
- BGG rank
- BGG #10,665
- BGG rating
- 7.3
1793: Patriots & Traitors
- 1–5 players
- 30–120 min
- Complexity 3.1/5
- 2024

2017
Rules assistance for Lost in Time
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 1 player

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Lost in Time is a board game released in 2017 for 1–4 players, 20–45 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Jason St.Just and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Cooperative Game, and Pattern Building.
Lost in Time is a thematic card game centering around time travel with three sets of rules that allow for different ways of play. The game consists of 88 cards with beautiful historical illustrations. No, it is not just a question of placing cards on a timeline! There's much more to it than that... The first version of the game is light and easy, specifically designed for families. It's the year 2031: you are one of the very first time travelers and you have been sent to the past. However, your time machine does not work as it was supposed to (isn't that typical!) and you are left stranded in the past. Now you have to get back to the year 2031. Each game round the players must jump into time but the problem is: not everybody will want to travel to the future like you do, some will want to jump to the past. And if you can't place anything on your timeline, you run the risk of being absorbed by the time-space continuum. It's a tug-of-war in time & space. Duration of play: 20 to 30 minutes. The second version, The Time Bandits, is heavier and semi-cooperative. In this game lets the players choose between being the secret agents or the thieves. The thieves, sent to the past by a criminal organization, must collect four historical artifacts before the eighth card has been played. The agents have been hired & vigourously trained by the government to hunt the criminals down before they end up changing the past and thus also automatically...the future. All players receive a deck of 18 cards which represent their time machine's battery allowing them to conjure up a wormhole in order to jump into time. The players must keep a close eye on the level of their battery: if it's empty, they will not be able to jump in time anymore and they will end up Lost in Time. Both the agents and thieves can make use of famous historical characters (Elizabeth I, Napoleon or Lenin...) to help them stop their rivals! Duration of play: 30 to 40 minutes. The third version is a solo variant. Before traveling to the past, you must decide how many batteries (deck of cards) to bring along. Every leap in time costs an amount of energy and even moreso if you end up in a period of disaster. When your batteries are empty, you are stuck in time, so you must be economical with your available energy! Will you jump in time immediately and save your battery, or will you press your luck and spend more energy in order to find a data chip that will help your travel through time more easily? Duration of play: 15 to 20 minutes. Can you survive the past?
Lost in Time supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Lost in Time is 20–45 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Lost in Time for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Lost in Time has a complexity rating of 2.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Lost in Time belongs to these categories: Card Game, Napoleonic, and Medieval. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Cooperative Game, and Pattern Building. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Lost in Time are: Jason St.Just. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Lost in Time as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.