Timeline: Česko Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• In Brief
• Goal of the Game
• Game Contents
• Setup
• Course of the Game
  • Special Rule
• End of the Game

In Brief

• When it is your turn, you try to place one of your cards in the correct "place on the timeline".
• If you play a card correctly, you will have one card fewer in front of you.
• If you play it incorrectly, the card is returned to the box and the player must draw a new card.
• If during a round a player becomes the only player who got rid of their last card, that player becomes the winner of the game.

Goal of the Game

To become the first player to get rid of all of their cards.

Game Contents

110 cards. Each has the name of the item and its picture on one side; the other side shows the same and, in addition, the date. Czech and Slovak rules.

Each card shows: 1 Picture, 2 Year, 3 Card name, 4 Colored background for easy distinguishing of cards. There is a front side and a back side.

Themes contained in this set: Discoveries, Art, Events, Music, Inventions, Monuments, Sport.

Setup

1. Players sit around the playing area.
2. The youngest player is the starting player.
3. Shuffle the cards. Make sure that all the sides of the cards with the years are hidden.
4. Each player is dealt 4 cards (year side down). Players place the cards in front of themselves. Under no circumstances may players look at the back side of a card (the one with the year)! More experienced players may agree on a different number of cards to play with. They should do so based on their previous experience with Timeline. The more cards you have in front of you, the harder the game can be.
5. The deck of remaining cards is left in the middle of the table and forms the draw pile.
6. Turn over the top card of the draw pile so that its year side is visible. You will start building the timeline around this card (the start card), trying to correctly place the events and other themes on the cards in front of you.
7. You are ready to start playing!

Setup diagram labels: 1 First player, 2 Playing area, 3 Start card, 4 Draw pile, 5 Cards dealt to players.

Course of the Game

The game consists of a series of individual rounds. In each round the players take turns, play proceeding clockwise. A round is closed once all players have had their turn. The game begins with the first player having to place any one of their cards next to the start card (the one placed in the middle of the table during setup):

If the player thinks that the event on their card took place before the year shown on the start card, they place their card to the left of the start card.

If they think that the event on their card took place after the year shown on the start card, they place their card to the right of the start card.

After playing, the player turns the card over to its back side so that the year is visible, and checks whether the card was placed correctly on the timeline:

• If the card was placed correctly, it is left in its place with the year facing up, and the player's turn is over.
• If the card was placed incorrectly, it is returned to the box. The player must draw the top card of the draw pile and place it in front of themselves (year side down) next to their other cards.

Now the next player may begin their turn (the first player to the left of the starting player).

• If the first player played their card correctly, the second player can choose between three places to put their card: to the left of both played cards, to the right of them, or between them.
• If the first player did not play their card correctly, the second player has only two options (play the card either to the left or to the right of the start card).

If the second player places the card correctly, the card stays on the table with the year side up. The timeline is simply adjusted so that space remains between the individual cards for placing further cards.

Now the third player begins their turn.

If the first two players played their cards correctly, the third player can now choose from four places to put their card... and so on.

Special Rule

During the game, a situation may arise where a player is placing a card with the same year as one of the cards already laid out on the table. In this case they must place the card right next to the card that is already laid out. It does not matter from which side they place it.

End of the Game

At the end of each round, check whether there is a player in the game who no longer has any card in front of them (in other words, whether any player correctly placed their last card during the round):

• If no one was able to correctly play their last card, start a new round.
• If there is exactly one player who no longer has any cards, that player immediately becomes the winner of the game!
• If more than one player correctly plays their last card in the same round, the game continues. All players who correctly played their last card remain in the game, while the others are eliminated. The players who remain in the game each draw one card from the draw pile and continue playing until only one player remains who correctly placed their last card in the given round!