The Pharmacy Game

Let me tell you how to play The Pharmacy Game, an adult board game that may soon be available at a Rite Aid near you.  You already know something about how to play. All you need are four players, a game board, tokens for moving around the board and two stacks of  special cards and a die.

The four players are you and three close friends. Make sure your fellow gamers are people you can trust with your medical needs.  It's also to your advantage if you are a senior citizen player because you are the one who navigates the medical world with the most ease. Be careful, though, not to get too bogged down in the swapping of doctor stories or you won't finish the game.

The board looks something like a monopoly board and if you're at all clever, you can create your own.  The tokens are thumb-sized prescription bottles in different colors. The two stacks of cards are the Dr. Best pile and the Pharmacist's pile. Place these in the middle of the board.  The object is to be the first person to get your prescription filled. You do this by placing all the tokens on the "Feeling Sick" starting square.  Roll the die to see who's first, then proceed from square by square by rolling the die. Whoever is the first to land on the square labelled "Drive-Up Window" where your prescription is filled is the winner.

But it's not as simple as it sounds.  There are obstacles that will impede your progress.  The squares can present different challenges as well as a few advantages.  For example, you might land on a square that says, "It's Friday and the Pharmacy is closed.  Lose a turn." Or you might be instructed to take a card from the Dr. Best pile that says something like, "Dr. Best's medical assistant needs to talk to you about your prescription. Lose a turn while you wait for her to call back."  You might be lucky enough to land on the square that says, "Your prescription cost of $1200 for 30 days of pills will be picked up by your insurance company and is ready now. Move ahead two spaces."  One you'll want to miss is the one that reads, "We must receive authorization from your insurance company before we can refill this prescription. Go back three spaces."  And, of course, there's the ever dreaded, "We are still waiting for confirmation from Dr. Best although Dr. Better's office called in the prescription. Go back five spaces." This is probably the worst Pharmacist card of all because it means you are going to have to negotiate between the two doctors with some extra calls to the Pharmacy thrown in. You can escape this fate only after rolling a six.  Thank goodness there's only one square like this.  But you for sure would love to land on "The Pharmacy is having a sale on Vitamin E today. It's BOGO and jump ahead three squares."

See?  You do know how to play this game.  Sometimes you play it a lot as my sister and I have both been doing for last few months.  The trouble with this game is that there aren't enough advantage cards or squares. If you create your own board, you might want to add more fun cards to increase your chances of winning. But don't hope for many breaks in the real world of Walgreen's.