Timelines British History review

Frederic Henry’s history-lesson-in-a-tin game Timeline has finally decided to take on Britain as its subject of choice.

Like the many other Timeline packs out there, Timeline British History comes with 110 cards and can be combined with the other sets to form a mega-trivia game spanning history, culture and the happenings of the world from its creation until now.

Equally as expansive is the British history portrayed in this latest deck, beginning with the formation of Britain as an island roughly 8,500 years ago and stretching up until the similarly earth-shaking decision to leave the EU earlier this year – although there were far less social media outbursts at the end of the last Ice Age.

The cards provide a nice mix of cultural landmarks, such as the publication of The Canterbury Tales and Harry Potter, historical events ingrained into the public psyche, including Charles I losing his head, and lesser-known titbits – did you know the first female MP joined parliament in 1919?

As you might expect, there’s plenty of monarchy and public figures illustrated effectively on the cards; amusingly, Newton’s law of universal gravitation simply shows an apple blasting its way towards the scientist’s curly-haired bonce.

Some of the cards are less picturesque – the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games card is decorated with the event’s uninspiring logo and the introduction of the postcode card features writing too small to comfortably read – but overall the art matches the physical quality of the cards themselves.

The gameplay of Timeline remains the same, with players attempting to correctly place all of their cards according to chronology before flipping them over to check the dates. A wrong date means a fresh card, and the first empty hand wins. This means the same flaws remain, with regular players and history buffs having a clear edge over their opponents, but the mechanics remain simple and strong enough to justify plenty of playthroughs. You just learn something, too.

Publisher: Asmodee

RRP: £13.99

Genre: Trivia card game

Players: 2-8

Time: 15 minutes

Age: 8+

Website: timelinegame.co.uk