How the Grey's Anatomy episode timeline game works

The cards are landmark episodes of the long-running ABC hospital drama, each with a one-line recap under the title, and you order them by original air date. The timeline opens with a single episode, its date already in place. Read the recap on each new card and decide which gap it belongs in. A correct call reveals the air date; a mistake still sends the episode to its true place but takes one of your three lives. Ten right answers in a row will win a lost life back.

The show's run is enormous and the deck reaches deep into it, but the early seasons are the most crowded, with famous episodes sometimes airing a week apart. The recaps are packed with clues: who is still at the hospital, who is married to whom and which disasters have already happened. Two-part events are the classic trap, as are the later episodes, which sit further apart and are easy to place too early.

Want a longer game? On the deck tree you can tick this deck alongside any other one measured in exact air dates, and they shuffle into a single timeline together.

What's in the deck

Here are 28 of the 30 cards you might be dealt, with 2 more in the deck. Their values stay hidden until you place them.

A Hard Day's Night Meredith's one-night stand turns out to be her attending
Who's Zoomin' Who? Derek's wife Addison walks into Seattle Grace
Bring the Pain Meredith begs Derek: pick me, choose me, love me
Into You Like a Train Two train crash victims impaled on the same pole
It's the End of the World A patient arrives with live ordnance inside him
As We Know It The bomb squad races to remove the round
Losing My Religion Denny dies and Izzie lies on the floor in her prom dress
Walk on Water Ferry crash on Elliott Bay
Drowning on Dry Land Meredith is pulled from the water and lies lifeless
Didn't We Almost Have It All? Burke leaves Cristina at the altar
Freedom Derek lays out candles for their dream house
Elevator Love Letter Derek proposes to Meredith in an elevator
What a Difference a Day Makes Meredith gives her wedding to Izzie and Alex
Now or Never A John Doe traces 007 on Meredith's hand
Sanctuary; Death and All His Friends A grieving widower opens fire inside the hospital
Song Beneath the Song Musical episode after Callie's car crash
White Wedding Callie and Arizona wed
Unaccompanied Minor Meredith's tampering with the Alzheimer's trial comes out
Flight The surgeons' plane goes down in the woods
Going Going Gone Mark Sloan's life support decision
Perfect Storm A storm knocks out the hospital's power
Fear (of the Unknown) Cristina dances it out with Meredith one more time
How to Save a Life Derek is fatally injured after a roadside rescue
The Sound of Silence A patient brutally attacks Meredith
1-800-799-7233 A domestic violence survivor comes into the ER
All of Me Alex and Jo finally get married
Silent All These Years Women line the hall for an assault survivor
All Tomorrow's Parties Meredith collapses with COVID and dreams of a beach