Is there anything more enduring over time than the humble game? Magma flows downstream and primordial ooze evolves into more mobile species whose time on this planet is fleeting. Meanwhile, games are built to last—have the rules of Checkers changed in your lifetime? Exactly. In fact, many games have existed since long before humans roamed the planet. Here’s how they developed over different time periods:

Neoproterozoic Era

Simple organisms like algae proliferate the planet, giving rise to the earliest remnants of gameplay strategy and, at the microscopic level, primitive versions of disappointment when the strategy falls apart under further scrutiny. The beginnings of terrestrial life can be found as primitive bacteria fled oppressive game-winning regimes of protozoa.

Paleozoic Era

What started as small clusters of cells flourishes to become fish, reptiles, amphibians and, eventually, lush and expansive forest land. Dice rolls are no longer figments of the imaginations of players—their simple minds couldn’t fathom anything past a 1, anyway—and games swell in size to include two, sometimes three squares if modern fossil records are to be believed.

Mesozoic Era

“The Age of Reptiles” is upon us: Dinosaurs roam the Earth with the supreme confidence of a species that has proven its resilience for time eternal. Fittingly, games took a dangerous turn, requiring many species to evolve longer arms to more quickly reach for the crude weaponry included in the boxes. Most things go off without a hitch, though keeping accurate tabs on Monopoly money eludes these primitive beasts with no end in sight.

Cenozoic Era

Modern times, kicking off tens if not hundreds of millions of years ago with the extinction of most of the Earth’s game-playing population. Mammals appear, with humans, whose wrinkly brains conceived of stone tools and early record keeping technology, enshrining high scores for eternity.

Hasbro presents: Funtime Gaming Party Era

Next year marks the beginning of a momentous occasion as, for the first time in both recording and assumed history, a corporate sponsor steps in to generously kick start our most glorious era yet—until Diet Dr. Pepper gets it together.