Four doors into the same building.
There is no arc in season one, on purpose: every story is complete, nothing carries over, and story eight still works after story fifty. So the only real question is what sort of evening it is.
Start at the start
Book one, story one. Pim taps a pipe and a boy she has never met taps back, and that is the first tapper on the board.
1Cold Pipefree hereOne cold pipe and one wooden spoon.You bang on the cold pipe twice, and you win when it bangs back.
Book one · 8 min aloud
2Eleventh StairSqueak, and you're back at the bottom stair.You have to get all the way up to Number Three, and if the eleventh stair squeaks you go back to the bottom and start again.
Book one · 8 min aloud
3Nine SecondsSay the whole name before the door.You say the whole name of your game out loud, and you win if you get the last word out before the Up-Down doors open.
Book one · 8 min aloud
Start with a quiet one
The Quiet Stories invert the arc: no crisis, nobody loses, and the progress chant runs backwards. They are the ones built for the end of the day.
9One GrateSoft on the stone, and loud on the grate.The rain sounds one way on everything in the Middle and another way on one thing, and you win when you find the one thing.
Book one · 8 min aloud
18One PullOne pull. Then call it wet or dry.Give the line one pull, call it wet or dry, then go up and see if you were right.
Book two · 8 min aloud
25One ClunkTogether, and the door goes clunk.Push and lift at the very same moment and the green door says one clunk instead of a rattle.
Book two · 8 min aloud
30One In TwelveOne in twelve. One forgets the lift.Eleven people do a push and a lift. Catch the one who only shoves, and that one is yours to name.
Book three · 8 min aloud
36Long RingRun the spoon down. The long one's mine.Run the spoon along the hooks in the dark and take down the one that keeps ringing, because that one is yours.
Book three · 8 min aloud
42Painted DoorKnock with your knuckle. Lean with your knee.The small door is painted shut and it only ever goes THUD — I have to make it say a knock instead, with my knee on it and one knuckle.
Book four · 8 min aloud
Start with the loudest one
The stories where Hod from upstairs wins outright. He can be perfectly still or completely out of control and nothing in between, and these are the second kind.
- 2Eleventh StairSqueak, and you're back at the bottom stair.
You have to get all the way up to Number Three, and if the eleventh stair squeaks you go back to the bottom and start again.
Book one · 8 min aloud
6Six NotesSix notes forward, six notes back.The Up-Down sings its six notes one way, and you win if you can sing all six of them the other way round.
Book one · 8 min aloud
7Loudest LidNothing is louder than the bin lid.You have to make the bin lid answer, and it only counts if somebody all the way up on the roof hears it.
Book one · 8 min aloud
10One ClangCall it first, and the lid says clang.You call out the noise first, and you only win if the bin lid says the noise you called.
Book one · 8 min aloud
12Last KnockSend it up the pipe. Last knock wins.You knock your whole message up the pipe, and you win if the last knock lands before the Up-Down gets to the bottom.
Book one · 8 min aloud
22Say SpoonThe Middle only gives back your last word.Shout as much as you like in the Middle, but the word you want back has to be the last one.
Book two · 8 min aloud
Start with one that does not end well
Some games are lost. Losing a game you made up yourself is an ordinary Tuesday, and these sit with that instead of fixing it in the last line.
8Small DoorKnock on the wall. Listen at the door.You knock on the wall where the door is not, and you win if the small door answers instead.
Book one · 8 min aloud
11Pipe RadioThe radio comes up. Now make it stop.The pipe brings you somebody else's radio, and you win if you can send something back down it and make the radio stop.
Book one · 8 min aloud
17Over My BedPut your foot where I put my hand.I put my hand flat on the ceiling, and Hod has to stamp on exactly that spot until it knocks back.
Book two · 8 min aloud
20Every WindowCall up to the windows. No time left.Stand in the Middle and call up until a window answers you, and you only get until the windows shut.
Book two · 8 min aloud
23Sleeping BrickPast the brick, and not a sound.Carry the whole lot down the Back Steps in one trip and get past the loose brick without a single grind.
Book two · 8 min aloud
26Peg By PegHands on the line. Never on the wheel.Bring the whole loaded line in peg by peg with your hands on the line, and the pulley never gets to squeal.
Book two · 8 min aloud
Before you pick.
Do the Tocko books have to be read in order?
No. There is no story arc in season one, on purpose. Every story is complete, nothing carries over, and story eight still works after story fifty because nothing changed in between except how many brass discs are hanging on a hook.
Which Tocko story should I read first?
Any of them. If you want the one the series starts with, it is Cold Pipe, story one, and it is free to read on this site. If it is bedtime, start with a Quiet Story instead.
How long is one story out loud?
About 8 minutes. A whole book is about 104 minutes of reading aloud.