Family game
The Game of Life (Malayalam edition)
Hasbro's spin-and-move Game of Life, sold as a Malayalam edition
- Set-up
- About 5 min
- Reading
- Some
The quick verdict
Full verdict ↓Great for Malayali families, in Kerala or abroad, who want a well-known family board game in their own language
Think twice if You need every card in Malayalam and can't check the box first; Hasbro hasn't confirmed which parts are translated
How we rate it
Learning curve. Spin, move and follow the space, with only a handful of choices. Handling money in thousands is the hardest part, which keeps it at 1 on our scale, with UNO and Connect 4.
Luck & skill. Spins and card draws decide most results; college, investing and retiring early are the few decisions that help.
Interaction. Each player follows their own road; Action cards sometimes involve everyone, and investments pay you on others' spins.
Set-up. Before the first game an adult fits the spinner and the money is sorted. After that, set out the three card piles, pick a banker and hand out cars, pegs and Invest cards.
Reading. Cards and board spaces carry short text to read aloud; we could not confirm how much of it is in Malayalam.
Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.
Is The Game of Life (Malayalam edition) right for you?
Great if
- Malayali families, in Kerala or abroad, who want a well-known family board game in their own language
- Onam and Christmas holidays when three or four cousins and grandparents share one board
- Children of 8 and up who like big choices: college or a job, a family, a house, when to retire
- Households where an adult is happy to read cards aloud for younger players
Skip it if
- You need every card in Malayalam and can't check the box first; Hasbro hasn't confirmed which parts are translated
- Your group often has more than four players, since there are four cars
- You want planning to matter more than luck
A place on the honours list
Good company to be in.
Recognition from beyond our table.
National Toy Hall of Fame (The Strong National Museum of Play), 2010 (Inducted)
How The Game of Life (Malayalam edition) plays
Each player chooses a car, adds a peg for themselves and takes the Invest card of the same colour; one player runs the bank. Then comes the first choice of the game: college, which costs 100K and opens the diploma careers, or straight into a job from two Career cards.
- Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
- Reading and language: The cards and the board carry short sentences that players read aloud, and money is counted in thousands. The box itself is printed in Malayalam, but Hasbro has not described the edition, so we can't yet say exactly which parts are printed in Malayalam. Hasbro's Tamil and Telugu editions print the box, game guide, board and Action cards in the regional language. Hasbro's English guide is online for anyone who needs it.
How to Play the Game of Life in 3 minutes! (Step-by-Step Guide) · Tabletop Duo
Choose a video · Watch right here
If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.
A turn, step by step
- 1Spin
Spin, move your car, and halt at any STOP space to make a life choice.
- 2Do
Act on the space: Payday, an Action card, a new peg, a house to buy or sell, or a 50K investment in a number.
- 3Count
After everyone retires, sell houses, collect 50K per extra peg, repay loans and count. Most money wins.
The full explanation: how a game of The Game of Life (Malayalam edition) goes
A turn is one spin. Move that many spaces, collect your salary each time you pass a Payday, and do what the space says: draw and read an Action card, take a peg for a friend, pet or baby, or buy or sell a house, with a red or black spin setting the sale price. STOP spaces pause you for graduation, marriage, a growing family, a midlife spinout and the choice to retire early or keep working.
On an Invest space you may pay 50K to place your Invest card under a number. Whenever anyone spins that number, you get paid, starting at 10K and going up to 50K, so investing early pays off. Short of cash, you take a bank loan, which costs 60K to repay when you retire.
The first to retire collects 200K and the rest smaller bonuses. Once all the cars have retired, players cash in: each house is sold, every passenger peg brings in 50K, loans are paid off, and the biggest pile of money wins.
In a family where not everyone reads Malayalam, play in pairs that share a car, so a reader sits with each player; this also lets five or more people join a four-car game.
What's in the box
- 1Gameboard with spinner
an adult fits the spinner before the first game - 55Action cards
short instructions read aloud when you land on an Action space - 20Career cards
jobs and salaries; some need college first - 11House cards
a price to buy, and sale prices for a red or black spin - 4Invest cards
one per car colour - 4Cars
- 36Pegs
six colours for you and everyone who joins your car - 1Money pack
play money in thousands (K) - 1Game guide
Box: 0.86 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.
