Gamehelpdecadebydecade

Decade by Decade

Decade by Decade is a rummy-style card game spanning a century of history — from the 1900s to the 2020s. Draw cards, build runs of consecutive decades on the shared timeline, and be the first player to empty your hand.

2–4 players · ~30 minutes · Ages 10+

The Cards

The deck contains 107 cards:

- 104 regular cards — 13 decades × 4 categories × 2 copies each - 3 Event cards (wild cards)

The 13 decades are:

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Each regular card belongs to one of four categories:

Icon	Category	Examples
🌍	World Events	Wars, treaties, elections, geopolitical shifts
🎭	Arts & Entertainment	Film, music, literature, sport, pop culture
🔬	Science & Technology	Inventions, discoveries, space, medicine
🏛	Society & Culture	Social movements, fashion, food, everyday life

Event Cards (Wild Cards)

The two Event cards are wild — they can stand in for any decade and any category when forming a meld. When played, you declare which decade and category the Event represents in that meld.

A real card can later be swapped into a meld in place of an Event card, returning the Event to your hand to be replayed.

Setup

1. Shuffle all 107 cards together. 2. Deal 14 cards face-down to each player. Players may look at their own hand. 3. Place the remaining cards face-down as the draw pile. 4. The shared table starts empty. 5. Decide who goes first. Play proceeds clockwise.

On Your Turn

Each turn you choose exactly one of two actions:

Option A — Draw a Card

Take the top card from the draw pile, add it to your hand, and end your turn. You may not also play melds on a turn where you draw.

If the draw pile is empty, you must pass (end your turn without drawing or playing).

Option B — Play Melds

Stage one or more melds using cards from your hand, then commit your play to end your turn. You do not draw on a turn where you play melds.

When playing melds you may also:

- Lay off — add cards to any existing meld on the table, extending it. - Swap an Event card — place a real card into a meld that contains an Event, and take the Event back into your hand.

All changes are staged before committing. You can undo and adjust freely until you confirm. Once committed the play cannot be reversed.

Melds

A meld is a valid set of cards played onto the shared table. There are two types:

Run

3 or more cards of the same category with consecutive decades.

- Event cards may fill any gap in the sequence. - Example: 1950s Science & Technology + 1960s Science & Technology + 1970s Science & Technology ✓ - Example: 1940s World Events + Event + 1960s World Events ✓ (Event fills the 1950s gap)

Group

3 or 4 cards of the same decade from different categories.

- Event cards may fill a missing category slot. - Example: 1980s World Events + 1980s Arts & Entertainment + 1980s Science & Technology ✓

Two copies of the same card (same decade, same category) may not appear in the same meld. A spare copy may be laid off onto an existing run if the run continues on that side.

Opening Your Timeline

Before you can play melds freely, you must establish your timeline. Your first play to the table must include at least one Run of 3 or more consecutive decades in the same category. Event cards count toward this requirement.

A group alone — even a group of 4 — does not satisfy the opening requirement.

Once established, all future turns allow any valid meld (run or group) and lay-offs without restriction.

Winning

The first player to empty their hand wins immediately.

If the draw pile is exhausted and no player can make any play, the player with the fewest cards remaining wins. Ties are broken in favour of the player who most recently took a turn.

Scoring

Players are scored at game end:

- Winner: 100 points - Others: Points deducted per card remaining in hand (5 points per regular card, more for holding an Event card)

Quick Reference

Players	2 – 4
Hand size	14 cards
Deck	107 cards (104 regular + 3 Event wilds)
Turn	Draw a card OR play melds — not both
Opening	First play must include a Run of 3+ consecutive same-category decades
Win	First to empty their hand