards may force you to discard, lose resources, or interrupt your plans. This is totally normal. Real life in cardboard form.
4. Remember, you can’t do everything. Balance your projects, jobs, and relationships, or you’ll crash and burn, just like my cousin Steve did by year three.

So that’s How To Play the pursuit of happiness. It’s all about balancing time, stress, and the good stuff. Gather your friends, get ready for wild choices, and may the most fulfilled player win!

Best The Pursuit of Happiness Strategies

Master Your Minutes: Time Management in The Pursuit of Happiness

My friends and I learned fast: time is your biggest weapon. Every round, you get a handful of actions. Blink, and they’re gone, along with your dreams of becoming a professional hotdog vendor. Here’s How To Play the pursuit of happiness with champion-level time planning:

Plan Your Turn

1. Always count your available actions before you start. Don’t wing it—prepping helps.
2. Choose high-impact activities first. Grab important projects or jobs early.
3. Leave space for emergencies. Sometimes random events love chaos.

Share The Spotlight

1. Work around your friends’ choices. Sometimes they snatch what you want. Have a backup!

Balance Is Key

1. Mix short and long-term actions, so you don’t burn out or miss big points.

Keep Calm and Stay Happy: Winning with Balance

Every game of The Pursuit of Happiness feels like a wild ride. My first play, I stressed out so hard my meeple almost needed therapy! Now I know better. Here’s how I balance stress and happiness for the win.

1. Watch Your Stress Meter

1. Pace yourself—don’t grab every shiny project at once.
2. Rest actions save you now, not later. Use them early.
3. Ignore stress and you may burn out faster than last night’s microwave dinner.

2. Prioritize Happy Activities

1. Choose activities with strong happiness boosts.
2. Mix short and long-term goals. Long-term goals keep you happy and less stressed.

3. Use Items and Partners Wisely

1. Pick items that reduce stress, not only those that look fun.
2. Partners with relaxation skills are gold! Don’t overlook their powers.

4. Never Let Stress Hit the Red Zone

1. Balance risk—sometimes it’s better to pause and breathe than rush ahead.
2. Remember, happiness scores win the game, not your stress-induced breakdowns!

Boost Your Chances: Projects and Pals in The Pursuit of Happiness

Pick Projects That Pack a Punch

Projects are not all equal, trust me, I’ve tried making a fancy birdhouse while also launching a tech startup (on cardboard, but still). For top results, choose projects that reward you long-term. Here’s how:

1. Focus on projects that give lasting benefits or big happiness boosts.
2. Start projects early to spread out the work and avoid stress blow-ups.
3. Always read those project bonuses! Some look boring but rake in points late-game.

Relationships Can Be Rewarding (Even If You Forget Anniversaries)

Having friends and partners in The Pursuit of Happiness pays off more than my real-life high school reunion ever did. Try these:

1. Invest in relationships early—those ongoing perks rack up points.
2. Combine relationships with projects when possible for double bonuses.
3. Don’t let relationships fizzle out—breaking up costs you more than a romantic dinner for two.

How To Play the Pursuit of Happiness: Project & Pal Perfection

It’s simple: get your projects and relationships rolling together. That’s how you win, avoid mid-game panic, and brag to your friends later.

Live Your Best Board Game Life!

Alright, board game dreamers, you now know how to master The Pursuit of Happiness! After way too many hours spent arguing about who gets the best job card and who is slacking off in the hobby department (I’m looking at you, Kevin), my friends and I can tell you that careful planning is key. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, keep stress in check, and always make time to enjoy the little things—like watching your buddy get buried in projects and stress tokens! If you remember how to play the pursuit of happiness while balancing your fun and ambition, you’ll finish every game with a smile, win or lose. Now grab some snacks, gather your crew, and chase that cardboard happiness—just maybe let Kevin read the rules first this time.

Want to know what we think of The Pursuit of Happiness? Read our detailed review of The Pursuit of Happiness here