I am very happy to be part of the Blogger board game club. Each month we will be sent a different game to play from the Esdevium games collection.
Our first game is Timeline. Timeline games come in tins and without the usual board or dice. There are many versions of Timeline. The version we have is British History. Other versions include inventions, music & cinema and even a Star Wars version (I would be hopeless at that one)
Timeline is essentially a card game as that is all that the game consists of, along with a decorative tin to keep the cards in.
There are 110 cards in total, each one being double sided with very clear artistic images on both sides.
One side has a description of an event in British history (left card) and the other side will have the same event but with a date added.
The idea of the game is to make a timeline. To do this, 4 cards get dealt to each player with the date side face down so only the event side is visible. One card from the remaining deck is turned onto the side with the date and this starts off the timeline. The first player reads out the event on the card and needs to guess whether the event occurred before or after the initial playing card and then places the card.
If correct play passes to the next player and so on, if wrong they have to choose another card from the deck and everyone keeps playing with the timeline getting bigger and bigger.
The winner is the person to place all of their cards correctly first so they have no cards remaining.
The timelines get long quickly, so can be made into other shapes rather than long lines as above.
Timeline British history is a good fun family game which doesn’t take too long to play, but it’s a whole lot more than just fun. Many children (and even adults) find history a bit boring but this game makes it fun without them even realising. The timeline makes a good history lesson, learning about events and when they happened. My children were especially happy when a card came up that they knew the date of – The great fire of London being just one. The dates may even come in useful for school history lessons, when a teacher asks “if anyone knows when x event happened etc and also helpful with homework. Discovering British events on the timeline also gives a chance for family discussions. My children have asked about a few of the events on the cards including the Newtons Law one. I do my best to a serf and it’s easy to google it if I don’t know. A game like this has many learning benefits.
Another good thing about Timeline is that it’s one of those games where the rules can be slightly altered to suit. For instance – The four cards dealt can be changed to a bigger number, we like to play 6/7 each at a time. A timer can be introduced for quicker thinking and cards placed wrongly can be put in their correct place rather back in the pile, again increasing the size of the timeline.
The size of the game and practicality of the small tin makes it a good game to take away on holidays, trips and time at relatives.
One timeline tin is suitable for 2-8 players. The recommended playing age is 8 and over: but…. I do think this could be lowered a little. Izebella is only 4 and obviously can’t read the cards herself, yet she still plays along with us. She joins in just the same and the only difference being that I read the card to her. She then looks at the pictures on the cards and places where she thinks it will go. She knows what modern day people and places look like and knows if a picture looks much older etc. She is actually quite good at guessing and again it’s educational fun for her.
This version of Timeline is currently available over on Amazon starting from £12.99.
(I received this game as part of the blogger board game club, free of charge)
Bizzimummy
