The Game of Life | Photo by Telstar Logistics via Flickr

Los Altos High School Yearbook, 1985

I was born in Los Angeles and attended kindergarten and 1st Grade at Bixby Elementary in the suburb of Hacienda Heights. I moved away in 1974, but some of my classmates from those days went on to graduate from nearby Los Altos High School. Their yearbook from our senior year, 1985, is pictured below (left). It’s a knock-off of the popular cereal, Life. 

Hey Mikey: Who Is Generation X?

I was on my high school yearbook staff and editor of my college yearbook. I’ve seen about a bajillion high school yearbook covers. This is one of the most Gen-Xerish of them all. No classy blind-embossed mascots or metallic medallions here. It’s a total nod to the five most famous words ever spoken in a cereal commercial: “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!” 

Quaker Man, Milton Bradley

I really dig the Los Altos yearbook cover, but, I do have one question. Was the Quaker Oats Man (William Penn got a makeover this year) in cahoots with Milton Bradley? Because Life Cereal looks an awful lot like The Game of Life. This has always bothered me, although not as much as ending up with more kids than I could fit in my little plastic automobile.

Realistic Painting by Tim Liddy

Interesting factoid: Bradley, a game pioneer, created The Game of Life  in 1860. He originally called it The Checkered Game of Life. The modern version of the game was published 100 years later in 1960. Life Cereal hit grocery store shelves the following year. That was 1961, the first year of Generation X.

The Game of Life Commercial, 1981

“The game of life that’s really worth living! You and your family have got to play it!”