Ever wanted to play The Game of Life set in the copper age? Here’s 7 Grand Steps

Imagine a digital version of The Game of Life set in ancient Egypt. That’s 7 Grand Steps, a historical-family-dynasty board game of sorts. In the free demo, you move pieces (characters) across a spinning wheel with tokens corresponding to Copper Age skills like brewing, writing, and masonry. Landing on certain spaces gives your family points towards major accomplishments that get recorded for posterity:

The basic goal is to collect enough beads to earn a legend. (strings of beads once facilitated oral tradition) Legends are stories of family greatness: Discovering technology, ascending in society, and heroic deeds. Legends provide advantages against the inevitable Challenge of the Age.

Legends and Challenges are only a small part of the stories told. Rites of passage, romance, snapshots of daily life, sibling rivalry, etc. These stories bond players to each family in the lineage. Each generation is guided long enough for a player to know them. Every family tells an unique, engaging, interactive story.

It’s a simple looking game, but as I played the demo I found myself unable to stop, desperate to make my child a little better at sailing and to get my family one step closer to a legendary act of heroism. Which was: the husband in my family jumped in front of angry mob, which trampled him to death. He was, according to the game, remembered fondly.

This unique game, from Keith Nemitz, is worth your time.