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Making the Most of Your Opportunities – A Review



Quick Look: Opportunities


Designer: Sieg Taylor
Artist: MJS Creations 
Publisher: Let’s Get Rich Together, LLC
Year Published: 2019
No. of Players: 2-8
Ages: 18+
Playing Time: 90 min.+

From the publisher:

The Opportunities Game is an exciting fast paced game for 2-8 players. It’s fun to play with family, friends and business associates all awhile learning the business secrets that have been handed down for generations. Imagine backpacking up peaks and down valleys, as you attempt to roll your way 
into the inner cycle and land on your dream, all awhile making a fortune doing so.


The Opportunities Game is the most exciting, educational game ever developed for entrepreneurs with a home business opportunity. Whether you are a beginner or a professional in Network Marketing, Multi Level Marketing, or a Party Plan, the Opportunities Game was designed to make you money. By playing and promoting this game with your current and future team members, you’ll see the opportunities grow in your own business. 

Find more info on BoardGameGeek.com


WARNING: This is a preview of Opportunities. All components and rules are prototype and subject to change.

My family received a prototype copy of the game for the purposes of this review; all opinions here are our own!

Review: Opportunities


Overview and Theme:
Opportunities is a game designed by an entrepreneur who wanted to be able to share his financial advice with other folks who are interested in building their own businesses. The game is meant to teach skills and ideas about investing, marketing, and making strategic business decisions, and is a simplified simulation of investing for 2-8 players.

Components and Setup:
Although my copy is a prototype, I feel that the components and graphic design are already polished and are probably very similar to the final product. The plastic Hiker movers and the dry-erase financial worksheets are great!

Opportunities includes a large, brightly colored board with a path of spaces similar to Monopoly or Life; five decks of cards (Dreams, Opportunity, Systems, Distractions, and Peaks & Valleys); eight sets of  Demographic Cards, dry erase Income and Balance sheets with markers, and colored Hiker pawns to distribute to the players; as well as dice, money, and the instructions.

You’ll need to roll dice to determine turn order, but also to determine your “upline.” Here’s where the multi-level marketing edge starts in: the first player will invest in the second player, the second player will invest in the third player, and so on, creating an upline chain of marketing for the beginning of the game.

Every player will also choose a Demographic Card, which tells you your background and your goal. Will you work through the game as a Single Mom with 1 Child or as a Married Couple?

Game Play and Mechanics:
The brief rule book is full of little nuggets of entrepreneurial advice, like this one:

The money can come and go quickly in your business. You should be ready to earn money and be ready to pay business expenses. Don’t worry, it’s the cost of doing business. It’s not how much money you make, but how much you keep, just like in the real world.

The bulk of Opportunities lies in rolling to move around the board and drawing cards depending on where you land. The board encourages you to envision your financial journey as a hike, up mountains and down into the valleys. The different types of cards you draw (as well as some pre-printed board spaces) will affect your income, expenses, volume, and so on. It’s an easy game to pick up and start, since most folks are familiar with a basic roll-and-move game, although some sections of the rules are so brief that they leave a little up to interpretation. The various types of cards are quite self-explanatory and the game is quick to learn, though to play all the way through to Diamond level may take 90-120 minutes or more.

The meat of the game comes in the way that the effects of the cards have been designed to simulate various choices and actions that might be taken in your path to build a business and rise through the pyramidal ranks from Bronze all the way to Diamond. The goal of the game is to reach the rank of Emerald and have enough income to make your way to the Inner Circle where you can either reach for your Dream (a luxury yacht! a European sports car!) or to stretch all the way to attaining Diamond level.

Although the game is largely tailored for network or multi-level marketing, there are important lessons and discussions that can be had around all the ups and downs–the Peaks & Valleys–of your journey. As a gameschooling mom, I found many of the cards to inspire great learning moments and chats with my teens as we played. There is a lot of information in Opportunities, enough that it would be a strong addition to or supplement for a high school level consumer economics class.

The Good:
If you are looking for introductory advice and understanding of how growing a business (especially a multi-level marketing business) works, then Opportunities may be what you’re looking for. There is plenty of replayability here if you’re interested in seeing how different choices can affect your outcomes since it’s unlikely to see every card in just one play through of the game.

The passion expressed by the game’s creator and the effort put into making a very polished prototype make Opportunities obviously a labor of love.

The Bad:
If you’re a seasoned gamer looking for in-game strategy, or if your life’s dream isn’t something you can buy, then this grown-up and educational version of The Game of (Entrepreneurial) Life may not fit the bill. Please take a moment to check out all the other reviews here at Everything Board Games to find something that’s more your style!

Players Who Like:
Opportunities is best for adults or older teens who are very interested in starting a business or joining a multi-level marketing group, so they can learn about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Final Thoughts:
I found Opportunities to be very polished and professional, with nice components and a strong educational focus. I enjoyed sharing the game with my teens to help foster discussions about economic and life choices, and I feel like it will be a great tool for folks who want to learn more about business in a casual, enjoyable setting. I wish the creator all the best on his upcoming Kickstarter!




Check out Opportunities on:



  
  
   
  
  

About the Author:

My name is Alexa: I’m a life-long game player and homeschooling mom to two awesome kids. I’ve loved board games since my early days playing Scrabble and Gin Rummy with my grandmother, and life only got more interesting when I married a Battletech enthusiast and fellow game lover. We’ve played games with our kids since they were small, and I helped start a thriving homeschool co-op where we have weekly sessions of board games with kids.  In a family with kids raised on Catan and Pandemic, life is sure to be fun!
You may run into me on Twitter, BoardGameGeek, and other social media as MamaGames. Be sure to say hi!

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