Parts and counts from the Amazon.in listing facts for this box (model F0800), which match Hasbro's F0800 record and the English box on our The Game of Life page exactly. We could not confirm which parts are printed in Malayalam; in the Tamil and Telugu editions Hasbro prints the packaging, game guide, board and Action cards in the regional language. Hasbro does not list the money notes.
Where to buy
How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.
What reviewers and players say
There are no reviews of the Malayalam box yet, so this draws on reviews of the same 2021 game. Reviewers like how its choices of study, work, marriage, children and houses get families talking, and they single out the Invest cards for keeping retired players earning. Everyone stays in until the end, which suits younger children. The common criticism is that the spinner, not your decisions, settles most games, and that a game can take about an hour, so it is best for relaxed family time rather than strategy players.
What people love
- The big life choices and the stories they create around the table
- Invest cards that keep paying even after you retire
- Easy rules for mixed ages, from 8-year-olds to grandparents
- No one is knocked out before the end
Common complaints
- Luck decides most games
- Around an hour is long for so light a game
- A reviewer missed the older plastic buildings and found the new spinner flimsier
Based on 4 reviews and discussions
- Review The Game of Life Review (WGTP, September 2023) · What's Good to Play (UK)
- Review The Game of Life version 2021: A depiction of American capitalism in living, working, and retiring (Kemchanin Pornpipatsakul, December 2022) · PlayLab! Magazine, Tampere University
- Award The Game of Life (The Strong, August 2021) · The Strong National Museum of Play
- Reference The Game of Life · Wikipedia
Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why consider it | This game Hasbro's spin-and-move Game of Life, sold as a Malayalam edition | A different fit The same game, printed in Tamil | A different fit The same game, printed in Telugu | A different fit The same 2021 game, printed in English |
| Players | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–4 |
| Best with | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-4 |
| Play time | 45–60 min | 45–60 min | 45–60 min | 45–60 min |
| Age | 8+ | 8+ | 8+ | 8+ |
| Rules | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy |
| Indian edition | Available | Available | Available | Available |
| On this page | Explore The Game of Life (Tamil edition) | Explore The Game of Life (Telugu edition) | Explore The Game of Life |
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Questions people ask about The Game of Life (Malayalam edition)
Is The Game of Life available in Malayalam?
Yes, a Malayalam edition of Hasbro's 2021 The Game of Life is sold on Amazon.in, and the listing names Hasbro Gaming and Hasbro India as importer. Hasbro said in 2022 that Malayalam versions of its family games would follow its Tamil launch.
Which parts of the Malayalam edition are in Malayalam?
Hasbro hasn't described the Malayalam box, so we can't confirm it card by card. Its Tamil and Telugu editions print the packaging, game guide, board and Action cards in the regional language, and the Malayalam box is sold the same way. Check the box photos before you buy if that matters.
Is the Malayalam edition the same game as the English one?
Yes. The listing gives the same item number, F0800, and the same parts: a gameboard with spinner, 90 cards, 4 cars, 36 pegs and a money pack. The rules are the same, so Hasbro's English guide and English or Hindi how-to videos explain it.
Can family members who don't read Malayalam still play?
Yes, if someone reads for them. The reading is short card text, so a Malayalam reader can read cards aloud, or two players can share a car. Hasbro's English game guide is also online.
Game facts
- Designed by
- Reuben Klamer, Bill Markham
- Publisher
- Hasbro (Hasbro Gaming)
- In India
- Hasbro India Toys Pvt. Ltd. (Mumbai)
- First published
- 1960
- Players
- 2–4
- Language
- Some English – The cards and the board carry short sentences that players read aloud, and money is counted in thousands. The box itself is printed in Malayalam, but Hasbro has not described the edition, so we can't yet say exactly which parts are printed in Malayalam. Hasbro's Tamil and Telugu editions print the box, game guide, board and Action cards in the regional language. Hasbro's English guide is online for anyone who needs it.
- Box size and weight
- 0.86 kg
- Awards
- National Toy Hall of Fame (The Strong National Museum of Play), 2010 (Inducted)
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.
Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.
- afaqs! - Hasbro launches family games in Tamil (July 2022), with plans for Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
- Telangana Today - Hasbro launches Monopoly, Game of Life in Telugu (December 2022)
- Hasbro Consumer Care - The Game of Life (F0800)
- Hasbro - The Game of Life F0800 instructions page
- The Strong National Museum of Play - The Game of Life
- Wikipedia - The Game of Life