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World History Edition · Coming to Kickstarter

History is a case to crack.

Five eras of world history, from the first civilizations to the modern global order. Two hundred and fifty questions. One board. A trivia game built around the high school World History curriculum — by a student who had to find her own way through it.
  • 1–5 players
  • 30–60 minutes
  • Ages 14+
  • 250 cards
Kickstarter launching fall 2026 · Games ship December 2026
History Detective – World History Edition box
Foundations & Early CivilizationsGlobal Interactions & Early Modern EraRevolutions & IndustrializationGlobal Conflicts & World WarsCold War & Globalization
01

No quizmaster

The player to your left reads your card — the question and all four options, aloud. Nobody sits out, and no parent gets stuck running the quiz.
02

Built on the curriculum

Fifty questions per era, written and checked against the historical record, following the arc of the high school World History course. It isn't a workbook, and nothing is graded.
03

Playtested by the people it's for

Tested the only way that counts: with high school students trying to ace a test — and with adults who hadn't opened a textbook in forty years.
Playtesting History Detective at the kitchen table
Playtesting the prototype at the kitchen table
How it started

It started with a stack of flash cards that weren't working.

History Detective was designed by Clara Barnes. She came up with the idea in her sophomore history class, when her teacher told everyone to make their own flash cards — and making them didn’t help.

The turn came when she stopped treating history as a list of facts to memorize and started treating it as a case to solve: evidence, motives, cause and effect. She built a board around the five eras of her course, wrote the first questions herself, and tested the game on her friends. Somewhere along the way, history started to click.

“I used to struggle with history. It felt like a bunch of random facts I couldn’t keep straight, and I figured it just wasn’t my thing. At some point, I started thinking about it more like solving something instead of memorizing it. That idea turned into History Detective — a game I built around the AP curriculum and tested with friends. Somewhere along the way, history started to click. It became a lot more interesting, and even fun. I made this for anyone who feels stuck with history.”

— Clara Barnes

Every one of the 250 questions was written and checked against the historical record. The finished game is now in production with LongPack Games, a factory that manufactures for established board game publishers.

History Detective game board
The board: five eras, four special squares, Start to Finish
How to play

Every player is a detective. Solve all five eras.

Roll, move, and answer. Every correct answer puts one of your pawns on that era. Fill all five eras and you've declared history solved.
  1. Roll and moveTo start, each player rolls the die; highest roll goes first, and play passes clockwise. On your turn, roll and advance your detective, then draw a card from the era deck matching the space you land on.
  2. Answer a history questionThe player to your left is your card reader: they read the question and all four options aloud. Choose A, B, C, or D, and they reveal whether you’re correct.
  3. Collect evidenceA correct answer lets you place one of your pawns on that era’s large square on the board. A wrong answer earns nothing. Your turn then ends, and your card reader — the player to your left — rolls next.

Winning

Standard win. The first detective to place five pawns in each of the five eras — twenty-five in all — wins immediately.

Finish-line end. If no one has completed all five eras by the time a detective reaches FINISH, that detective takes one final bonus turn. The player with the most pawns on the board then wins. If two or more players are tied, whichever is furthest along the board wins; if still tied, the tied players each answer one card in turn order, and the first correct answer wins.

  • Go Back / Go ForwardScrambles which era you’re thrown into next.
  • Dark AgesYou lose two turns where you stand.
  • Pick Your Own CategoryTake the era your rolls have been keeping you away from.
  • Short on time?Every deck stands on its own. One era is a twenty-minute game — the version that gets played on a Tuesday night before an exam.
The five eras

Fifty questions each. One face to a deck.

The decks follow the arc of world history from the medieval world to the modern global order. Every question is multiple choice with four options — you can reason your way in.
Foundations & Early Civilizations card – Marco Polo

Foundations & Early Civilizations

1200–1450
Marco Polo
Global Interactions & Early Modern Era card – Elizabeth I

Global Interactions & Early Modern Era

1450–1750
Elizabeth I
Revolutions & Industrialization card – Toussaint Louverture

Revolutions & Industrialization

1750–1900
Toussaint Louverture
Global Conflicts & World Wars card – Mahatma Gandhi

Global Conflicts & World Wars

1900–1945
Mahatma Gandhi
Cold War & Globalization card – John F. Kennedy

Cold War & Globalization

1945–Present
John F. Kennedy
What's in the box

A finished game, not a concept.

  • 250question cards — 50 per era, four options each
  • 1game board
  • 5detective pieces
  • 5 × 25pawns, in five colors
  • 1die
  • 1rulebook
Standard poker-size cards, 63 × 88 mm · 240 × 240 mm box · Manufactured by LongPack Games · Built to survive a teenager
History Detective box
Coming to Kickstarter

Back the first print run.

The artwork is complete and has cleared the factory's technical review. The campaign is for the first production run — founders get the lowest price the game will ever be sold at, a numbered founding seal, and early delivery.
  • Fall 2026Kickstarter campaign · founders pricing
  • October 2026Production at LongPack Games
  • November 2026Freight and customs
  • December 2026Games ship to backers — in time for the holidays
Be first to know when it launches
Buy One, Give One: a donate tier sends a second copy to an under-resourced school. Classroom sets of six are available for teachers.
Questions

Frequently asked

Is this a study aid or a game?

A game. If it were a study aid it would end up under the bed with the flash cards. The learning is a side effect of wanting to win.

My kid isn’t taking AP World History. Is it still worth it?

Yes. The five eras follow the arc of world history generally. Nothing on a card requires a specific course, and every question is multiple choice with four options — you can reason your way in.

Does one person have to run the game?

No. The player to your left reads your card. Everyone plays.

How long does it actually take?

30–60 minutes for a full game. One era on its own runs about twenty minutes.

Is it too hard? My kid gets frustrated.

Difficulty varies by era, and Pick Your Own Category lets a player steer toward what they know. Four options and a board that moves you along regardless means nobody stalls out.

Can adults play without teenagers present?

That’s most of the playtesting.

What if I want it for a classroom?

The campaign includes a classroom tier with six games. Sign up below and mention your school when we get in touch, or ask about a purchase order for a quantity that isn’t listed.

Launch list

Get the founders price the day it opens.

Leave your email and you'll hear first when the Kickstarter goes live — plus the occasional dispatch from the History Detective desk. No spam, and you can leave any time.
We'll only email about History Detective.