Top Frog

Top Frog Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

60 Frog Cards (12 with "+" symbols)
9 Hat Coupons
13 Fantasy Frog Ability Cards
36 Starting Action Cards (6 for each player)
6 Reference Guide Cards
78 Gnat Tokens
12 Lily Pad Cards
12 Hat Display Cards
6 Frog Meeples
12 Hat Tokens
4 Whirlpool Tokens

Overview

You will be catching and stacking stylish frogs on top of each other to score the most points at the end of the game. Leap around the Pond and catch Frogs to add to your stacks. But pay attention to their weights! Only a Frog of equal or less weight can be placed on top of another Frog, and you can only have up to 3 stacks. Build up the ideal stack of Frogs and score big points by placing the appropriate hat on top!

However, one must be wary of other players' choices. The actions in Top Frog are simultaneous, with each player deciding where they leap to and what they will catch at the same time. Efficient use of your Action Cards is ideal, but it gets complicated when other players want the same cards as you! If 2 or more players want the same Frog at the same time, neither player gets it. Deducing other players' intentions can save you valuable time.

Setup

If there are 2-4 players, remove all Frogs with a "+" symbol (12 total) from the game and leave them in the box. If there are 5-6 players, include all Frogs with the "+" symbol.
- Create and shuffle the Pond Deck (consisting of only Frogs).
Randomly draw and place cards from the Pond Deck face-up in the middle of the play area as shown on page 5 according to the number of players:
- Resolve any "When Added to Pond" abilities now (see pages 14 & 16 for more info on this ability).
- This grid of cards is called the Pond and forms the "spaces" the meeples will be navigating.
Place the North, South, East, and West Whirlpool tokens as shown on page 5. (The printed rulebook has no step 3.)
Give each player a frog meeple and a matching reference card.
- All players place their meeple on the red outlined card as shown in the image on page 5.
- Each player should keep the reference card in front of them to show which meeple is theirs.
Shuffle the Hat Display Cards and display a number of them face-up as shown in the table on page 5 according to the number of players. Leave the unused cards in the box.
- Place the appropriate Hat Tokens on top of the Hat Display Cards.
Shuffle a number of Hat Coupons as shown in the table on page 5 into the Pond Deck.
Draw 3-4 cards (depending on the number of players) from the Pond Deck and display them face-up to the right of the Pond Deck to create The River, as shown on page 5.
- The River shows the incoming cards to The Pond.

Setup layout (page 5)

Layout shown: Hat Display (3-9 cards according to the table below) and the Fantasy Frog Ability Cards at the top; The River with the Pond Deck and the Gnat Token Supply; The Pond (2 players), The Pond (3-4 players) and The Pond (5-6 players), each surrounded by the four Whirlpool tokens. Each player's setup: Stack 1, Stack 2, Stack 3, Discard Pile, and Hand.

Players	Hat Coupons	Hat Display	River Cards	"+" cards?
2	3	3	3	no
3	5	5	3	no
4	6	6	3	no
5	8	8	4	yes
6	9	9	4	yes

Phases

You will be playing through 4 phases within repeating rounds until a Game End condition is met. Actions are selected and resolved simultaneously. Your goal is to earn the most points by catching and stacking Frogs, and hopefully putting a stylish, high-scoring Hat on your most appropriate stack. Once the game ends, players add up the values of their Frogs, Hats, Lily Pads, and remaining Gnat Tokens to determine the winner.

1) Action Selection Phase

Refresh

You may spend 1 of your Gnat Tokens to pick up 1 card from your discard pile and add it to your hand (return the spent Gnat to the supply).
- You can only do this once per round, even if you have multiple Gnats to spend.
- You must announce you are Refreshing and which card you are picking up.

Gnat Tokens can be gained through Frog Abilities, by catching Frogs with Gnats on them, and with the Rest Action. Unspent Gnats you gain are worth 1 value each at the end of the game.

Action Selection

Choose ONE Action Card to play, and hold it in your hand, as well as any Bonus Action Cards you want to play. You may never reveal any selected cards to other players, but you may say whatever you want about the cards you plan to play.

Tip: Unsure if someone is going to catch or move onto a Frog you want? Try asking them. Maybe you can work something out with them, or maybe they'll just lie about it.

Bonus Actions

You may end up gaining Bonus Action Cards from some abilities (see pages 18-19).
You may select as many Bonus Action Cards as you want from your hand along with your selected Action Card.
- Bonus Action Cards typically modify the chosen Action Card.
- Players do not need to and should not disclose how many cards they are selecting.

