Timespan - civilization strategy game from the Stone Age to the Space Age.

Timespan Board Game Contents

Timespan is a civilization and strategy board game in which you guide your society from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Designed by Kenneth Minde and Kristian Amundsen Østby, authors of Automania and Bad Company, it combines worker placement, technology trees, resource management, card drafting, and asymmetric player powers into a streamlined civilization-building experience without the bloated playtimes typical of the genre.

In Timespan, there are no wars or military conflicts. The growth of your civilization centers strictly on exploration, culture, science, discovery, and building a powerful economic engine. Each player begins with a unique asymmetric civilization and pairs it with one of six available tech boards, creating diverse development pathways right from setup.

How to Play Timespan

A game of Timespan unfolds across 5 rounds, divided into an exploration phase and an action phase. During exploration, you draft cards and discovery tiles from the current era, making strategic choices that dictate your society's growth potential.

You then move your camels across the world board and visit other players' wonders to unlock various bonuses and rewards. This non-destructive player interaction allows you to leverage rival achievements without resorting to military attack.

The action phase is largely executed simultaneously. Each player manages a personal timeline on their player board with space for up to 4 cards. Whenever you play a new card, older cards shift down the line until they eventually exit into your legacy area, securing permanent benefits.

Develop Your Civilization

Cards represent historical figures, buildings, technologies, and other key milestones in human history. Workers are placed onto cards in your personal timeline to trigger powerful effects, generate resources, or advance along development tracks.

As you progress, you will push forward on the culture track to claim wonders and additional workers, advance along the science track to unlock groundbreaking technologies, and explore new frontiers on the navigation, flight, and space tracks.

An Evolving Timeline Mechanics

The core engine of Timespan lies in its dynamic timeline system. Because you can only maintain four active cards in your timeline, adding a new card inevitably pushes an older one out to join your legacy pool.

This creates constant strategic dilemmas: certain cards offer immense short-term utility during specific eras, while others yield long-term benefits worth preserving. Furthermore, luxury resources enhance card abilities, continuing to provide permanent passive income once converted into your legacy area.

From the Stone Age to the Space Age

The game progresses through distinct historical eras representing human advancement. At the end of the second and fourth rounds, the game transitions into a new era, introducing advanced card decks and high-tier discovery tiles that broaden your options.

This structure ensures that Timespan builds organically from primitive origins to futuristic Space Age endeavors, making your early strategic choices ripple through the subsequent development of your society.

Asymmetry and Replayability

Timespan includes 6 asymmetric civilizations and 6 distinct technology boards. Every unique combination unlocks different starting capabilities and strategic avenues, while a vast deck of historical figures, buildings, technologies, and wonders ensures high variety in every game.

The interplay of asymmetric abilities, modular technology boards, dynamic timeline management, and draft pools guarantees exceptional replayability across multiple playthroughs.

Solo Mode

Timespan includes a fully integrated solo mode. The solo design lets you experience the satisfaction of building and evolving a civilization on your own, preserving all the core mechanics of development, exploration, and engine-building found in the multiplayer game.

Product Impressions and Verdict

Timespan is ideal for board gamers who love deep civilization games but prefer a streamlined, non-aggressive experience. By eliminating military combat, the game focuses entirely on societal development, scientific breakthrough, cultural growth, exploration, and engine optimization.

Combining asymmetric factions, tech paths, worker placement, and a strict 4-card timeline produces rich decisions on every turn. Because most actions are resolved simultaneously, downtime is minimal, keeping multiplayer games wrapped up in a crisp 90 minutes.

Who Is It Ideal For?

Timespan is perfect for players seeking a deep strategy and civilization game featuring asymmetric development, engine building, and a manageable play time. It is highly recommended for fans of resource management, worker placement, tech trees, and economic efficiency puzzles.

It also serves as an inviting entry point into the civilization-building genre for those turned off by multi-hour playtimes or cutthroat military conquest, emphasizing positive interaction through trade and exploration instead.

Game Components

• 1 main board
• 1 market board
• 6 civilization boards
• 6 technology boards
• 5 storage boards
• 55 discovery tiles
• 99 luxury tiles
• 17 upgrade tiles
• 189 cards
• 5 camels
• 5 ships
• 5 spaceships
• 5 airplanes
• 36 population markers
• 20 player markers
• 40 storage cubes
• 1 sand timer
• 1 rulebook

Related Games

• SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – Deep strategy, tech tree progression, and space exploration with heavy engine building.
• Beyond the Sun – Civilization and strategy game centered on tech tree development and galactic exploration.
• Underwater Cities – Resource management and engine building with a focus on long-term spatial planning.
• Age of Innovation – Strategic faction development, variable asymmetry, and engine building.
• Terra Mystica – Classic deep strategy eurogame featuring asymmetric fantasy factions and territorial expansion.
• Through the Ages – The iconic benchmark of civilization board games, tracing society's evolution across historical eras.

Conclusion

Timespan delivers a fresh take on the civilization genre by swapping war and land conquest for exploration, technological invention, cultural achievement, and engine optimization. Its asymmetric factions, clever 4-card timeline engine, and arc from the Stone Age to the Space Age make for a rewarding and deeply replayable strategic experience.

Playing in approximately 90 minutes for 1 to 5 players, Timespan is an exceptional choice for strategy gamers looking for an accessible yet deeply engaging civilization game.