Hope You Have the Time of Your Life (Timelines)

History, the thing which makes up our past.  That which defines our generation, and generations to come.  The subject that a lot of high school students struggled in.  We know that so many people try to know their history, or be doomed to repeat it, but how many can be sure when the steam engine was exactly invented?  What about Big Ben, or the date Sputnik was shot into space?  Guess, or know, the Timeline is waiting for you.



BACKGROUND:  Timelines is a card game designed by Frédéric Henry, and published by Asmodee in 2012.  Players try to be the first to guess when various inventions were created, and when certain events happened.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player is dealt a hand of cards with various events and objects, the side with the year face-down.  A single card is placed between all players, with the date side face-up, as the start of the "timeline". Each turn, a player chooses a card in front of them, and places it somewhere in the timeline, in front of or behind any cards in the row, and then flip the card. 



WINNING:  If the date lines up appropriately, place the card in the line.  If it doesn't, they discard the card and draw a new one.  A player wins by getting rid of all the cards in their hand in a round.  In the case of multiple players going out in a round, those players are dealt another card, and keep playing until a winner is decided.

CONCLUSION:  Timelines is a game about dates and history.  This is going to put a lot of people off, and I can't say I blame them.  However, the difficulty of the game is well balanced by the simplicity of the game mechanics.  I've seen and reviewed too many games that are too difficult for players because they don't know how to balance the mechanics and the subject matter.  Timelines knows this, so for a game that can be incredibly difficult to know the answers to, it simplifies the gameplay, allowing for a smoother, more stream-lined experience.  There's quite a few editions of this game, so there's quite a bit of variety for each group.  If you enjoy history or simpler games mechanically, follow the timeline and play it for yourself