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My 26 year old son says he doesn’t like gaming (although he spends an inordinate amount of time with Red Redemption 2 on his PlayStation). So when he spontaneously declares he loves a board game I pay attention. And that game is...well, the title of this review is a bit of a giveaway.
Just before Christmas I was in my FLGS (friendly local games store/shop, for those who don’t have one) looking for a few cheap card games I could transport up a Swiss mountain to play with people who don’t play games (you know, the curmudgeons). I plumped for Timeline Twist.
Timeline Twist is an adaptation of Timeline by Frederick Henry, who himself was possibly ‘inspired’ by an earlier and very similar game, Chronology, by Jane Ruemmele, which I have enjoyed for many years now. Timeline is simple- deal a number of event cards to each player. On your turn, attempt to add a card to a timeline. Should you succeed-no need to take another card. The player to empty their hand first wins.
What’s the twist in Timeline Twist?
The twist is that Timeline can be played co-operatively. Corey Konieczka, the brain behind some of my favourite boardgaming experiences , including Star Wars: Rebellion, has taken what is a feather light trivia game and added a soupçon of challenge. The aim is to collectively play as many cards as possible into a shared timeline. Now players must collaborate to sequence the playing of cards in a way that will allow each player to be able to continue to play.
So what?
Well, it turns out that Timeline Twist is a game that is a little bit more than the sum of its admittedly minimal parts. My family are a difficult bunch to please when board games are involved. Securing any commitment to play often involves wheedling, bribery and perfect timing. Having succeeded where I usually fail, we opted to play the competitive game first and I almost lost them within 15 mins. To be fair to them, the experience was drab-it was too easy to place the cards we had onto the timeline, quiet contemplation quickly replaced genial table talk and, predictably, I won (I’m a history teacher after all). However, they were willing to give the co-op mode a go-and wow! You see, to play well, Timeline Twist doesn’t require that you know dates (dull and boring)-it requires you to draw on your skills of reasoning, deduction and understanding of the past. And my lot were really keen to share their thoughts, hypotheses and ideas: “They must have had pencils before the French Revolution otherwise how did they tot up the heads they cut off.” Every time someone said, “C’mon Grandma, you’ll remember this…” her face beamed as she geared up to share another tale from ‘the good old days’ (France during World War Two!). Timeline Twist got multiple plays over multiple evenings and we have all vowed to beat the last score we achieved next time we’re together. It will never be my favourite game but Timeline Twist was worth the tenner.
