Top Tier
Top Tier Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 100 Category Cards
- 8 Contender Cards
- 5 Tier Cards (S, A, B, C, D)
- 8 Hint Tokens
- 1 Tier Wizard Board
- 2 Whiteboard Markers
How to Setup
- Place the Tier cards in the center of the table, in a vertical line: S at the top (the best), followed by A, B, C, and finally D (the worst) at the bottom.
- Choose one player to be the first Tier Wizard, give them the Tier Wizard board and a marker.
- Give the other players the 8 Contender cards and a marker.
- Shuffle the Category cards together facedown.
How to Play
Step 1
The Tier Wizard draws a Category card and looks at it, keeping it secret from the other players.
Step 2
The rest of the group thinks of 8 contenders and writes their names on the Contender cards. As each contender is chosen, the Tier Wizard secretly ranks the contenders on their board.
Step 3
Once the Tier Wizard has finished their rankings, they reveal the Category card but keep their rankings secret. Then, they place a hint token on the Tier card for each contender they ranked in that tier.
Step 4
The rest of the players must work together to place the eight contenders in the same tiers as the Tier Wizard.
Step 5
When they think they've gotten all the contenders correct, the Tier Wizard reveals their rankings.
The whole table scores a point for each contender they placed correctly. Can you get a perfect 8 points?
Step 6
That's the round! From here, another player becomes the Tier Wizard and draws a new Category card. You can keep the same group of contenders, change a few, or come up with entirely new names. Keep playing until every player has been the Tier Wizard once, or just play as long as you're having fun!
Contenders
Contenders are the people you'll be ranking. They can be anyone from mutual friends, celebrities, historical figures, cartoon characters, or even ghosts - just make sure everyone is familiar with who you choose. Having trouble thinking of names? Refer to the name suggestions included with this game!
Your Own Categories
As the Tier Wizard, you're free to come up with your own category! Write it at the top of your board and then announce it to the table when you would reveal the category card. It doesn't even have to be about people - it could be types of cereal, pets, bands, anything you can imagine! Just make sure the Tier Wizard tells the other players the type of contender to choose.
More Ways to Play
Advanced Scoring, more categories, names, and rules online!
Example Play
Step 1
For this round, Zosha is the Tier Wizard, and Amra and Haley will be the other players. Zosha takes the Tier Wizard board and a marker, and Amra takes the other marker and the Contender cards.
Step 2
Zosha draws a Category card and looks at it, keeping it a secret. She writes "How good would they be at fighting a bear" at the top of her board to remember what the category is.
Step 3
Amra and Haley begin to discuss what contenders they'd like to see in the round. They decide to pick Superman as their first contender, and write his name down on the Contender card labeled 1.
Step 4
Zosha now ranks how good Superman would be at fighting a bear. He would be really good at it, so Zosha ranks him in the highest tier. She secretly writes a 1 on the Tier Wizard board next to the S-Tier row.
Step 5
Amra and Haley pick seven more contenders, write them on the Contender cards, and Zosha ranks them secretly on her board as they go.
Step 6
Once every contender is chosen and Zosha is happy with her rankings, she reveals the Category card to Amra and Haley. She also places hint tokens on the Tier cards on the table to show how many contenders she ranked in each tier.
Step 7
Amra and Haley discuss where they think Zosha ranked each of the contenders, putting the Contender cards beside the Tier card they think matches them.
Step 8
When they're finished, Zosha reveals her board and the group scores a point for each Contender card in the right place. For this round, they scored 4 out of a possible 8 points!