Chronology Games for AP History.

How It Plays

• Eight events from one unit, drawn in a random order. No dates on the blocks.
• Place each block above or below the ones already stacked. The tower has to read in chronological order top to bottom.
• A misplaced block cracks the tower. Three cracks and it falls.
• Best time is saved per unit. Only a finished tower records one.

Why the Dates Are Hidden

A student who can read a date off a card is sorting numbers. A student who cannot has to ask a different question: does this event make sense before or after that one?

The decks are built inside a single unit, so the events sit close together in time. "The Civil War came before the Gilded Age" does not narrow anything down. You have to know that the Kansas-Nebraska Act came before Dred Scott, and why the order matters.

USA 250

A separate edition, not tied to any unit: 250 years of America from 1776 to 2026. Race the Marathon across three eras, or pick a themed deck — Famous Americans, Pop Culture, American Eats. Twelve trophies to collect.

Use it in the first or last week of school. It is the one deck a class outside APUSH can play without prep.

Running It in Class

• Bell ringer. One tower is three or four minutes. Project it and take suggestions from the room.
• Unit review. Send the unit link. Students run their own tower and chase their own best time.
• Pair work. Two students share one screen. Each placement gets justified out loud before it goes down.