Two Rex Plays #19 - Trekking Through History
In this edition of Two Rex Plays we’re discussing Trekking Through History, a set collection card game which doubles up as a bite sized history lesson. The game is designed by Charlie Bink and illustrated by Eric Hibbeler and takes place over three ‘days’ of time travelling tourism. On each day of the trip, the players will take turns to select a series of cards representing a significant historic event, with a restriction is that the cards must be collected in chronological order (running forward in time). The longer you can extend your run, the more points you score.
Here are the design features we enjoyed:
Fantastic artwork – Each card has its own unique illustration depicting a notable part of human history, including events, people and concepts. Whilst spanning of all human history, there’s a common style to the art which helps bring the card deck together and provides the game with great table presence.
Mini history lessons – The face of each card is kept uncluttered and largely free of text, allowing the iconography and illustrations to take centre stage, and making the game language agnostic. However, on the back of each card there’s a brief paragraph giving some context to the historical event which is being depicted. There is a very generous selection of unique cards in this game, so chances are every player will discover a topic or two where their knowledge of history can be improved.
Pacing – This game has a great awareness of its intended audience and the weight of experience that the designer was aiming for. This is reflected in several features but most obviously the pacing which perfectly matches the complexity and size of the decision space. Once you know what you’re doing, a two-player game will take about 30 minutes. The game is easy to teach and is low on in-game admin which helps move it along at a rapid pace.
Turn count – Having attempted it ourselves, we’re always interested in clever design ideas that seamlessly integrate the turn count into the game itself. Here the solution is elegant in its simplicity, the deck is split into three parts, each representing one of the three days during which the game takes place. When you’ve played through the last set of cards, the game is done.
Scoring – Another area of design interest is how you score the game, balancing a sense of uncertainty and tension as to who is ‘ahead’ against the feeling of not having any idea who is winning, and facing a mountain of admin at the end to determine who’s won. The balance is personal preference, but it can be quite deflating if it takes 10 minutes to calculate the winner and you’re not really sure why the winner came out on top. In another nice nod to the matching the complexity of the game, the scoring is simple and quick – half of it takes place instantaneously as the game progresses, with the remainder is at the end of three days.
B game - The ‘A’ game (creating chains of historic events) is supported by a secondary token placement game. Each day you draw an itinerary card that shows which combination of coloured tokens you need to score extra points and time crystals (a way of extending the collections). The coloured tokens themselves are an extra benefit on the history cards, and it creates an interesting side puzzle where you try to satisfy both the token placement and your set collection, balancing the relative rewards of each.
Turn cycle – Player turns are determined by their position on a pocket watch, with the player at the earliest time on the watch always being the active player (how far you move on the pocket watch depends on what card you selected). This means the turn structure is non-linear and can provide interesting opportunities to chain together consecutive turns if you’re able to select cards that slow down your movement around the clockface. It also means you don’t need an active player token.
The game itself is accessible and enjoyable for both adults and children and is an ideal candidate for family great game night. We particularly liked the decision to include a brief history lesson on the back of the cards - as parents ourselves, we appreciate any way to sneak in some additional learning!
Interested in Trekking Through History? Find out more here:
Publisher Underdog Games
https://www.underdoggames.com/
Board Game Geek Page
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/353288/trekking-through-history
Original Kickstarter Page
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/underdoggames/trekking-through-history