Chrononauts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chrononauts | |
|---|---|
 Chrononauts is a tabletop card game that investigates cause and effect in historical events. |
|
| Players | 1-6 |
| Age range | 11 and up |
| Setup time | 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 20-45 minutes |
| Random chance | Moderate |
| Skills required | Strategy, Collecting |
Chrononauts is a card game played with a specially designed set of 136 cards. There are 32 "Timeline" cards that form the game board, 24 cards ("IDs" and "Missions") describing goals for the players, and 80 cards ("Artifacts," "Actions," "Inverters," "Patches," and "Timewarps") that make up the deck from which players draw. The game simulates popular fictional ideas about how time travellers might alter history, drawing on sources like Back to the Future and the short stories collection Travels Through Time. The game was designed by Andrew Looney in 2000 and is published by Looney Labs.
In 2001 Chrononauts won the Origins Award for Best Traditional Card Game of 2000.
[edit] Game play
The 32 timeline cards represent significant events in (real) history of two types: Linchpins and Ripple Points. Players use Inverters to directly change the Linchpin events, changing to the alternative event on the reverse side of the timeline card. Changing a Linchpin also turns over one or more Ripple Point cards exposing paradoxes. If a player uses a Patch to resolve the paradox, the player receives an extra card for his hand.
For example, turning the 1865 "Lincoln Assassinated" card to "Lincoln Wounded" causes the 1868 "Andrew Johnson Impeached" card to turn, leaving a paradox in place for that year (1868). This paradox can then be repaired by playing a Patch on top of the paradox that describes Lincoln's impeachment in 1868 . (The game designers' historical reasoning behind this sequence of events--and many others used in the game--may be found here; this particular example is #12 on the list.)
The game can be won in one of three ways:
- The timeline can be altered so that certain events happen as described on a player's ID card. This represents the idea that each player comes from a different alternate timeline and our "real" history is, for them, an alternate history. (NOTE: Most ID cards depict three key events; one of which happens as it did in "real" history, and two that need to be "altered" to create the characters' reality.)
- Each player has a Mission card detailing three Artifacts that can be retrieved through time travel. If a player collects all three of these artifacts, that player wins.
- A player whose hand contains 10 or more cards at the end of their turn wins.
All players lose if there are ever 13 or more unpatched paradoxes on the timeline. (See exception of "Crazy Joe" below.)
[edit] Expansions and spinoffs
In 2001, the company released Lost Identities, a set of 13 new IDs and one new Mission (The Most Toys) for Chrononauts. Most of these new IDs were created by fans of the game in a submission contest held on Looney Labs' website. Among the new IDs are:
- Crazy Joe: Wins if the universe is destroyed by too many (13 or more) unpatched paradoxes.
- Tyberius: A nod to the time travel episodes in the original Star Trek series.
In 2004, Looney Labs released Early American Chrononauts (EAC), a prequel to Chrononauts. Using the same game mechanics, EAC focuses on 32 more events, set from the 1770s to the early 1900s. It also introduces "Gadgets," a new card type that can affect the play of the game by allowing an extra turn or blocking other players from stealing Artifacts. (Gadgets have been retro-added to the 3rd printing of the original game via the addition of two originally-promo-released cards, Really Fast Time Machine and Teeny Tiny Time Machine.)
The Chrononauts and EAC timelines can be interconnected to create a third game, ÜberChrononauts. Looney Labs had discussed the possibility of offering another expansion pack of IDs that makes use of missions and events from both games to support ÜberChrononauts games, but has since backburnered the project.
Looney Labs has also released several promotional cards that can be added to Chrononauts and EAC games. Some are available singly from their site, while others are bonus cards added to expansions for other games, such as the Beatles Reunion Album included with Fluxx Blanxx.
