Timeline: Inventions was designed by Frederic Henry and published by Asmodee Games in 2010. It is part of the Timeline series of games that all play very similarly.
The core of Timeline: Inventions is to know or guess when iconic inventions were created. Lots of fun and surprises.
Game Objectives
The first player to get rid of all of their Invention cards by correctly inserting them into the Invention Timeline wins.
Game Components
Timeline: Inventions comes in a cool tin with raised art and lettering. The sturdiness and small size of the tin make the game perfect to throw in a backpack for to take along on trips. Also the game comes with a high quality insert to hold the cards inside the tin.
The game comes with 109 cards that are domino sized. A card is double sided with the same art on both sides. The art is high quality and shows a picture and name of an invention. One side of the card also shows the year the invention was created.
Game Play
Game setup is super fast - shuffle the cards, deal a hand of 4 to 6 cards to each player (varies based on number of players) and turn a card face up with the year showing. The players’ hands are laid on the table with the year side down and the players cannot look at the year.
That face up card is the start of an ever growing row of cards that have to be in date order - The Timeline. The year side of the cards is face up.
Players take turns selecting an invention card from their hand and inserting it where they think it fits in timeline based upon when it was invented. After a player indicates where they think it belongs the card is turned over so the year shows.
If the player was correct the card is inserted into the timeline with the year showing and play passes to the next player.
If the player was wrong the card is discarded and the player has to draw a replacement card. Play passes to the next player.
Game play is fast. We typically play in under 15 minutes. Each turn is very quick and players tend to pay attention to other player’s cards so the can learn.
The first player to get rid of all of their cards wins.
Thoughts
Timeline: Inventions is one of our family favorites. The grandkids will often pick it off of the game shelves to play. It is also fun with all adults.
Simplicity is often elegant and that holds true throughout Timeline: Inventions. The quality of the components is superb. Game play is fast and fun. And people learn as they play the game.
Timeline: Inventions is highly recommended.
The Good: High quality. Fun. Replayable.
The Bad: Be careful to keep the draw deck with all of the cards with the year side down.
The Dastardly: The kids don’t think it is fair when I get the "Invention of Roleplaying Games”.