Timelines: US Presidents

G has always been fascinated with money as an object, and wildly curious about how they’re made and whose faces are on them. Learning that several of the faces are of past presidents has triggered his interest in presidents as well. His question “Who was the nth president?” admittedly stumps me, so I thought of a game that allows us to identify the presidents in the correct order. This game is Timelines, a game with historical themes that helps us remember sequences.

How To Play:

Preparation: 

Print out the Timelines: US presidents cards printable on cardstock, and cut the individual cards.

Object of the Game:

Line up the presidents on different timelines in the correct order. The first person to put down all his/ her cards wins.

How to Play: 

1. Separate the four (4) timeline cards from the rest of the deck. These are the cards that have the U.S. President seals only (no text).
2. Line up the timeline cards on your playing surface.
3. Shuffle the rest of the cards. These cards are: 1) a set of 44 US presidents, numbered and named, and 2) four additional timeline cards to start new timelines (labeled as such).
4. Distribute the shuffled cards as follows, and put the remaining cards face-down in the middle.
   • 5 cards per player (for 2 players)
   • 4 cards per player (for 3 players)
   • 3 cards per player (for 4 players)
5. The youngest player starts the game. Possible moves include:
   • Putting down a president on an available timeline.
   • Putting down the correct sequential president before or after a president that has already been set down on a timeline.
   • Starting a new timeline using an additional timeline card.
   • Getting new cards from the remaining deck if none of the above can be done.
6. Moving clockwise, the next player makes one of the possible moves above.
7. Game ends when a player puts down his/ her last card and wins the game.

Copyright note: We acquired the public domain portraits of the US presidents from WikiMedia Commons. As noted on the site, the images are works of employees of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. Federal Government, the images are in the public domain.