Ready Up

Once all players are ready, move onto the Reveal Phase.
- We recommend announcing when you are ready, but asking the table if everyone is ready before moving on, to avoid any players being missed.
If a player decides to Refresh by spending a Gnat, but you already said you were ready, you are allowed to change your selection in response.
- Technically, anytime a Gnat is spent to Refresh, all other players are assumed to not be ready anymore.

Example: The Green player really wants the Planet Frog they are on, but the Pink player is on the same space! Green's Catch card is discarded, so they spend 1 Gnat to Refresh and pick up their Catch. Pink was going to Catch as well, but when they see Green Refresh, they decide to play Rest instead to avoid a Squander and gain Gnats instead (see pages 8-9).

Actions

Leap North/South/East/West

Move your meeple 1 adjacent space in the direction indicated.
- The Whirlpool Tokens show you which way is which!
Then return a Catch and a Rest card from your discard pile to your hand.
You can not Leap out of the play area.
- If you accidentally try to do this, you do not move and do NOT return a Catch or Rest card to your hand.

Tip: If this is your first time playing, remind players to pick up their Catch and Rest cards when they leap if you see them forget.

Leaping onto a Whirlpool token

You can Leap onto adjacent Whirlpool tokens on the edges of the Pond, as if they are a space.
As soon as you move onto a Whirlpool token, move your meeple onto the space adjacent to the opposite Whirlpool token.
- North is opposite of South, East is opposite of West (and vice versa).

Example: Pink Leaps North onto the North Whirlpool Token.

Catch

Take the card that your meeple is currently on, and all Gnats on it (see pages 10-11).
- Unless there is a Squander (see page 9).

Rest

Pick up all of your other discarded action cards (excluding this one) and return them to your hand.
If there is at least one other player's meeple on your space gain 1 Gnat.
If at least one other player plays Catch on your space gain 1 additional Gnat (2 total).

Play a Held Frog

If you decided to hold a Frog you gained on a previous turn, you can play it as if it is an Action Card to place it in one of your Stacks.
- You can not play an Action Card in addition to the Frog.

2) Reveal Phase

All players simultaneously reveal their chosen Action Cards (and Bonus Action Cards).

We recommend a simple "3...2...1...Reveal!"

3) Resolution Phase

First, all players who played a Leap resolve their movement simultaneously.
- After resolving a Leap, remember to return a Catch and a Rest card to your hand.
Then, all players who played Rest or Catch resolve their actions, but look out for these actions when they happen on the same space as other players. Resolve them in this order:
1. If you play Rest when at least one other player is on the same space as you, gain 1 Gnat and pick up all your other discarded cards (excluding this one).
2. If you play Rest when at least 1 other player plays Catch on the same space as you, gain 1 additional Gnat (2 total).
  - It does not matter if their Catch is successful or not.
3. If you play Catch when another player on the same space as you also plays Catch, you are involved in a Squander:

Squander (3-6 player game)

If one or more other players played Catch on the same space as you, no one gains the card. Also add 1 Gnat to all orthogonally adjacent spaces (not diagonal, not the space of the Squander itself). If the space is a Hat Coupon, discard the card to the bottom of the Pond Deck. A new card will fill this space in the Cleanup Phase. Otherwise, the Frog will stay there, and the played Catch cards will be discarded as usual in the Cleanup Phase.

Squander (2 player game)

In a 2 player game, Frogs are also discarded to the bottom of the Pond Deck like Hat Coupons when a Squander happens on them.

If you are the only player that played Catch on your space, gain the card you are on.
- If any Gnats are on the card, gain them now.
  - Place these in a pile near you.
- Leave all meeples in the space.
- The space will be filled with the rightmost card in The River during the next phase.

Gaining a Frog

When gaining a Frog, you may either Place It, Hold It, or Discard It:

Place It: As soon as you gain a Frog, you may place it onto one of your Frog Stacks or start a new Stack with it. You can never have more than 3 Frog Stacks. These placement rules must be followed:

The weight of the Frog must be equal to or less than the weight of the Frog directly below it.
You can not place a Frog on top of a Stack with a Hat.
Place the new Frog on top of the previous card and slide it up so all frogs are visible!

Hold It: You may hold up to 1 Frog in your hand to be added to one of your stacks later. You may choose to play a held Frog during a future Action Selection phase.

Hat Coupons can never be held.
If you already have a held Frog, you may replace your currently held Frog with it, placing the previously held Frog on the bottom of The Pond Deck.

