Timeline: Games & Leisure
Timeline: Games & Leisure Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview & Aim of the Game
The goal is to be the first to play all your cards.
On your turn, try to place one of your cards in the correct interval in the timeline. If you make a mistake, discard the incorrectly positioned card and draw another one.
Components
96 cards with an illustration and the name of an event on their black side, and on the white side, the same elements plus the date and a subtitle providing more information about the event, where appropriate.
- Black side (no date)
- White side (with date)
Setup
- Shuffle the cards to form a draw pile. Place the draw pile on the table, black side up.
- Each player draws 4 cards, placing them black side up on the table in front of them. Don't peek at the dates on your cards until they have been placed in the timeline!
- Draw the top card from the draw pile, flip it and place it white side up in the middle of the table. This card is the starting point for the timeline that the players are going to build by playing the cards they have in front of them.
Gameplay
The game is played in turns, beginning with the youngest player and proceeding clockwise.
As the first player, you must place one of your cards next to the starting card:
- Either to its left, if you think the date on their card is earlier than that on the starting card;
- Or to its right, if you believe the date on your card is later than that on the starting card.
After playing your card, flip it to check whether it is correctly positioned in the timeline:
- If the card is correctly positioned, leave it in the timeline, white side up.
- If the card is incorrectly positioned, discard it then draw the top card from the draw pile and place it next to their other cards without revealing the date. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle all the discarded cards to form a new draw pile (black side up).
Play then passes to the next player:
- If the first player played their card incorrectly, the second player must place one of their cards next to the starting card.
- If the first player played their card correctly, the second player will have a choice of three date intervals in which to place one of their own cards: to the left of the two cards already in the timeline (A), to their right (B), or in the interval between them (C). Simply adjust the timeline when inserting a card between other cards.
Play then passes to the third player:
- If the preceding two players both added a card correctly, the third player will have a choice between four date intervals, and so on.
Special Case
Occasionally, a player may play a card with the same date as another card that was played previously. In such cases, the new card can be placed to either the left or right of the one already in the timeline.
Winning the Game
A round consists of one turn by each player, beginning with the first player and ending with the player seated to their right. When a player successfully places their last card in the timeline, the other players complete the current round.
If they were the only player to have played all their cards, the game ends and they are immediately declared the winner.
If two or more players have correctly placed their last card, everyone else is eliminated and take no part in subsequent rounds.
The players still in contention continue playing in order to determine the winner, taking turns to draw a card and place it in the timeline. If all players (or none) successfully place their card in the new round, they play again. If some but not all players succeed, those who made a mistake are eliminated. When only one player correctly places their card in a round, they are declared the winner.
Final Remark
In the current state of human knowledge, some historical dates are open to debate and therefore approximate. Please keep in mind that this game was created primarily for entertainment. Have fun!