Careers – Classic board game I still love!

Today we go back in time to review a game that I, dad, absolutely love from my childhood – Careers!

Many visitors to our site know that each year I’m a part of The Dice Tower Awards and occasionally contribute to The Dice Tower podcast. In preparing my response/segment for a recent Dice Tower episode, I got so excited thinking about the game, that I wanted to share it here as well.

Episodes #349 and #350 that are out this week include segments from contributors where we were asked “What game from your childhood do you remember the most?”

I didn’t hesitate at all.

Careers!

I remember playing Careers over and over and over.
I thought it was such an awesome board game.

It opened my mind to new possibilities in board games that pulled me right in.

And I don’t know if it’s just the nostalgia, but I still think Careers is a great game.

Why I love Careers
What fascinated me most about Careers is that I could set my own victory conditions. I felt like I was the master of my own fate. Even though at the heart of the game it is simply a roll-and-move game, I felt like I was in control.

In Careers, players need to gain 60 points to win. But at the outset of the game, each player secretly writes down how they want to allocate those points between Money, Fame, and Happiness.

Want to split it evenly at 20 points in each category, go for it. Want to go for broke on Money – why not?

Another thing I loved about Careers is that it had an outer track and many inner tracks (or Careers – like Big Business, Politics, Hollywood, or Expedition to the Moon) where I could venture off in search of my desired mix of points. Each inner career path offers varying amounts of Money, Fame, or Happiness and I had a choice of where I wanted to go.

I loved the variety of trying different goals and venturing down different paths – hitting Big Business to increase my Salary, then Going To Sea to shoot for some Happiness points, and maybe some Uranium Prospecting for the chance at big Money payouts.

Most of the time I’d still head into the college track because it was a good place to get Opportunity cards. Getting a college degree was also useful in bypassing the cost to enter certain careers.

Opportunity cards let players move to the start of particular career paths and can be used the turn they’re drawn. They’re very helpful to hit the spot you need to enter a career.

Another thing that’s very helpful to hit the spots you want are Experience cards. Each time you complete an inside career path, you gain an Experience card. Experience cards let players move a set number of spaces on their turn rather than rolling dice. Perfect for hitting the best spots.

Each time players complete a career path, they also check it on their score sheet as a record of their experience. If they want to go through that career again on a future turn around the board, they can enter the path without paying the entrance cost.

Next Generation
In writing this review, I wanted to get some pictures of the version of the game I played oh so many years ago. So I dropped by my mom’s house earlier this week to grab Careers from the old game cabinet.

And as soon as I opened it to take some pictures, Caleb saw the game and immediately wanted to dive in. “Oh, what’s this? Let’s play!”

I believe the edition we have is the original 1955 version. There have been a number of iterations of the board game since then with different careers switched out for others (like Sports and Ecology). And if the game was remade today, no doubt there would be numerous changes.

I recall introducing Trevor and Jaden to the game about 6 years ago, but it’s completely new to Brooke and Caleb.

I can’t wait to set them off and rolling through many possible Careers!