Wouter & Ymke 
Life Express is a game about, well, life. You start with your first memories and move through different stages, collecting experiences, wishes, and relationships along the way. Each card you play becomes part of your personal timeline, telling the story of your life from infancy to old age. The fun is in the story you end up telling, and comparing the weird, funny, or surprisingly touching paths everyone takes.
👥 2-5 players, ages 8+
⌛ Playing time: 15-30 minutes
📝 Designer: Tsai Huei-Chiang
🎨 Artwork: @irasutoya & Chu Hui-Lin
🏢 Publisher: Soso Studio, distributed by Taiwan Boardgame Design (review copy provided)
Gameplay Overview
Everyone starts with a hand of experience cards, each showing a life moment with a stage number. You place them in order from left to right to build your story. The first one is your earliest memory, and from there you grow up one card at a time.
On your turn, you can play one card into your story or keep one aside for later. You can also play one of those saved cards if it fits the moment. After everyone has taken their turn, everyone passes their entire hand to the player on their left. If someone ends up with four or fewer cards, everyone draws back up to seven again.
Some cards let you add relationships beside your main timeline. These represent the people close to you, like family members, partners, or friends. You can also play wishes at any point in life, which score points at the end if you meet their conditions using icons from your experience cards. The icons represent things like health, wealth, knowledge, and social life.
The game ends when all life’s end markers are taken or the deck runs out. Everyone finishes the round, adds up their points, and then comes the storytelling part. Whether that’s fun or awkward really depends on who you’re playing with. Players share what happened to them, and sometimes it’s hilarious, sometimes oddly touching.
Artwork, Components and Visual Design
The game comes in a very small box with just 56 cards and five little wooden cubes. Each card shows a different stage or event in a person’s life, from being a baby to growing old. The illustrations have a cartoon-like style, with soft lines and expressive faces that show emotion without being overly detailed.
Each life stage has its own colour, which makes it easy to see progress. The icons for health, wealth, knowledge and social life are placed neatly at the bottom of each card, so it’s easy to keep track of what matters for scoring.
I really like how the game’s artwork mixes light and serious themes. You’ll find playful moments like “Dream Journey” and “First Love” next to more somber ones like “Scammed” or “Constant Illness.” It manages to touch on real-life ups and downs while keeping things bright and approachable.
The life’s end markers are just small black cubes you place when your story finishes. Simple, but it fits the tone of the game.
Our Experience
Life Express turned out to be a light trip through an entire life. The first few rounds are innocent enough, with cards like “Eat & Sleep Well” or “Twins”, but then things start unfolding in funny and unpredictable ways. You might fall in love, lose your job, or end up with a hobby that completely changes your life. It’s short, a bit chaotic, and often funny.
The rules are easy to explain, so you can start playing almost immediately. Setup takes a minute, and the game flows naturally once everyone understands that cards go in order. It’s one of those games that feels familiar even if you’ve never played it before.
The drafting part is what makes it interesting. You pass your entire hand to the next player every round, so whatever plan you had probably won’t survive long. It can be a bit annoying at times, but that’s what keeps the game interactive. You have to adapt constantly. It doesn’t leave much room for serious long-term strategy, but that’s not really the point here.
As the stories grow, the table talk picks up. People start comparing their lives, laughing at coincidences, or making fun of how badly things turned out. It gets people talking, which is exactly what you want from a game like this. The storytelling phase at the end can be great fun if people are into it, but if your group isn’t into narrating, it might fall a bit flat. It really depends on who you’re playing with.
The game ends fairly quickly, which can feel abrupt. You won’t play a lot of cards, so the final score might not feel very significant. Still, because it’s short, it’s easy to play a couple of times in a row or use it as a lighter break between other games.
Our Thoughts
Life Express takes something everyone understands, the idea of going through life, and turns it into a compact card game. It’s an idea that feels fresh, even though the gameplay itself is straightforward.
You play cards in order, match icons, pass hands, and tell your story at the end. It’s not a deep game, but that’s not a bad thing. It gives space for conversation and reflection, and sometimes a bit of silliness.
It’s definitely more of a social experience than a strategic one. You’re reacting to what happens more than planning ahead, and the fun mostly comes from the group dynamic and the stories that form on the table. It’s the kind of game that works well with families, casual players, or anyone who enjoys storytelling and a bit of humour.
It’s a simple design, and it won’t be for everyone. The storytelling part can drag if people aren’t in the mood, and the game itself is quite short. But for a quick, reflective, slightly chaotic little card game, it works nicely.
📝 We received a copy of the game from the publisher.
