Chronicle

About this board game

Chronicle is an irregular trick-taking game for 3–6 players that plays in about 30 minutes. Released by Kanai Factory in 2009, it brings together the abilities of individuals who form history with events that shape the lands.

In each game, players must consider how the powers of different persons interact with the unfolding events. The challenge is to use those abilities appropriately while handling the situations presented by the history cards. The result is a game where the relationships between powers and events are central to play.

Chronicle also includes an optional rule that adds several history cards to each round. With this option, players draw two history cards per round, and the honour rewards from each history card are resolved independently.

For newcomers, designer Seiji Kanai recommends beginning with three or four players. Games with five or six players are described as more difficult to control, making the smaller player counts a useful starting point while learning the system.

• Recommended beginner player counts: 3 or 4
• Suggested beginner rule: draw 2 history cards per round
• History card honour rewards are resolved independently under that optional rule
• Cards to remove while learning: “Dark age,” “Coronation,” and “Meeting with a dragon”

Removing those three history cards can make the first games easier while players become familiar with all the card effects. The “Dark age” card involves evil cards, “Coronation” uses the next three history cards, and “Meeting with a dragon” uses the previous two history cards.

With its tangled abilities, history cards, and changing events, Chronicle offers a compact historical card game built around unusual trick-taking decisions.