Timeline: Americana
The full review of the Timeline series can be found here. This set plays identically but with a different theme, explained below.
So What’s Different About This Timeline?
The Americana edition of the Timeline series focuses heavily on popular culture. While the cards span 500 years (from 1507 to 2011), removing just 4 cards condenses the timeframe covered by Americana to a measly 200 years. This may be the most densely-populated of the series.
While loosely centered on happenings that effect America, a majority of the events depicted on the cards have a broader reach. The death of Michael Jackson… publication of For Whom the Bell Tolls… the founding of Microsoft. There is a very heavy focus on popular movies, literature and art that have touched modern life in some way, making this an easy-to-relate-to Timeline set.
Americana skirts a little closer to common knowledge than others in the series, but the condensed period of time offsets this to keep the luck factor high. Most of us know that Michael Jackson’s death, broadcasts of The Big Bang Theory and the retirement of the US Space Shuttle Program are very recent events… but can you pick the correct years? Even the ‘000s are well-represented in Timeline: Americana
User Reviews (2)
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This is a game I love. It is easy to teach, fun to play and can be finished in under 30 minutes.
2-8 players
The setup is dealing the appropriate number of cards to each player. It changes per number of players see rule book for the number of players.
You choose a start player and after they deal they turn over the top card from the remaining deck. The dealer takes a turn by placing one of their cards from their hand to the left of this card indicating it has a date earlier than the date of the card that is currently displayed or the the right indicating they believe it to be later than the date of the card displayed.
If correct the card is placed and it is the next players turn. If incorrect the card is returned to box and the player draws another card from the top of the deck. Each player performs the same placement action.
Play continues until one player has played all cards in their hand. HOUSE RULE: this ends the game and that player is the winner. See rules for their version of end of game.
In the beginning it is easy to determine the correct place to place a card as more cards are exposed it becomes exponentially harder to place a card becasue the time between any two cards may have been reduced by cards played during the round.
Fun game for all ages. Adults will find they really do not know when something happened and young adults(children) will become more aware of when things happened.
There are many versions in the timeline series find the one that fits your gaming people and give it a try. I am sure you will become a fan.
So, as a history teacher, I was very interested in trying this game out and checking to see if it would work in my class. The game is simple to teach / learn, easy to play, and plays many students. The problem, and it is a big problem, was there were too many mistakes. Ended up making my own cards and using the mechanics of the game. This game also gets low marks for replay value. It may be a decent filler, but beyond that, not really worth it.
The new Timeline: Challenge is a much better game. By adding different game play elements, this game is now a very good family game and gamer game.