Accurate history games without the conquest

July 11, 2017 10:20 AM

Are there any (fairly) historically accurate games that aren't about conquest?

It looks like Crusader Kings has a reputation for being pretty historically accurate, but conquest is not my thing.

I don't play games (video or tabletop) a whole lot anyway, but I love to learn stuff, and would be interested in games that cover history (or other fields, for that matter - physics? chemistry?) and help you learn stuff along the way.

I'm guessing Oregon Trail might be a good fairly accurate non-conquest-oriented game, and maybe Europa 1400/The Guild 2 - anything else?

This question was inspired by the excellent FPP about How Do I Vike.

Thanks!

posted by kristi to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total)

Best answer: Different sort of game, but you might enjoy Timeline. They have a whole series of different decks with a date on one side and something (say, an invention) on the other - your task is to arrange them in the correct order with the date side hidden. So, you might pull a card that says "syringe," and you now need to decide if it was before or after the "milk carton" card. Next you have the "hot air balloon" card--where does that go? It's very fun and accessible and I've learned a lot playing it.

The game structure doesn't allow for too much imperialism although it could be much stronger on the non-Western history (although I think they tried--there's a "discovery of Easter Island by Europeans" card called literally that in the Discovery deck).
posted by epanalepsis at 10:36 AM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: I love Timeline and have all the extensions. Last year, they came out with the Timeline board game which is also a lot of fun.
posted by MovableBookLady at 11:27 AM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: Made for Trade was developed with the Winterthur Museum for teaching about American life in colonial times.
posted by FencingGal at 11:38 AM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: 1960: The Making of the President
posted by CrunchyFrog at 11:45 AM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I enjoyed BBC's Death in Rome (short browser Flash game, if those are acceptable).

BBC History's Games site has a whole list of them but I haven't played the others yet.
posted by hsieu at 12:21 PM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: I haven't played any of these yet, but board game designer Phil Eklund has a reputation for designing complex, meticulously researched simulation-like games on a variety of topics: Neanderthal, Greenland, Pax Porfiriana, Bios: Genesis (this one's about the development of life on earth, all the way back to the birth of organic compounds; not too ambitious or anything ...!).
posted by stellarc at 2:10 PM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: Valiant Hearts: The Great War is about WW1 and is a puzzle adventure available for Xbox One and maybe other platforms. It has pop ups that teach you about the history of the war.
posted by Red Desk at 6:54 PM on July 11, 2017

Best answer: In the same line as Oregon Trail, there used to be a Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, which I played the hell out of as a teenager back in the 1990's. I presume it has been updated somewhere out on the interwebs. Also the original Where in the World has got lots of fun history facts as well.
posted by backwards compatible at 4:38 AM on July 12, 2017

Response by poster: These TRULY all look great! (To be honest, I wish the BBC ones weren't in Flash, but if the game is good enough, maybe that's okay.)

Thank you all for these terrific answers!
posted by kristi at 10:05 AM on July 14, 2017