Discard It: You may discard your new Frog, placing it at the bottom of the Pond Deck.

Example: This player just gained a Unicorn Frog and wants to place it into a Stack. They can't place it in Stack 3 because the weight of the Unicorn is greater than the Flytrap on top of Stack 3. They rather not place it in Stack 2, because they want to stack a Groom on their Bride instead! So they choose to place it in Stack 1. The Unicorn's ability triggers (see page 14).

Gaining a Hat Coupon

When gaining a Hat Coupon, you must select a Hat Display Card from the display.

Can you place a Hat?

There must be a Stack with at least 1 Frog in order to place a Hat.
You can not place more than 1 Hat on a Stack.
If it is not possible to place a Hat, do not select a Hat Display Card and you must discard the Hat Coupon by placing it on the bottom of the Pond Deck.

Placing a Hat

Discard the Hat Coupon you gained to the game box.
Place the Hat Token on the top Frog in a Stack in the best way you see fit!
Take the Hat Display Card and tuck it under that Frog, with the title showing.

Who chooses first?

If two or more players gain a Hat Coupon in the same round, the player with the least Hats goes first. If there is a tie, then the player with less Frogs in their tallest stack goes first. If there is still a tie, then the player with the least total Frogs in all their stacks goes first. If there is still a tie, flip a coin or something.

Example: This player just gained a Hat Coupon and selected the Tin Foil Hat because it will score well (7 value) on Stack 1. If they were to put this same Hat on Stack 2, it would be worth 0 value because there are no Frogs of the required Fashions (icons in the printed text) in Stack 2. See page 13 for more info on scoring.

4) Cleanup Phase

All players discard their played Action and Bonus Action Cards into their discard piles.

Pond Cleanup

If there is a blank space in the Pond, in reading order (starting from the top row and proceeding left to right in each row), fill it with the rightmost card of The River.
Slide the other River cards one space to the right.
Draw one card from the Pond Deck and place it to the left of those cards in The River.
Look out for cards with the "When Added to Pond" ability and resolve these if added to the Pond.
Repeat until every blank space is filled.

If there are any Gnats on a card in The River, they stay on the card and move with it.
If there are any Gnats on a blank space, they are placed on top of the new card.
Meeples that were on that space are placed on top of the new card.

This is the last phase of a round! If a Game End condition was not met, a new round begins starting with the Action Selection Phase.

Example: There are 2 blank spaces at the start of this Cleanup Phase. The Dandelion, which already has a Gnat on it from a previous round, will be added first. The Dandelion's ability activates, adding 4 Gnats to the Pond! Next, the Hat Coupon will fill the bottom right space.

Game End

The game ends in any of the following 3 ways:
- When the Pond needs to be refilled but there are no cards in The River, the game ends immediately.
- When all Hats on display are gained, the game ends after the current round is fully resolved.
- When at least 1 player acquires 3 Hats, the game ends at the end of the next round.

Scoring

Add up all your values to determine your score.
- We recommend adding your Hat values, Frog values, Gnat Tokens, and Lily Pad scores separately, and then adding those values together.
Scoring Hats
- Hats are scored based on the quantity of all Frogs in the stack of particular Fashions.
- For example, "x4+ = 7" for a given Fashion equals a value of 7 if the stack the Hat is on has 4 or more Frogs of that Fashion (that same Hat would NOT score additionally for x1, x2, and x3 Frogs of that Fashion).
Scoring Lily Pads
- Frogs like Mech and Tulip that have 2 different weights must be counted as either weight when scoring the Lily Pad, not both.
- There must be at least 3 Frogs stacked on the Lily Pad to meet the scoring condition for any Lily Pad card.

Scoring Example, TOTAL SCORE: 31: 1) 18 value from Frog values. 2) Lily Pad scoring condition met! (3 Frogs with weight 4 or less) 4 value. 3) Hat: 4 + 2 = 6 value. 4) 3 value from Gnat Tokens.

Ties

If there is a tie in total points, then the player with the most Hats wins. If there is still a tie, then the player with the higher Frog Stack wins. If that is also tied, the tied players share the victory!

Abilities

Each Frog has a unique ability, but there are 5 different types of abilities:

When Placed: These abilities are triggered when they are placed into a Stack. They are not triggered when the card is gained or held.
When Stacked On: These abilities are triggered when a Frog is stacked on top of them. They are not triggered when a Hat is placed on top of them.
When Showing: These abilities are always active while in one of your Stacks as long as no Frogs or Hat tokens are placed on top of them. These abilities modify basic actions and rules of the game, so look out for this symbol in the stacks in front of you.
When Added to Pond: These abilities are triggered when added to the Pond from the River. Be sure to look out for these when filling in the Pond during the Cleanup Phase!
Special Placement: These aren't triggered like the other abilities, but they refer to a unique quality about the Frog's weight.

