Trekking Through History: Rapid Review

Information:

Mechanics: Drafting, Set Collection, Time Track

Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 1 - 4 Players
Game Designer: Charlie Bink
Game Artist: Eric Hibbeler
Publisher: Underdog Games
Time to Play: 30 - 60 Minutes
Year Published: 2022
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution.

Rundown:

Trekking Through History has players going on a 3-day tour throughout history, creating treks in ascending order of year. The longer the treks the more points the player gains when the trek is finished. A trek will finish automatically when a player takes a card of an earlier year than the top card of their current trek. Ancestor cards can help fill in the timeline temporarily as they have no year attached. Each ancestor card has wild benefit as well as helping them fufill the itinerary of the player. They aren't always the optimal decision but when there are no good years amongst the cards avaliable but you want to continue your trek I find ancestors are perfect for that trekking continuation.

Each card gained will give bonuses as well as an extra bonus based on their location on the player mat. These bonuses will either give the player time crystals or award benefits used to fill itinerary cards.

Itinerary cards are unique to each player and will contain four tracks that score points and bonuses based on your progress. Whenever a card is taken it will also move the players on the time track. Once each player reaches 12 o'clock the day will end and the next day will begin. At the end of the game players will score based on points gained during the game, one point for each time crystal and points for the cards in each trek.

Age (Time):

The age/timeline holds a heavy affect in the game in multiple ways. Firstly, each day is a different age that contains its own deck of cards, as well as players using a different itinerary for each day.

The main time concept is that this game uses the mechanic of a time track. This means that there is no typical player order, instead whoever is last on the time track will be the active player.

When a player takes a card they will move their stopwatch equal to the hour cost on the bottom left. This time can be manipulated (not below one) by spending time crystals.

Meaning if a player plans this effectively they can gain multiple turns in succession. There is a further bonus if players plan really effectively and equal the exact 12th hour when they finish a day they can also score a bonus three points.

Timewarps:

Timewarps are an advanced variant that adds another layer onto the game. Each day there will be a different time warp, either an unlimited effect or one that takes a turn to activate. This is a great module that I would easily add for any players that have an understanding of the game as this adds new challenging layer each day.

Production:

The production of this game is top notch and feels like a complete package. A game tray is included to perfectly store all components and cards, plastic tokens and even a game mat is included. This truly is outstanding production.

There's an additional final detail that elevates the production further. Each card on the back has information relevant to the date listed on the card alleviating wait times between players turns.

Itinerary:

Each day will give the players a different itinerary which will in turn give different focuses with scoring. The four tracks will have different scores obtainable based on how many benefits the player aquires of that type. Players can also score a large sum of points by completing a row across differing levels of each track. Through these tracks players can also gain time crystals.

As a new itinerary is introduced each day, players face constant decisions determining how far they move on the time track/how long to stretch a trek in order to reach their itinerary goal.

Determination:

- Great introduction game.

- Easy ruleset but depth in managing time vs benefit.

- Time track is an underused mechanic so always great to see.

- There can be downtimes when you race ahead on the time track.

Trekking Through History is a perfect game to introduce someone into the hobby, as it has outstanding components that elevate the experience, easy to learn gameplay, and interesting elements of choice. The game isn't just for beginners though, avid gamers will love the simplicity to depth ratio in the challenge of trying to balance long treks, itinerary goals and managing the time track, as they try and squeeze as many turns possible out of each day. Time tracks for me are underutilised in my collection so Trekking Through History has easily secured a place in my collection with a Go To Golden Seal of approval.