Life Sutra Bulls and Bears – Fun Financial Board Game for Ages 12 Plus

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1. Allan P Verified Buyer – 6 March 2024

   This is a review of the game “Bulls and Bears”. I have worked in the Financial industry for the past 3 decades. When I saw this game I thought it would be a good way to get my 2 teenagers to understand something about investing (vs. them not wanting to hear me explain things to them!). It actually DID….plus both of them, and my wife (who wants nothing to do with investing) said it was fun! Win, win! The components: 3 out of 5 The board is a nice, heavy duty cardboard. The pawns are plastic and feel a bit cheap. The cards are decent card stock, not heavy duty, but not cheap feeling. Unfortunately, both the stock certificates and the bills are cheap paper. I wish they had used a bit heavier paper, especially since there is a lot of handling of both of these components. There is also an insert tray, unfortunately, when you put all the cards/papers inside, it is just barely deep enough so they shift around inside the box. There are four different types of cards you play with, a quick reference guide that is basically just a multiplication table but with dollar/share amount values for buying/selling stock (while the max player count is 6, for some reason there are TWELVE quick reference cards which was strange). There are also 12 different career cards (called Avatar cards). You roll the die to decide what career is randomly which makes it fair for all players and having 12 gives it much more playability. Each career has a salary, starting cash and win conditions that are different from each other. My wife was a doctor with a 200k salary while my son’s salary was only 90k. Win conditions varied by about 1.2 million between them, so it’s fair. I really like that part. The manual: 5 out of 5 The manual is short and concise. It gives you detailed instructions on setup and a breakdown of every single type of card in the game. We only had to look back at it once when we started playing, and that one time was during the first round. The gameplay is described very well and, not counting the setup and card descriptions, is only TWO pages long. Quick set up and you are playing the game in minutes. Gameplay: 4.5 out of 5 As I stated, we ALL had fun. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting the teenagers to make it through a whole game (took about 2 hrs for our first playthrough) but they did. Towards the end, they were both counting their cash on hand as well as figuring out how much stock they could sell to catch my wife (who was a bit ahead of them)! I was honestly impressed that the game had that quick of an impact! The gameplay is simple but involves some luck (what are the stock prices going to be on the cards you pick up), some memory (remembering what share price you bought a stock for so you can sell at a profit) and some strategy (diversity vs holding only one or two stocks). You roll and, based on what spot you land on will get one of four cards. Bull/Bear cards list stock prices for your turn. They show the current price, the average high and low as well as the max number of shares you can buy/sell for that turn. Luck cards that gives a stock name and, should you hold that stock you can roll and get awarded more stock. Speculation cards have you roll and, based on the result you will win or lose cash. That’s it! It is simple to understand but you need to decide the best plan of action. Do you want to hold out for a higher price, or make a quick profit? The ONLY thing we didn’t like about the gameplay was the “Stop” spaces. They are similar to “Go To Jail” spaces in Monopoly only you simply lose 2 turns. There is nothing giving reasons. There is also no way to get out of the punishment like there is in Monopoly where you can try to roll the dice. You simply sit there for 2 turns while everyone else plays. I think this could have been a bit better if you could have rolled to attempt to get out as well as if they gave reasons (You didn’t pay capital gains tax, The IRS Is auditing you, etc). It’s the only reason I gave 4.5 stars instead of 5 for gameplay. If you are looking for a game that is a lot more fun then Monopoly and will teach you or your kids something about investing, this is a great buy! For 2 teenagers to put down their phones and not look at them for the full 2 hours we played is praise enough! They actually had fun and learned a bit about investing at the same time. While $49.99 is a tiny bit on the expensive side for the component quality, I am not going to ding them since the game was such a success and will definitely be hitting the table again in the future,

   

2. VEE-DAY Verified Buyer – 10 March 2024

   Better than stupid monopoly and best gift for kids for age 8+. I got for my kids so they understand and get educated about terms and finance …so far love it. I wish they give small card holding boxes to store the cards bills etc, also if they make it plasticized then it can last for generations..some suggestions for the manufacturer
   

3. Jeanette Verified Buyer – 25 March 2024

   I purchase this game and it’s awesome. It’s similar to Monopoly, but instead of buying real estate you are buying shares, trading them, etc. Good game to show your kids to think about investing. Makes you think before you go on and buying or selling. Shows you when to buy low and sell high. Overall a good game. My family had lots of fun.
   

4. Mary Kohl Verified Buyer – 29 September 2024

   Great way to sit down together, have fun and catch up as a family while learning in a sneaky way

   

5. Kimberly Cox Verified Buyer – 12 February 2025

   I’ll start this out by saying my kids are 10 and 11. Money is something I have been trying to teach my kids about for a long while now. This game was so much fun, easy to play, and something different than we normally play. The company has great ideas for games, and I recommend you try this game out ASAP.
   

6. steve brann Verified Buyer – 5 March 2025

   Great game! Fun to see what can happen.
   

7. Kim Blakey Verified Buyer – 6 March 2025

   The Life Sutra Bulls and Bears board game is fantastic! It’s not only fun but also educational, teaching kids and teens about cash flow and financial concepts in an engaging way. The game is well-designed, easy to understand, and keeps everyone entertained for hours. Highly recommend for family game nights and learning about money management! I’m definitely incorporating this game into my my class.
   

8. Ipokratis Psallidas Verified Buyer – 10 March 2025

   So happy I bought this item. It’s great way to learn.
   

9. KJ Verified Buyer – 13 March 2025

   I would say that the Bulls Vs Bears games is a must have in the board games stack at home. Now my kids talk portfolio diversification, financial freedom, as investor bear market is good, we need to sell assets promptly in Bull market, and what not. This is important to strategies their life finances as well.

   

10. Madi Mazurek Verified Buyer – 24 March 2025

    Easy to learn and play, plus it teaches you how to make decisions that traders make in real life. It’s cool that this board game helps familiarize people with trading so they can potentially implement this logic to real trades and improve their financial futures