Thursday 26 November 2015

Christmas stocking fillers #4: Star Wars Timeline card game review and giveaway

It's less than a month until Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released, so I may be getting *slightly* over-excited. To help feed the Star Wars frenzy, Esdevium have sent me a copy of Timeline: Star Wars to try out and I thought it would fit nicely into the Christmas stocking fillers series.

My knowledge of history is pretty horrendous, so what better to shame me into learning than Timeline, a game of putting events into chronological order more accurately than everyone else. Asmodee publish the game in various educational sounding flavours: Science & Discoveries, Inventions, Music & Cinema and Historical Events.

But wait! There's a Star Wars version, you say? I know about this already - I can't possibly lose...

Star Wars Timeline box


Or so I thought. It turns out that I'm not the geekiest geek in our household, as I was resoundingly beaten by my husband's superior Star Wars knowledge. Hanging my head in shame, I packed the little tin into my handbag and took it to work with me instead... where they beat me too (I've so far managed one paltry win - serious loss of nerd points!)

I have a slight obsession with small games in tins because of their portability and (usual) simplicity. Star Wars Timeline is no different, using the same straightforward rules as the rest of the Timeline series.

Star Wars Timeline box contents

Each little card shows a moment from one of the original trilogy of Star Wars films (glad to see they're joining the rest of us in avoiding the prequels). The cards have the same picture on both sides, but one side is marked with a number to show its 'time position' or place in the sequence of events.

A starter card is placed (time position side up) and each player is dealt a hand of four cards (time position side down, no peeking). The first player lays one of their cards next to the starter card, placed to the left if they think the event happened before the starter card or to the right if they think it happened afterwards. The card is then flipped to see if the player was correct.

Star Wars Timeline cards

If they picked incorrectly, their card goes back into the box and they have to draw another card into their hand. If not, play moves on to the next person who chooses where to place their card in the newly extended timeline. They have extra spots to choose from as they can pick before, after or in between the existing cards in the timeline. Play continues in the same manner until someone is able to play all of their cards and thus win the game.

Star Wars Timeline cards

Star Wars Timeline cards

The cards are quite teeny, but once the timeline starts to build up you can see why.  They're good quality and the artwork (being scenes from the films) is amazing.

Star Wars Timeline cards

Timeline is a simple concept, but it really quickly shows up the gaps in your knowledge! Gameplay was more challenging than I thought it would be, especially when you have events that take place quite close together or where the movie cuts back and forth between different scenes - it's really easy to mix things up.

Playing this really reminded me how fun it is to talk with your friends about the movies and be generally geeky about the world of Star Wars, so I think it would make a great buy for any fans out there.

Star Wars Timeline
Publisher: Asmodee
Players: 2 - 8
Age: 8+
Cost: RRP £12.99, available from Waterstones or Amazon.co.uk, along with Music & Cinema, Science & Discoveries, Inventions and Historical Events versions if Star Wars isn't your thing but you like the sound of playing!

Esdevium have kindly offered a copy of Star Wars Timeline to give away [UK only], so if you'd like a chance to out-Star-Wars-geek your friends and family then you can enter using the Gleam widget below.

Star Wars Timeline card game giveaway
Terms and conditions
  • The giveaway is open to UK residents only - sorry, everyone else!
  • One prize available, to be chosen using Gleam and announced on this page.
  • The giveaway will close at midnight on 11th December 2015
  • The winner will be contacted by e-mail within 3 days of the end of the giveaway. If they do not respond within 14 days another winner may be chosen.
  • The winner's details will need to be passed to Esdevium Games for shipping purposes. Esdevium will send the prize directly to the winner, so delivery is not in my control and may take time to arrive. Any damage is not my responsibility.
  • Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
Good luck with your entry! In the meantime, why not have a look at all of the stocking fillers series here?

NB: I received a sample of this product for free in exchange for an honest review - all opinions remain my own!