Table Press

Free print-and-play card games and an open game-design curriculum.

Prompt Refinery · games for learners · PLY

THE TOLL

The stack is one road. 2–4 players · 25 min · ages 8+ · 35 sites + 12 heat + 5 road + 2 table cards. Play one card, then take one.

Print the 9-up sheetPlay / simulateShare the intro
Thesis: This game is about owning the stretch everyone else must pass through, felt as the click of a toll and the dread of becoming the target, decided by whether you lock two doors now or stay small enough that the hit lands on someone else.

  1. Sand

    Touches Chip

  2. Chip

    Sand and Cloud

  3. Cloud

    Chip and Model

  4. Model

    Cloud and App

  5. App

    Touches Model

How to start

Put the 2 table cards and the 5 road cards out, left to right: Sand, Chip, Cloud, Model, App. Mix 35 sites with 12 heat. Give 5 each (2 people: 6). Three extras are the Yard. Keep your sites under the matching stretch. Youngest starts. Lowest score starts each later round.

A turn

Play one card, then take one (Yard or pile), and fill the Yard to three. Orswap one hand card with the Yard and stop. Swap is always legal.

A site goes under its stretch. Biggest number owns that stretch. Same number? Last to play there. If a stretch next door is owned by someone else, they score 1. Neighbors are printed on the site.

A Hit plays on the Target: the last person who said THE TOLL, or else whoever owns the most stretches. A Change plays any time.

Say THE TOLL

At the end of your turn, if you own two stretches that touch and you have not locked yet, you may say the name of the game and score 4. You become the Target. You may lock only once. Sand does not touch App.

How it ends

After everyone has had 6 turns (2 people: 8), add any “later” tax (−3). Most points wins. Tie: most stretches owned, then the single highest site still in front of you.

Sample turn

Bo owns Chip (Foundry Slot 4). Cam owns Cloud (Region Pair 4). Ana plays Fine Tune (Model 2). Cloud is next door, so Cam scores 1. Ana cannot lock. She takes Light Machine from the Yard — the card Bo wanted. Later Cam owns Cloud and Model, says THE TOLL, scores 4, and is the Target.

2 people / young table

Give 6. Play 8 turns each. Young table: taxes are always −2 now. Ignore Job Credit the first night. An adult may read the road once.

Print

9-up sheets. Numbers are 1–7. No A, J, Q, or K. Stretches have a word and a mark.

Live rules: https://tablepress.space/the-toll/rules/ · Shareable intro: https://tablepress.space/the-toll/