Tick-Tock Tower: A Printable Board Game Where Every Step Has a Price
Friday evening, just after eight. The plates are cleared from the living room table, and in the middle lies a board made from two sheets of paper: an old clock tower with three tracks, gears, a pendulum and a belfry at the top. Folded paper figures stand around it – a brass owl, a rusty ballerina, a keeper with a heavy key. Someone plays a card, moves their hero two spaces up, and at that very moment a voice on the other side of the table cries: “No! My twin!” Another pawn slides one space down, and the whole table bursts out laughing.
That moment is the heart of Tick-Tock Tower – a printable board game that you download as a PDF, print on an ordinary home printer and play the same evening.
What the game is about
Every player controls a clockwork hero in an old clock tower. The heroes come in twin pairs: Tick and Tock, the Wind-up Ballerina and the Rusty Ballerina, the Brass Owl and the Silver Bat, the Key Keeper and the Lock Keeper. One hero of each pair moves on the orange top track, Clockwise; the twin moves on the blue bottom track, Counterclockwise. With 5 or 7 players the Cuckoo joins in – a lone hero without a twin who moves on the purple middle track.
The tracks lead from START through the three floors of the tower: the Gears (spaces 1–4), the Pendulum (spaces 5–9) and the Belfry (spaces 10–15). Above it all watches the clock hand. After each round it moves one hour, and when it reaches 12, the bell rings and the game ends.
- Players: 4–8 (liveliest with 6)
- Age: 10+
- Playing time: 30–45 minutes
- Languages: English, Bulgarian, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish
How a turn works
- Play 1 card from your hand and do what it says – for example, Big Step moves your pawn 2 spaces forward.
- If your pawn moved forward, your twin – another player’s pawn on the opposite track – moves 1 space back.
- Check your secret goal. If it is true right now, show it and keep it face up in front of you – its points are yours. Then draw 2 new goals and keep 1.
- Draw 1 card, so you have 3 cards in your hand again.
When everyone has played once, the clock hand moves one hour forward. With 4–5 players it starts at 3 o’clock, with 6–8 players at 5 o’clock.
Example. Tick is on space 3 and his twin Tock is on space 5. Tick plays Big Step and moves to space 5, while Tock moves back to space 4. Tick’s secret goal says “By the Pendulum: your pawn is on space 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9”. It is true now, so Tick shows it and scores 3 points.
Your twin: a rival across the table
This is where the real dilemma of the game is born. Your twin is not a faceless opponent – it is the friend sitting opposite you. Every step you take pushes them back, and every step they take pushes you back. The faster you rush, the harder the pendulum swings between you.
There are gentler ways up, too. With a Helping Hand card you pick a pawn on your space or behind you (not your twin): it moves 2 spaces forward and you move 1 space without pushing your twin. For the kindness you take a Thank-you token, and two of them complete the Kind Heart goal. Pendulum Push, on the other hand, sends your twin 2 spaces back – sometimes that is exactly the right move.
At the end, everyone scores the number of their space, 3 points if they are ahead of their twin, and the points for their revealed goals. That is why the rivalry between twins lasts until the very last stroke of the bell.
The secret goals
Every player keeps one secret goal in hand: to be among the Gears, by the Pendulum, up in the Belfry, or “face to face” with their twin – no more than 1 space apart. A goal is checked only on your own turn, right after you play your card. So the game asks for two kinds of attention at once: on the board, where everything is in plain sight, and on your own plan, which stays hidden until the last possible moment.
Who it’s for
- Family game nights with older kids and grandparents – the rules take a minute to learn, and helping a neighbour pays off
- Groups of 4 to 8 friends
- Clubs, classrooms and holiday get-togethers
- With 5 or 7 players, one of you becomes the Cuckoo and moves alone on the middle track
Free and full editions
The game comes in two editions. The free one is a complete game: you can play it right away, with no time limit.
The free edition contains:
- 72 cards: 44 action cards, 16 secret goals, 9 hero cards and 3 quick reference cards
- The clock tower board (40 × 27 cm) on 2 A4 or US Letter sheets
- 9 hero pawns to fold, 16 Thank-you tokens and a clock hand
- 10-page rules with “The game in 1 minute”
The full edition (€4.90) adds:
- A special power for each of the 9 heroes: the Brass Owl flies further, the Key Keeper finds better goals and the Cuckoo can knock anyone back
- 3 new kinds of action cards – Music Box Dance, Catch Up and Big Fan – and new secret goals, 90 cards in total
- 13-page rules with a full example game
- A big board on a single A3 or Tabloid sheet
- Ink-saving card backs and a print-shop file with 3 mm bleed
Download the free editionSee the full edition
What you need
A printer, thick card (250–300 gsm), scissors, glue and a little tape. Print at 100% scale, without “fit to page”. Optional: card sleeves 63.5 × 88 mm.
All the rules, worked examples and answers to common questions are on the How to play Tick-Tock Tower page. Looking for another printable board game? Holly Lane is a Christmas board game for 2–6 players aged 6 and up, and its free edition contains the whole base game for 2–4 players. More ideas for the whole family are in our 6 printable games for family game night.
When the hand reaches 12 and the bell rings, all that is left is to count the points – and, almost always, for someone to ask for a rematch.
The photos in this article are AI-generated scenes. The files are for your own household and, if you are a teacher or lead a club or group, also for your own class, club or group. Small printed parts are not suitable for children under 3.