Relationship Timeline
Your whole story, in order, out loud.
- Players
- 2 players
- Length
- 25–45 min
- Cost
- Free · no signup
- Long distance
- Works long distance
Ready?
Your whole story, in order, out loud.
- Players
- 2 players
- Length
- 25–45 min
- Intensity
- Sweet
Free · No signup · Nothing you answer is saved
How do you play Relationship Timeline?
Relationship Timeline is a couples game where partners rebuild their shared history chronologically, each nominating the moments they would put on the timeline. It includes hard moments as well as good ones, runs 25 to 45 minutes, and produces a written timeline you can add to each year.
How to play
- Open a shared note. You are building an actual list.
- Take each card in order and both add your entry.
- Where you disagree about when something happened, put both.
- Do not skip the hard cards — a timeline of only good bits is not a timeline.
- Keep the note. Add to it next year.
Why couples love this game
The chronology does something the individual memories do not. Laid out in order, you can see the shape of the thing — how long the uncertain bit lasted, how quickly the hard year passed, how much has happened since the last time you thought about it. Couples consistently underestimate all three.
Firsts Together covers the beginning. This one covers everything — start to now, in order, including the difficult middle bits most couples skip when they tell the story at parties.
You each nominate the moments that belong on the timeline. What you find is that you have been keeping different highlights: the thing you thought was the turning point often is not the one they would name.
It works best written down. A shared note, a piece of paper, anything — by the end you have an actual timeline, which is a surprisingly nice thing to own.
Example questions
- Before us: what was going on in your life the month we met?
- The moment we met. Set the scene.
- The first thing that made you want to see me again.
- The point where it stopped being casual, if there was one.
- The first hard thing we went through.
- A moment in the first year you would put on the timeline.
The full game has 20 of these, shuffled every time you play.
Who this game is best for
- Anniversaries and milestone birthdays
- Couples several years in
- After a hard patch, once it has passed
- Long-distance couples who need to feel the length of the thing
Tips to make it better
- Write it down or you lose it. This is the one game with a genuine artefact at the end.
- Include the bad entries. They are what makes the good ones mean anything.
- Photos help enormously — go through the camera roll by year as you play.
- Redo it every anniversary and watch the list grow.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from Firsts Together?
Firsts Together covers the beginning only and is lighter. This one runs start to present, includes the difficult parts, and ends with something written down.
What if we remember dates differently?
Put both versions on the timeline. Arguing about which year something happened is a normal and quite enjoyable part of this game.
Is this good for an anniversary?
It is one of the best things you can do for one, particularly at a milestone. Go through your photos by year while you play.