This last month we have been playing our new Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game which was Timeline – the British History version. This is actually a game I have owned and played before, except that was the Music and Cinema version. The game itself is an incredibly simple concept, though whether or not you know the information needed to play well, is another story!
The came consists of literally a pack of cards. These cards show historical events such as West Minster Abbey being completed, First Female Prime Minister, Battle of Hastings etc. One side just shows the picture and title, while the other side shows the date of when it happened. To play the game, you shuffle the cards and deal four to each player. The rest are placed in a draw pile, though you take the top card and place it in the centre of the playing area – this gives you a start point. The card you draw and place in the middle should show the date side of the card, while the ones in front of each player shouldn’t.
Each player takes it in turns, to take one of their cards and place it either before or after the starting card, in its correct timeline position. This is a guess – or perhaps even an educated guess, as you don’t have the specific date at this point. Once you lay the card down – higher or lower, you then check the reverse of the card and see if you were correct. If you were, the card gets to stay and you have one less card in front of you. If you weren’t, the card gets discarded but you have to draw another card to place in your hand.
Play continues in a clockwise direction, with the same rules for each person. Lay a card somewhere in the timeline and if you’re correct it stays and if you’re not then it’s discarded but you have to drawn another. This continues until a player is able to lay their last card correctly and then they are the winner.
Our family is made up of my two daughters who are 9 and 13, then myself and my partner. For the last few games now, my youngest daughter has definitely struggled with some of the board games we have played and often feels less than, compared to us. Going into this game, I knew she would struggle with History, even British History and I’m personally rubbish at History, probably second only to Geography. My partner isn’t bad but it’s not his strongest subject and my daughter who is in her second year of Secondary School is probably the best as she’s literally just learning most of it. Because of this, we actually played the game co-operatively and this probably more fun for us. Though we each had four cards in front of us, we openly discussed our cards and where they might be placed, which we were more sure of etc. Instead of showing each other up with our knowledge, we sort of took it as a learning experience and tried to learn from our placing and guessing of the cards. My youngest actually really enjoyed playing it this way and I would recommend considering that for families with children of varying ages. In my opinion this game would probably be better played with a group of people all of similar ages, or at least all adults etc.
