Another classic board game has fallen to the evil credit card regime. This time it's the game of Life, which is now offering a version without money but instead with a Visa credit card that can be added to and subtracted from.

You'll remember that Monopoly not long ago also made this switch, using a Visa debit card in favor of the classic multi-colored money most of us grew up with and loved. Whereas Monopoly reportedly is completely phasing out the board game with money, Life is offering both the money version and the credit card version, with the card version actually being more expensive, so you're really going to want that card feature if you're ponying up extra cash to get it.

In the USA Today article about Life's new version, you've got the Visa people predictably saying how great this is for kids to learn about managing money in the real world, while critics say:

"The credit card companies have already saturated the teen market, so they're going younger," says Susan Linn, co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

"Children need an understanding that five ones is a five," says Robert Manning, author of Credit Card Nation. "The credit card confounds everything."

It seems like much ado about nothing. First off, do kids still play Life, or Monopoly? I'm guessing Wii is more their style. Second, it's just a game. When I was a kid we played games where we pretended to shoot each other and my friend and I used to throw ourselves off of our Big Wheels and pretend we were stuntmen. I've never really shot anyone and I did not become a stuntman. (It's true I enjoyed Lee Majors in The Fall Guy, though.)

I give my kids the fake credit cards that come in my credit card junk mail and my son has a bank with a fake ATM card. I don't believe either of these things is turning them into selfish freaks destined to charge in over their heads (although time will tell). It's game playing, role playing, whatever you want to call it.

And if your kid can't add, don't blame it on a board game that switched from fake cash to a credit card. In that case, the blame should be put squarely on the parent.