Toppo is a fast card game with all players acting simultaneously. Each player attempts to play his cards as quickly as possible.
Scan the layout - match your cards - strike fast - and win.
Components
- 150 cards
- Instructions
Setup
Scatter all cards face down on the table and shuffle them. Each player takes 33 cards as a face-down deck holding it in one hand. The remaining card stack is pushed to one side.
Select one player to start. The start player takes three cards from the remaining stack and displays them face up next to each other in the center.
As soon as the start player begins to play, all other players may play as well.
Example Display:
Game Play
All players play simultaneously. Each player quickly reveals the top three cards from his deck and places them in a line in front of him. All cards must be played separately - the player reveals one card first, then the second and then the third.
When the player has a line of three cards in front of him, he checks for the following:
1. Top
The first objective is to "top" the three cards in the center.
To do this, the player's first card must coincide in symbol or in color with the first card in the display, and the player's second card must coincide in symbol or in color with the second card in the display, and the player's third card must coincide in symbol or in color with the third card in the display.
The player may change the order of the cards in his line. If a player can "top" the center display, he shouts, "top".
Example "Top":
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Interrupt: When a player shouts, "top", play is immediately interrupted. The other players must take their card lines, flip them over and add them to the bottom of their decks.
The player who shouted, "top" places his cards - one after the other - onto the corresponding cards in the center display. The other players watch for correctness.
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Penalty: If a player calls "top" incorrectly - even if merely the order of the cards that is not correct - the player must add his line of cards plus an additional five penalty cards from the remaining stack to the bottom of his deck.
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Restart: When everything is cleared, the player who shouted "top", starts playing again. As soon as this player begins to play, all other players may play as well.
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Penalty: If another player begins playing his cards before the player who shouted "top" (or before the start player), play is immediately interrupted and the player must add his played cards plus one penalty card from the remaining stack to the bottom of his deck.
2. Matching
If a player has one or more cards in his line that are identical in symbol and in color, he may place these cards-one by one-onto the matching cards in the center display.
Then the player must add the remaining cards from his line to the bottom of his deck. (The player may not complete the remaining cards into a new line). Thereafter the player quickly reveals the top three cards from his deck and places them in a new line in front of him.
Penalty: If a player "matches" one of his cards incorrectly onto one of the cards in the center display, play is immediately interrupted and the player must retrieve his card, add his line of cards plus five penalty card from the remaining stack to the bottom of his deck.
All other players also add their lines of cards to the bottom of their decks. As soon as the penalized player begins to play, all other players may play as well.
3. Renew
If a player can neither "top" nor "match", he adds his line of cards to the bottom of his deck and then quickly reveals the top three cards from his deck to form a new line in front of him.
And so it goes on: Quickly reveal the next three cards from the top of your deck (one by one), check them and "match" or "renew" them until you can "top" the center display.
Whenever the game is interrupted, all players clear their line of cards and add them to the bottom of their decks. Then play continues ...
At any time during the game, a player may shuffle or count the remaining cards in his deck.
Toppo
When a player has fewer than ten cards remaining in his deck (including the cards in his line), he shouts "toppo" to end the game. The player demonstrates to the other players that he has fewer than ten cards remaining.
This player does not receive any penalty points (not even for his remaining cards). All other players count their remaining cards in their deck and in their line and receive one penalty point per card.
Penalty: If a player calls "toppo" with ten or more cards remaining, he must add his line of cards plus an additional five penalty cards from the remaining stack to the bottom of his deck.
All other players also add their lines of cards to the bottom of their decks, then the game continues. As soon as the penalized player begins to play again, all other players may play as well.
New Game: Play a number of games. Record the penalty points for each player with running totals after each game. For each new game all cards are scattered face down on the table and shuffled. Each player takes a new deck of 33 cards. The remaining stack of cards is pushed to one side.
3, 4 or 5 Cards: The player with the highest running total of penalty points is the start player for the next game. He decides whether he takes three, four or five cards from the remaining stack to display them face up next to each other in the center.
When four or five cards are displayed, the players use lines of four or five cards respectively. In order to "top" the center display, all cards in the line must match the corresponding cards in the display either in symbol or in color.
Special Cases
With two players, only use displays of three or four cards, never five.
If a rare combination appears in the center that cannot be "topped" for a while, players may decide to replace the display with new cards from the remaining stack.
If the remaining stack runs out, remove the "topped" cards from the center display and shuffle them into a new stack.
2 to 8 Players
Try Toppo with up to eight players. You need a second game set to play with a total of 300 cards.
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