Tips, Strategy, and Scoring Guide

How Scoring Works in Sorting History

Each placement earns or loses points depending on your scoring mode:

Why it matters: In Friendly mode, you can't go negative. Every correct answer adds to your score and mistakes simply don't count. In Expert mode, a wrong placement costs you heavily — two mistakes wipe out the value of one correct answer.

Year-Based Scoring

The Year-Based Scoring toggle adds another difficulty layer. When it's ON (the default), two events from the same year are treated as interchangeable — either order counts as correct.

Turn it OFF and the game requires exact month order, even within the same year. The months aren't visible on the timeline cards, so this is a real test of your knowledge. Combine Year-Based Scoring OFF with Expert mode for the ultimate challenge.

Category Difficulty

Not all categories are equally hard. Categories with tight timeframes are naturally more challenging:

• Harder: World Wars (many events packed into a few decades), TV History (most events within the last 70 years)
• Easier: Ancient Civilizations (events span thousands of years, larger gaps make placement more forgiving)

If you're starting out, pick a broad category. As you improve, try tighter categories or mix categories to create unpredictable timelines.

Letter Grades

After each game, you earn a letter grade based on your accuracy (percentage of events placed correctly). The grades from highest to lowest are:

S+ • S • A+ • A • B+ • B • C+ • C • D • F

The thresholds adjust by scoring mode. In Expert mode, you need lower accuracy for the same grade because the penalties are harsher:

How Scoring Works in History Pinpoint

History Pinpoint scores based on how close your year guess is to the actual year:

For details on History Pinpoint, see the full History Pinpoint guide.

Category Presets

Don't want to pick categories one by one? Presets select a group of related categories for you:

You can also save your own presets — pick your favorite category combination once, save it, and load it instantly for future games.

Strategies to Improve Your Accuracy

For Sorting History (Timeline Mode)

• Read the description, not just the title. Event descriptions contain era-specific clues: technologies mentioned, countries referenced, people involved. A description mentioning "telegram" places you firmly in the 1800s.
• Anchor on what you know. If you confidently placed "World War II Ends" at 1945, use it as a reference point. Anything involving jet aircraft, television, or computers is likely nearby or after.
• Think in centuries first. Before worrying about exact position, ask: "Is this ancient, medieval, early modern, or modern?" That eliminates most of the timeline immediately.
• Use process of elimination. If there's only one gap on the timeline where an event could fit based on what you know, that's probably the right spot.
• Start with one category. Playing a single category helps you build a mental framework for that topic. Once you know US History well, branch into World Wars or European History where events overlap.
• Play the Daily Challenge every day. The surprise category forces you to learn across all topics, gradually filling in your mental timeline.

For History Pinpoint (Year Guessing)

• Memorize landmark years. Key dates act as anchors: 1492 (Columbus), 1776 (US independence), 1865 (Civil War ends), 1914/1945 (World Wars), 1969 (Moon landing). Estimate other events relative to these.
• Use the arrows strategically. Start with the ±100 arrow to get in the right century, then ±10 for the decade, then ±1 for precision.
• Aim for "Within 5 Years" consistently. Exact Year guesses are rare, but consistently landing within 5 years adds up fast at 50 points each.
• Think about what else was happening. If an event description mentions a president, a war, or a technology, that context narrows the decade.

How to Progress

There's no single right way to play, but here's a path that works well for new players:

1. First game: Friendly mode, Sprint (5 rounds), one category you know. Get comfortable with the mechanic.
2. Build a routine: Play the Daily Challenge every day. It's quick and teaches you a little bit about every category.
3. Increase difficulty: Move to Competitive mode once you're regularly scoring 80%+ in Friendly.
4. Try longer games: Normal (10) and Marathon (15) give you time to build longer timelines, which is both harder and more rewarding.
5. Mix categories: Once you're comfortable with single categories, try mixing 3–4 together. Cross-category games are the real test.
6. Go Expert: When Competitive feels easy, Expert mode makes every placement matter. S+ in Expert is a real achievement.
7. Try History Pinpoint: When you start memorizing specific years, History Pinpoint lets you prove it (Historian tier).

More Guides

• How to Play Sorting History — the core timeline game
• How to Play the Daily Challenge — daily 4-event puzzle
• How to Play History Pinpoint — guess the exact year
• How to Play Solo — single-player setup
• How to Play Pass & Play — one device, multiple teams
• How to Play Network Play — separate devices over WiFi