Topple Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Setup for Topple

Setup the gameboard by placing the stem in the base. Then balance the board on top of the stem.
Each player chooses a color. They will take all twelve pieces that match their chosen color.
All of the players roll the die. The player that rolls the highest number, starts the game. Play moves clockwise/left during the game.
You need a piece of paper to keep score during the game. Write each players’ name on the sheet of paper so you can keep track of score throughout the game.
Choose how many points you will play to. The game recommends 100 points.

How to Play Topple

You will begin each of your turns rolling the die. The number you roll determines where on the board you can place one of your pieces. For example you roll a three, you can place a piece on any of the three spaces on the gameboard. If you roll a six, you can choose any space on the gameboard. You can place a piece on an empty space on the gameboard, or you can place it on top of a piece that was already on the board.

Placing a piece after rolling the die — The yellow player rolled a three on the die. They have chosen one of the spaces in the three section of the gameboard to place their piece.

The rules specifically say that you “may” play a piece. Based on the use of may, it appears you don’t have to place a piece on your turn. You will usually want to place a piece though as it will help you score points.

You may not touch the board or any pieces already played to the board at any time.

After you place a piece, you should check to see if you scored any points. Your turn then ends. Play passes to the player on your left/clockwise.

Scoring

After you play one of your pieces, you should look to see if you scored any points by playing the piece. You can score points in a number of ways.

First look to see if you completed a row of five pieces in a direction. You can complete a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally. If you played the last piece required to complete a row, you will score three points. Then look at the other pieces in the row. You will score one point for each of your pieces that are on top of their stack in the row you completed. You do not score a point for the piece that completed the row as that piece scored the initial three points.

Scoring a just completed row — The yellow player just played the piece to the right of the green piece. The row has been completed so the yellow player scores three points for completing it. They also score an additional point because one of their pieces is on top of one of the other stacks in the row.

In addition to completing a row, you can play a piece to an already completed row. In this case you will look at each stack in the completed row. You score one point for each piece of your color that is on top of each stack in the row that you played to.

Adding a piece to a completed row — The green player just played the piece on the left side of the completed row. Since they added a piece to an already completed row, they will score two points since their pieces are on top of two of the stacks.

Finally check to see if you added a piece to a stack that already had three or more pieces on it. If you did, count up how many pieces of your color are in the stack. You score one point for each of your pieces in the stack.

Scoring a stack — The blue player just played the top piece on this stack. Since the stack has more than three pieces on it, the blue player scores one point for each of their pieces in the stack. They have two pieces in the stack, so they will score two points.

It is possible to play a piece that can score multiple rows along with a stack. The instructions kind of contradict themselves with how you score this situation. The instructions say that the piece you played, that is used in the multiple scoring options, is counted for each row and/or stack. The included example though seems to only score the shared piece once. As it is specifically written in the rules, I would think you score the shared piece multiple times in this situation.

Scoring multiple ways — The yellow player placed the piece that is on top of the stack that alternates between green and yellow pieces. This piece will score points in two ways. First it is part of a stack that has four pieces in it. It scores two points since there are two yellow pieces in the stack. It is also part of the row that moves from left to right. A yellow piece is on the top of three different stacks so the player scores three points for that scoring option. They will score a total of five points.

Topple

Eventually the gameboard may topple as some or all of the pieces fall off their stack or off the board. Whenever this happens, the current round ends. The player that made the board topple, loses ten points. If the player toppled the board when they placed their piece, the previous player scores three bonus points. If any player does something like bump the table or anything else that makes the board topple, they lose the ten points.

Pieces fall off the board — The last player tried to place a piece but several of the pieces fell off the board. The player who tried to play the last piece loses ten points. The last player to successfully place a piece scores three bonus points.

End of Round

A round can end in one of two ways. First if a player makes one or more pieces fall off a stack or the board. Otherwise the game can end if all of the pieces are played to the board.

In either case all of the pieces are removed from the board and are returned to the corresponding player. If none of the players have scored enough points to win the game, another round is played.

Winning Topple

At the end of each round you will check to see if any of the players have scored enough points to meet the winning condition set at the beginning of the game. If a player reaches enough points to win during a round, they don’t win until the round ends. They could possibly lose points during the round that puts them below the amount needed to win the game.

If only one player has reached the required amount of points, they win the game. Should multiple players reach the required amount of points, whichever player has scored the most points wins.

Variant Games

If you are only playing with two players, you can decide to have each player take two colors. You will score each of your colors separately. You can choose which of your two colors you want to play on each of your turns.

With younger children you may want to play without keeping score. Whoever makes the board topple is eliminated from the game.

Components

48 Playing Pieces (12 of each color)
Topple Board
Game Base
Game Stem
6 Sided Die
Instructions

Year: 1983 | Publisher: Goliath Games, Pressman Toy Corp, Waddingtons | Designer: Frank Thibault

Genres: Abstract, Dexterity, Family

Ages: 6+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.