Players of LIFER asume the role of prisoners in Rawdeal Prison, equipped only with a handful of cigarettes they use as currency to acquire their stash of inventory. To begin, up to four players are dealt 6 cigarette cards of various values. These are then traded in turn for cards with the corresponding values in the Inventory deck. Players begin to amass equipment such as, Bolt Cutters, Files, Picks and Blueprints to set them en route to escape. There are 3 separate routes out of jail, and prisoners must collect the correct combination of inventory cards to complete their escape. The first to collect the correct combination is the winner. But all is not simple, the Inventory deck is peppered with Trick Cards, such as the Warden and the Thug, which allow players to poach cards from their opponents. There are also detention cards such as Solitary and Infirmary which alters players progress through the game.