Let’s Play ~ Timeline!

My boys have been on a huge game-playing kick lately. Leif, my trivia hound, carries the Professor Noggin Card Games and Classical Historian Go Fish Card Games wherever he goes. They are perfect for play on the go or stuffing in a backpack or purse for “just in case.”

We’ve discovered another fun one! We are rather fond of timelines in general because of our CC history sentence songs and timeline songs. The boys have a great number of “pegs” already memorized.

Timeline Historical Events Card Game is a game played with 110 mini timeline cards. I think of them more like tiles than cards—they are about half the size of a regular playing card. They need to be small, because you are building a timeline on your table as you play the game! The artwork is nice and often gives a few visual clues (such as period clothing) to help with placement. The sturdy cards are nicely packaged in a sturdy tin.

Each card has two sides with the same picture and event label on each side. One side has a date; the other does not. Players are dealt four cards, date side down. The remaining cards are stacked on the table, and the top card is played in the middle to begin the timeline. Each player takes a turn adding cards to the timeline. Cards are placed date side down where the player thinks they belong on the timeline. Once placed, the card is turned over. If the date is in the correct order, the card stays. If not, the card is returned to the box and the player must draw another card. The first player to play all his cards wins.

[The cards have only an event label without any other information, but our curiosity was piqued a few times and we were inspired to research more!]

This game is easy to adjust depending on the age and abilities of the players. The more cards the players start with, the harder the game. The more players participating, the harder the game. More obscure events (or those very close together chronologically) can be removed from the deck. [Note: There are a few “origins” cards that could easily be removed if one feels that is necessary. It wouldn’t affect the game.]

There are additional sets that can be played separately or added together to create a much more diverse and difficult game. We also have the Diversity Set, which contains a wider range of events, inventions, discoveries, and arts-related cards such as literature (not “diversity issues” as the title seems to suggest). These cards seem to be more difficult to place. I may go through the deck and pick out my favorites until we feel confident and ready to add more to the stack.

For under $15, this game is a great value to add to a game collection. I hope Monuments and Arts and Literature sets are in the works as one of the Amazon comments hinted at!

[This game could be played with the Classical Conversations History Cards or the Veritas Press History Cards, but you would need a much larger space!]