In the 1960’s soda pop reigned supreme in the United States. You and your rival soda marketing experts are armed with the resources to try and maximize your company’s reputation as the best in the land. Let’s see who will be the Top Pop!
Top Pop is published by Talon Strikes Studios and is designed by Mark McGee and Joshua J Mills. It is for 2-6 players. It is illustrated by James Churchill with graphic design by Christina Pittre.
Overview
In Top Pop players compete to win influence in different city cards while placing bottle caps from your company and rivals out on the board. The player with the most influence in a city at the end of the game will win the city, and the more diverse locations you have control over the better your chances of coming out as the winner!
Gameplay
Players will each take on the roll of a different soda company and gain the board for it and place it in front of them along with some city cards and bottle caps of their color dependent on player order.
On your turn you are able to pick up and win any city cards where you have the tallest stack of caps and place that card in your scoring area. You then need to place a city card in front of you or another player and gain caps accordingly. Then players gain a cap from the middle of the stack on their turn.
The last step step on a player’s turn has them placing caps from their supply. Here players place them any height on a city where they don’t already have a stack. You can add a new stack or add to previously placed one. The position of the bottle caps determines who you are competing against if there was a different stack already there and the top cap will identify who will win that stack if it is the tallest on the start of your turn with yours on top.
The game continues until a 6th card is won and that triggers the end, each player with one more turn following. Cities are scored based on who has the majority of the cards, most gets 2 points, tied for most shares 1 point each.
There are also rules for a 2 player variant, a lite version and different scenarios to really mix it up. These can all be found in more detail in the rules.
Impressions
The theme for this one is great, I love the marketing with the push and pull idea of stacking to the top to win a city when it swings back around to your turn. The art and graphics are stellar and have a definite 1960’s vibe to them on the table. I love the fictitious soda companies and the labels-they are a fun addition to the theme. Who doesn’t enjoy a tall glass of Dr. Berry?
I appreciate that the game comes with a variety of scenarios to really mix it up. They include new rules and scoring conditions along with city powers to include to mix up the gameplay. This should add some variety and different play each time really mixing the game up.
Overall I would recommend that you check this out if the theme and the gameplay sound up your alley. It should be a great exploration into the world of marketing and soft drinks settled into the 1960’s on your next game night. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here for more information!
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