How to Play Chronicles of the Kingdom – The Basic Rules (Included in the box)

Printing is soon to begin (plotters approved today!), and we're getting closer every day to bringing this Bible timeline game into homes, youth groups, and churches. While we wait for the first samples to arrive in April (which is super exciting!), I thought it would be the perfect time to share exactly how the game plays - starting with the simple, core version that's included in the box.

Chronicles of the Kingdom is a competitive-yet-cooperative timeline building game for all ages (recommended 9+ if they want to read the cards themselves), great for families, youth groups, homeschools, small groups and more (I've been asked to run a family church service with it!). The goal? Work together (sort of!) to build the Bible's epic story in chronological order while testing your knowledge of when key events happened. The twist: you place cards before finding out where they fit, leading to surprises, laughs, and "aha!" moments presenting perfect learning opportunities.

Before we cover how to play, we first need to understand Periods and Event numbers. Every card depicts an Event and each Event occurs within a given Period. There are 7 Periods in Chronicles of the Kingdom and they are colour coded to make the game easy to play at a glance:

A number of the periods share a name with books in the Bible, but the events in them typically span further than the contents of those books (post about that coming soon!)

Each card in the deck has the Period it belongs to printed along the top so it can't be missed!

In addition, each card also has an Event number. At some point in the game two Events will occur in the same period and this number tells you which order within the period they occur. These are also colour coded to match the period to help you quickly identify where the Event sits in the timeline.

In the example above, the Event 'Moses Parts the Sea' is in Period 2 - The Exodus. The colour coordinated Event number '2' indicates that it sits after 'The Plagues and Passover' which is Event '1' in the same Period. 'The Fall of Jericho' is part of Period '3 - The Judges', so even though it has an Event number of '1' it sits in the Period after 'Moses Parts the Sea'. This is where the colours help for quick identification of correct placement.

Now that we understand how the cards work we can look at how the game is played!

Basic Setup & Play (the version in the box)

Setup

1. Shuffle the deck (remembering to remove the rules cards!)

2. Randomly select a card and place it picture-side up in the middle of the table. This is where the Timeline will be built

3. Deal 5 cards to each player picture side down in front of them on the table, red side up - no peeking at the picture side!

Play

1. The youngest player starts: Select a card you wish to play this turn. Without showing the picture side of the card, read aloud the title and summary on the red side so that all players can hear.

2. Decide where this event fits in the timeline (before, after, or between existing cards) and place it red-side up in that spot.

3. Everyone chants together: “Flip, flip, flip!” (usually while pounding the table!) Turn the card over to reveal the picture side.

4. First check the Period: Look at the coloured Period banner at the top of the card to make sure it is in the right order with the cards either side. 

5. Then check the Event number to see if the card is in the correct place within its colour Period.

6. If it is in the correct place you score 1 point! If it is wrong you do not score a point, but move the card to the right position (learning moment!).

7. The next player takes their turn in the same way.

8. Play continues until everyone’s hand is empty.

9. The player with the most points wins!

10. In the case of a tie, deal another round of cards (or gracefully share the victory and bask in a job well done!)

    
    

Want a harder game? Start the game with more cards in the timeline.

Game finished too soon? Deal more cards to each player.

This is just the basic game included in the box, there are plenty more ways to play and use the cards which will be covered in upcoming posts!

The box includes 52 event cards covering the Bible's overarching storyline (from pre-Creation to New Jerusalem), plus 2 rules cards. The cinematic artwork and premium finishes make every flip feel special, it's as much about marvelling at God's story as it is about gameplay.

Thank you again for your encouragement, this game exists to help more people see and love the Bible's connected narrative. Each person's support gets us one step (or flip) closer!

Grace and Peace

Luke