Timeline: American History – card game review

If you’re looking for a light, short card game for the family, we definitely recommend taking a look at the Timeline series.

The latest game in the Timeline series by Asmodee is Timeline: American History. We’re not sure how much it will appeal to our readers outside the U.S.A., but for those living in America it’s a good addition to the series.

As the name implies, Timeline: American History is focused on historical events in America – such as presidential elections, battles, documents, famous deaths, and other notable events.

So if you’re a history buff or have kids that are learning their American History, this is definitely the version of Timeline to choose.

 

How to Play Timeline: American History

If you haven’t seen one of our previous reviews of a Timeline game, this section will give you a quick overview of how to play.

Timeline is a simple and quick card game. Players just need to determine where the events they hold go in the Timeline. Be the first to correctly place your events and you’ll win.

To begin, every player is dealt a starting hand of 4 double-sided cards (we like to adjust the amount depending on the number of players).

On one side of each card is an image and a name of an event. On the other side of the card is the same image and the same event name. However, it also displays the year of that event.

The cards are dealt so players don’t see the side of the cards with the year printed on them.

A starting card from the draw pile is placed in the center of the table with the ‘year’ side face up. In turn, players select a card from their hand and place it in the growing timeline.

On their turn, without looking at the year side of the card, a player places a card from their hand in the timeline (before or after other cards already in the line). They then flip the card over to show the year. If they were correct, the card stays in place and the next player takes a turn. If the card is in the wrong place, it’s discarded and the player takes another card from the draw pile to add to their hand.

The first player to get rid of all their cards wins.

 

Why we like Timeline

One of the reasons we like Timeline is because it’s a very simple game to introduce to others. It’s easy to pull out, explain in under a minute and you’re off and playing. Everyone understands the concept of putting events in order. And most believe they’ll do well.

The game is also nice and compact. The cards are small so that many can fit in a growing line on the table. Which means it can also easily be taken along wherever you go.

But the main reason we like Timeline is because we like the challenge.

We don’t claim to be experts on historical events. But we do enjoy thinking through what we know in order to deduce when certain events may have occurred.

The great thing about Timeline is that you don’t have to know the exact date/year of something to do well. A good estimate of relative timing will get you far.

At the start of the game the choice is very simple – does your card go before or after the initial card laid out?

But as more cards are played and the timeline grows, the number of options for card placement expands as well. And that’s where the fun is – debating where to place your final cards.

 

How well do you know your American History?

The challenge with Timeline: American History is putting historical events in order.

How well could you put the following in chronological order (FYI they span 48 yrs)?

• The Empire State Building opening
• First Miss America Pageant
• Founding of the CIA
• The last version of the American Flag
• The Titanic sinks
• Franklin D. Roosevelt first elected President
• Beginning of the Great Depression

Good luck!

 

Can the whole family enjoy Timeline: American History?

Like with the original Timeline, most of the family will be able to enjoy Timeline: American History. However, older players will typically do better simply because they’ll have a better context on history and when certain events occurred.

That being said, kids can still enjoy playing Timeline: American History as well – especially kids who are studying American History in school. For example, in our family Jaden has an advantage when it comes to putting a presidential election in the timeline because of his recent high school history class.

 

How does Timeline: American History differ from the other Timeline games?

Like we mentioned in our review of Timeline: Americana, in Timeline: American History you’ll be playing with a more condensed historical timeline than other Timeline games.

For example, the original Timeline game covers a huge span of years by including things like the discovery of fire, the invention of the wheel, or agriculture. You may not know exactly when writing first appeared, but you’ll have a pretty good sense that it was way before the first cannon.

But with Timeline: American History there is a smaller date range so the choices are a bit tighter – also making them more interesting.

The Timeline Series includes:

• Timeline: Inventions
• Timeline: Historical Events
• Timeline: Science and Discoveries
• Timeline: Diversity
• Timeline: Music & Cinema
• Timeline: Americana
• Timeline: American History

How does Timeline: American History score on the “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Timeline: American History also scores well on the “Let’s play again” game meter because of how simple and easy it is to play.

The big question is whether or not we simply combine the American History cards in with all the other Timeline decks we have or keep them separate. And that’s when we wish there was a distinction on the cards that would make it easier for separating the various decks later.

All the Timeline card decks have the same style and are the same size, so they’re easy to combine into one game. But if you ever want to separate them out again, it will be a real challenge knowing which cards went with which set.

Thanks Asmodee for another fun family card game and addition to the Timeline series.

The Board Game Family Game Ratings
	Caleb
	Brooke
	Jaden
	Trevor
	Mom
	Dad
	Average