Playing the March Madness upsets timeline game

Every card is a famous NCAA tournament upset or Cinderella run, from both the men's and women's brackets, ordered by the year it happened. Under each title is a quick summary: the seeds involved, the round, and sometimes the player who made it happen. One upset sits on the timeline first, year in view. Read each new card and pick its gap. When you're right the year appears; when you're wrong the card still goes to its true spot and you lose one of your three lives.

The deck reaches from the championship-game stunners of the early bracket era to the double-digit seeds of recent tournaments. The seed numbers help a little, since a top seed falling in the opening round of the men's bracket was long thought impossible. Several tournaments produced more than one entry, so some years are crowded. Familiar program names can mislead: the same powers get upset again and again, and a mid-major can make more than one run.

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

What's in the deck

Here are 28 of the 34 cards you might be dealt, with 6 more in the deck. Their values stay hidden until you place them.

UMBC over Virginia 16 seed beats 1 seed, round of 64
Fairleigh Dickinson over Purdue 16 seed beats 1 seed, round of 64
Harvard over Stanford Women's tournament: 16 seed beats 1 seed, round of 64
George Mason's Cinderella run 11 seed from the CAA reaches the Final Four
Saint Peter's Cinderella run 15 seed knocks out Kentucky, reaches the Elite Eight
Villanova over Georgetown 8 seed beats 1 seed, national championship game
NC State over Houston 6 seed beats 1 seed, national championship game
Richmond over Syracuse 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Santa Clara over Arizona 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Coppin State over South Carolina 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Norfolk State over Missouri 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Lehigh over Duke 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Middle Tennessee over Michigan State 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Oral Roberts over Ohio State 15 seed beats 2 seed, round of 64
Valparaiso over Ole Miss 13 seed beats 4 seed on Bryce Drew's buzzer-beater
Vermont over Syracuse 13 seed beats 4 seed in overtime, round of 64
Butler's Cinderella run 5 seed from the Horizon League reaches the title game
VCU's Cinderella run 11 seed goes from the play-in round to the Final Four
Loyola Chicago's Cinderella run 11 seed with Sister Jean reaches the Final Four
LSU's Cinderella run 11 seed beats the region's top three seeds, reaches the Final Four
Northern Iowa over Kansas 9 seed beats overall 1 seed, round of 32
Mercer over Duke 14 seed beats 3 seed, round of 64
Georgia State over Baylor 14 seed beats 3 seed, R.J. Hunter hits the winner
Oakland over Kentucky 14 seed beats 3 seed, Jack Gohlke's three-point barrage
Florida Atlantic's Cinderella run 9 seed reaches the Final Four
UCLA's Cinderella run 11 seed goes from the play-in round to the Final Four
Mississippi State over UConn Women's Final Four: 2 seed ends unbeaten UConn's record streak
Louisville over Baylor Women's Sweet 16: 5 seed beats 1 seed and Brittney Griner