Frog Fashions

The frogs of the pond have taken a liking to certain styles, and have found like-minded frogs to form the 4 Frog Fashion Clubs you'll see in the game.

Fashions are very important for scoring Hats. Find the highest scoring Hat for your Frog Stack, and claim it before another player does! Frogs in the same Fashion typically have similar abilities, giving each Fashion a different impact on the game.

The four Fashions are Fancy Frogs, Flower Frogs, Future Frogs and Fantasy Frogs.

The Frog Card (diagram): Fashion & Name; Ability Type; Ability; Fashion Value; Weight; marker for cards only seen in 5-6 player games.

Fancy Frogs

Fancy Frogs have high values. Their abilities are activated "When Stacked On" and simply lead to more Gnats. If you are just looking for the most value per Frog, look no further than the Fancy Frogs!

Flower Frogs

Flower Frogs have lighter weights, and abilities that add Gnats to the Pond. The Flower Frogs are the only Fashion with the "When Added to Pond" ability. These abilities add and shift around the cards in the Pond, giving variable amounts of value to the affected cards. That card you didn't really want may suddenly look more appealing when the Flower Frogs come around to place a Gnat or two on top of it.

Clarifications

Look out for the When Added to Pond abilities when these are added to the Pond from the River, and be sure to resolve the ability before moving onto the next card in the Cleanup Phase.
Adjacent means orthogonally adjacent spaces only, not diagonally. Also, Whirlpool tokens do NOT affect adjacency. For example, if a space is in the corner of the pond, it only has 2 adjacent spaces.

Future Frogs

Future Frogs typically have heavy weights, but almost all of them have "When Showing" abilities. These are powerful passive abilities that enhance your actions as long as the card and ability text is still "showing", meaning a Frog or Hat token is not placed on top of it. Because of their heavy weights, they are the perfect base for your Stacks, but if you Stack on top of them, you lose access to their abilities.

Clarifications

When the Planet's ability is lost, you do not have to discard any excess held Frogs, but you can not hold any new Frogs if you are already at your hold limit.
Some of the abilities can stack if you have 2 of the same ability showing. For example, playing Rest and gaining 1 Gnat when you have 2 Specimen abilities showing means you will gain 2 additional Gnats.
The Mech's Special Placement can be used to extend your stack. For example, placing a Mech on a Frog with weight 3 allows you to place a weight 6 on top of the Mech in a later round. This can lead to some very tall stacks!

Fantasy Frogs

Fantasy Frogs may have lower point values than the other Fashions, but most of their abilities grant the owner special Action Cards or Bonus Action Cards. These additional cards can greatly enhance your ability to navigate the Pond and catch Frogs. If you want a large hand of Action Cards to choose from, Fantasy Frogs are for you! When an ability instructs you to gain a card, immediately add the specific card to your hand from the pile of Fantasy Frog Ability Cards.

Clarifications

The Gallop Bonus Action Card will have no effect if the extra movement will put you outside of the Pond. If this happens, resolve the Leap Action Card normally, put the Gallop Bonus Action Card back into your hand, and stop being silly!
Playing more than one Fly Bonus Action is the same as one Fly.
You can use Fly to land on a Whirlpool token.
The Steal Bonus Action Card will not affect a player if they have no Gnats to be stolen. However, keep in mind that Steal resolves at the very end of the round, after the players on the same space as you may have just gained Gnats.
You can play 2 Steal Bonus Action Cards at once in an attempt to steal 2 Gnats from the affected players.
You can play the Steal Bonus Action Card with any Action Card, but you can also play it along with a held Frog, since the Frog is acting as your Action Card.
The Rearrange Action Card does NOT trigger "When Placed" or "When Stacked On" abilities. Any and every Frog can be moved to form new stacks, as long as those Frogs are not in a stack with a Hat. You can not move Frogs into a Stack with a Hat. The rules of weight still apply.
The additional Catch Action Card from the Mermaid is identical in function to your Starting Catch Action Card. Note that a Leap Action specifically returns 1 Catch Card to your hand. For example, if both your starting Catch Card and your Catch Card from the Mermaid are in your discard pile, a Leap Action only returns 1 of them to your hand.