Greenville CBI and Playing the Game of Life

Students of the Greenville CBI class played the game of Life for two weeks in December. Not the classic board game but a dice-based simulation that mimics random events in a person’s life.

Students begin by rolling dice to be assigned careers. By allowing chance to decide their careers, students are forced to make choices and manage resources based on chance. This adds a level of unpredictability that forces students to make some tough decisions.

“The game was actually fun,” said Chase Quinn, sophomore at Greenville High School. “The random variety of the game allowed for anything to happen.”

Each day, students are awarded their monthly paycheck. This is based on their career’s yearly salary, if they are an exempt employee, or their hourly rate times 40 hours, if they are a non-exempt employee. This is the money the students use to buy possessions that will allow them to live within this fictional laboratory environment.

After a student’s career was decided, students continued to roll dice and, based upon what number came up on the die, learn other elements of their lives such as marital status, number of children, number of credit cards and other loans, as well as other factors that determine a person’s available resources.

“I thought it could use more details because some of the outcomes weren’t very specific but I liked it because they were kind of funny,” mentioned Jesse Green, sophomore.

Each school day the game is played represents one month in fictional game time. Students earn salaries and must pay monthly bills and expenditures when they receive their salaries. Another element that adds a sense of realism is the inclusion of random “misfortunes” that can happen to the student. At the end of each daily round, students must roll to see if they have had a misfortune happen to them. These can be as small as a minor parking ticket to as massive as having to replace your house.

In addition to the misfortunes, to help students who were not fortunate enough to get the “high paying” jobs, inclusion of social programs such as public assistance and unemployment were added. The student who won the game is the one who managed their resources the best.

“I liked playing the game.” said Tristan Hunt, sophomore. “I liked the different things that happened in the game because of how you rolled the dice.”

By David Sykes, CBI Coordinator Greenville High School