The Pursuit of Happiness – Big Box by Artipia Games on Kickstarter

I’ve really enjoyed my couple of plays of The Pursuit of Happiness, published by Artipia Games.

Designed by Adrian Abela and David Chircop, with gorgeous and whimsical art by Panayiotis Lyris, the game was published in 2015 but I missed it on Kickstarter.

This is basically a much better version of the game of Life. You are trying to live the best life you can, getting a job, doing leisure activities, hobbies, buying stuff, finding love, maybe even having kids (if you have the Kids expansion, as base game Happiness is child-free, which actually makes me happy!)

When the The Pursuit of Happiness: Community expansion hit Kickstarter, though, I jumped on board and bought both.

I then backed the last expansion, Experiences, when it hit in 2019.

Including the promos, the extra small expansion Thug Life and other stuff, the original box is getting pretty full! And so disorganized that it intimidates me. Last time I pulled the game out to play with new players, deciding that I was just going to do the base game so I didn’t have to explain too much, I found it very difficult to actually separate the expansions out.

The organizing issue is mine, but it still presents a dilemma for me.

How to get this great game to the table without too much fuss?

How does a Big Box sound?

Yes, the Pursuit of Happiness: Big Box is now out on Kickstarter and it funded in 20 minutes.

What does it include?

How about I let the Kickstarter page tell you.

That’s a lot of space, and apparently it will hold sleeved cards (I haven’t bothered to sleeve this one though).

Also, the consolidated rulebook will be a godsend, given the small rules sheets for the various promos plus the expansions themselves.

The campaign also includes a new expansion, Nostalgia.

What does that have?

Let’s hit Kickstarter again.

It sounds really cool.

I’m really in this for the Big Box, but I’m not going to turn away a new expansion either!

What do those check marks look like?

Yes, that’s right.

You can also buy the Deluxe Edition with upgraded components (including joined hands that kind of look creepy so hopefully they’ll change them).

I don’t really need upgraded components, but this is a great option for those who do.

For those who have everything already, you can get the Big Box, Nostalgia expansion and any stretch goals for $40 US plus shipping.

The Deluxe Edition of the same will only cost you $60.

Of course, there are also options to get the whole enchilada.

Mmmmmm enchiladas.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. You can do the “All-In” pledge for $130 ($150 for Deluxe).

It looks like you’ll be able to buy individual expansions through the Pledge Manager, but there isn’t an actual pledge level that will get you only a couple of expansions.

Check out the Kickstarter today and see what you think.

I can see this game getting played a lot more once I have it better organized.

And, you know, we can actually leave the house.