Timeline (From The Think)

About Timeline (From The Think)

Timeline comes from From The Think, a two-person project by Jack and Grant, who say the idea started over a meal at a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta while talking about daily games. Timeline was their first game; Headline, where you guess where a real news headline came from, and Moneyline, an over-under game about facts and numbers, followed. They say more than 10,000 people now play each day.

Each daily game has six rounds. In each round you see an event, such as a film release, an invention or a political turning point, and you guess the year it happened. You do not need the exact year: the score for the round depends on how far off you were, so a near miss still earns points, and a row of squares along the top shows your score for each round as you go.

The game is numbered and dated by US Eastern time, and everyone gets the same six events. Many days also come with a short write-up on one of the topics and a link to read or watch more, so you can learn something about an answer you missed.

The makers say they never meant it to be hardcore trivia. It suits people who want a quick daily guess and a number to compare with friends, and the site says teachers use it to start the school day.

How to play Timeline (From The Think)

1. Open fromthethink.com/timeline to start today's game.
2. Read the first event.
3. Enter the year you think it happened and submit.
4. See the real year and your score for the round, then move to the next event.
5. After six rounds, check your total and share it.

Tips

• Anchor on things you know well, such as wars, elections or famous inventions, and reason forwards or backwards from them.
• When unsure, aim for the middle of the plausible range; scoring rewards being close, not just exact.
• Pay attention to wording like first, founded or released, which can shift the year you need.
• Read the day's topic write-up after playing to fill gaps for next time.

Questions