Timeline: A Game Review

It was definitely good salesmanship that convinced me to purchase the Timeline game.

We were shopping before Christmas in our favorite toy store – Dancing Bear Toy Store – in our favorite North Carolina town – Hendersonville.

I had already chosen this year’s family game – Bananagrams.  I had secretly handed the helpful employee the game without the kids seeing our exchange.

(This store makes it so easy to shop for gifts for your kids with your kids.  They’ll take your purchases and even wrap them for you (for no charge) while you’re all right there at the store and your kids are absolutely none the wiser.  It’s genius.)

My choice already made, I couldn’t keep my eyes from landing on the small tin boxes with Timeline written on them.

The making-education-fun side of me was intrigued with the idea of making historical dates fun.  I’ve always struggled recalling when one event occurred in relation to another one.

I flipped the box over and over in my hands.

The game is made up of loads of little artfully designed cards with the same picture on both sides.  One side adds in the date.  The cards feature events like the beginning of World War I and the invention of the Internet.  One starting card is placed on the table, date side up. Your cards are in front of you – date side down.  Your task is to get rid of your cards by correctly guessing in which order the events line up.

I liked the fact that anywhere from two to eight people can play the game at once.  I liked that the game could begin and finish within fifteen minutes.  I liked that it looked like history might be fun.  I did not care for the pushed up over-pouring of the breasts of the character on the tin cover.

The woman behind the counter asked, “Have you ever played Timeline?”

I said no and she said, “Oh – I love this game.  Let me show you how it works.”

In just a few minutes we played a quick instructional round of Timeline right there on the store’s counter.

And that was enough.

I slid an unopened tin to her and we shared our secret code to seal the deal.  (Just kidding.  There was no secret code.  I’m not even a good wink-er so there was no secret wink.  Actually, I don’t even think wink-er is a word.  As it should not be.  It sounds weird.  I’m sorry I’ve typed it twice already.)

We’ve already played the game here at home dozens of times.

The more we play, the more various important dates in history are beginning to be remembered.  (Ah – the magic of games for education.)

I’m already planning to purchase the additional sets – diversity and inventions.  You can add all the sets together or play them separately.

It’s a game that’s small enough to pack for road trips and camp outs and interesting enough to engage a third grader and a grown up.  We all give this little game a solid thumbs up.

After our first round of Timeline London said, “This game is really like a learning game, except it’s fun.”