The music timeline game: how to place songs and win
Build a row of songs in the order they were released. Every new song must go in the right spot, and the first player to fill their row wins.
Free to try. Whoever starts the game logs in with an email code, no password. Players who join a party room need no account and no app.
A music timeline is a personal row of songs sorted by release year. Everyone starts with one song, and each turn you hear a new fragment without its year. Your job is to decide whether it came before, after or between the songs already in your row.
Getting it right grows your timeline. Getting it wrong means the card is discarded, and the next player gets a go. Simple rules, constant arguments.
The rules in short
Whichever way you play, these rules stay the same.
Hear it blind
You get up to 30 seconds of the song. The year, title and artist are hidden until the reveal.
Pick a gap
There is a slot before the first song, between each pair and after the last.
Right spot wins the card
A correct slot means the song joins your row, in order. A wrong one is discarded.
Reach the target
The first player with the target number of cards wins. The default is 10.
Strategy: reading the gaps
The wider the gap between two years in your row, the more songs could fit. Look for narrow gaps, where the song can only be in a short stretch of years, and be careful at the ends, where a song could be from any era.
A row with many songs from one decade is easier to place new songs into, and harder to fit anything from far away.
Ways to play it
Pass the phone is the one-phone version for 2 to 8 players. Party room: Timeline puts the board on a big screen and lets everyone play on their own phone. Both have optional steal tokens, which let other players grab a card you might miss. In Timeline for everyone at once the whole room places the same song on one shared timeline, so there is no stealing.
The timeline in one look
A timeline is a row of songs in release order. You hear a new song, never its year, and decide where it fits between the songs already on the row. Get it right and the row grows.
Tips for a better game
Use the decade of your neighbours
If both neighbouring songs are from the same decade, the new song is probably within a few years.
Keep a few tokens
A skip is worth more than a wrong guess when a song is far from anything you know.
Play with a short target at first
Six cards teaches the rules in one short game.
Why it works at a party
No cards needed
Everything happens on screen, so there is nothing to print, shuffle or lose under the sofa.
Works in the browser
No app to install, not even for a party room. Open the page and play.
Three ways to play
One phone for a small group, or a party room with a big screen for a bigger crowd.
Prefer real cards?
Make your own card game: paste a playlist, print the PDF at home or order the printed cards.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between this and a quiz?
You do not name the song or type a year. You only decide where it belongs relative to the songs you already have.
Does the order of equal years matter?
A song that fits within the same year as its neighbour counts as correct, so you do not lose a card to a tie.
How do I start a game?
Pick a deck on the play page, then choose Pass the phone or open a party room on a big screen.
What does it cost to play?
Popular public decks are free to play. If you turn your own playlist into a deck, the first 100 cards of that deck are free.
Do players need an account or an app?
No app is needed. Whoever starts the game logs in with an email code, no password. Players who join a party room scan a QR code or type the 4 letter room code, then pick a name.
Ready for the first song?
Pick a deck, choose how you want to play and have the first round running within a minute.
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