Like all of Looney Labs card games, EAC combines simple rules and fairly chaotic play into a fun and humorous package.
TimeLine
The most innovative part of the Chrononauts games is the TimeLine. To represent changes in history, players lay out a 4 by 8 grid of cards. Each card represents events in U.S. history between 1770 and 1916. Some of the cards are Linchpins that represent important events that players can affect directly, such as “1770: Tea Exempted in Tax Repeal.” The rest of the cards are Ripplepoints, events that are impacted by changes in the Linchpins. For example, the 1773 Ripplepoint is “Boston Tea Party.”
When a player flips the 1770 Linchpin, it changes to “Townshend Act Fully Repealed.” This means that the Boston Tea Party never happened because the tax on tea was lifted. Thus, The Boston Tea Party Ripplepoint card flips to reveal a Paradox. Paradoxes are holes in time created by changing events. If there are too many Paradoxes, 13 or more, then the game ends and everyone loses.
The TimeLine may sound as if players need a degree in history to keep up with the changes. Icons and dates on the cards make manipulating the cards easy (although some practice will speed the game.) Even when a single Linchpin affects numerous Ripplepoints, tracking the changes is simple.
Patches
One of the main appeals of Early American Chrononauts is the designer’s delightful sense of humor. This appears most often in the Patch cards. Players place Patch cards over Paradoxes to help repair history. In the example above, the Boston Tea Party never happened. A player can play a Patch card like “1773: Boston Cake Riot” to repair that hole in time. Thus, while the Boston Tea Party may have been skipped, the colonists found a reason to rebel anyway.
Players with a keen eye for detail will enjoy seeing the cause and effect of sometimes distant events as the TimeLine shifts.
Artifacts
The Artifact cards are another source of much amusement. These cards represent items that players can gather either from the past or from the future. A player may travel back in time to recover “General Tso’s Chicken” directly from the General’s dinner table. Or she may travel to the future to buy a slice of “Negative-Calorie Pizza.” These cards do not directly affect the TimeLine, but can lead to a victory as described below.
Inverters, Actions, and Timewarps
Most of the activity in the game comes via Inverter, Action, and Timewarp cards. Inverter cards allow players to flip Linchpins and affect Ripplepoints. Action cards provide some chaos by allowing players to steal cards, exchange hands, and other such tricks. Timewarp cards allow players to peek into the draw deck and the discard pile to find specific cards.
Gadgets
Gadget cards are new to Early American Chrononauts and they are similar to Artifactsin that they stay in play until affected by other cards. Gadgets give players a few other options during their turns. For example the “Very Clean Time Machine” allows players to draw either from the draw pile or from the discard pile.
Game Play
Although there are quite a few card types, the rules for Early American Chrononauts are simple. Players begin with a hand of three cards and each turn they draw one card and play one card until one of three winning conditions is reached.
At the beginning of the game, every player chooses a Mission card and an ID card. The Mission card lists three Artifact cards. If the player can get all three Artifact cards in play, he wins the game. The ID card describes three events in the TimeLine. If the player can manipulate the TimeLine to match the ID, then he wins. Finally, each time a player places a Patch card, they draw an extra card. If a player can build a hand of ten cards, she wins.
Comparison to the Original Chrononauts
Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts are very similar games. The second set adds a new card type, the Gadget, expands the functions of some of the familiar cards, and provides an entirely new TimeLine.
The Looney Labs website contains rules for UberChrononauts, a version that combines all of the cards from both decks for a giant Chrononauts game.
Conclusion
Players new to Chrononauts can start with either deck easily. Both games feature a great sense of humor, fun discoveries within the cause and effect of the TimeLine, and enough strategy too keep the game interesting over multiple plays.
Players that prefer games with deep strategy and a minimum of randomness may want to pass on Early American Chrononauts. If you were unhappy with the first Chrononauts, this game does not change enough to alter your opinion.
