Video Game / Poke ALL Toads

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Poke ALL Toads is a Puzzle Game by SpaceMatra, also known as la-fafafa. It released on March 20th, 2026.

The premise is simple. You are a fairy. Your favorite past time is annoying the local toads by poking them and scurrying off. So together with your friends, you set out to do just that, and hopefully not become victim of some karmic retribution by way of these now angry toads eating you before you can get to safety.

It can be found on Steam or itch.io. An official YouTube Channel dedicated to showing the game can be found here.

Previews: Reveal Trailer, 2024 Trailer

Poke ALL Tropes

• Achievement Mockery:
  • "Yep, they fall down" is unlocked by throwing a fairy into the Bottomless Pit.
  • "Blame the level designer" is awarded for losing a stage in less than two seconds.
  • "Face first" is granted by crashing a brave fairy into a pop-up wall during a sleeve grapple.
  • Played with "Fairy Space Program" — launching fairies into space with a pop-up wall is not necessarily a losing move, sometimes it's even required to solve certain levels. However, a hundred launches seems to be too much even for poking all toads in the game, so it's indicative of at least messing up and restarting a bunch of times.
  • Subverted and Lampshaded by "Wait, you can do that?" — figuring out a way to lose in the first level is more difficult than just finishing it normally.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The different types of toads range in color from the relatively normal green and gray to more fantastic ones like blue and yellow.
• Amphibian Assault: Most of the toads in the game will attempt to eat you if you bother them. Even the grey toads, normally Harmless Enemies, won't let you get away with poking them for the kicks if you keep at it for too long.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: All sprites in this game have the same animations whether they're facing left or right. This typically doesn't cause problems, as the characters are fairly symmetrical, but does lead to the busy fairies' books inexplicably changing in reading direction.
• Antepiece: Grey toads don't fight back like green toads do and they are mostly for easing the player into the game. Although, grey toads appear even in later levels sometimes if the puzzle calls for it.
• Ash Face:
  • If the blue fairy holds a taunt long enough, she'll literally explode with excitement, covering her face in ash until she does something else.
  • If a merry fairy summoned by a witch fairy's is lost, the marble she uses has a tiny chance to blow up and turn her face grey with ash.
• The Big Guy: The strong fairy has massive arms and uses them to throw her fellow fairies across a good distance.
• Bizarre Puzzle Game: Help fairies annoy toads with finger pokes and avoid retaliation by navigating floating islands while flipping switches.
• Bookworm: The busy fairy is depicted as constantly reading during the level; only stopping to give a dismissive look to the blue fairy when she succeeds a level. She is so engrossed in her reading, she will attempt to in any and all situations, from being carried by the strong fairy, to actively being eaten by a toad.
• The Cameo: The bonus level "You found a unique shiny toad!" features a one-of-a-kind blue toad with a light blue coloration and a Holy Halo above its head. It's the avatar of Icely Puzzles, an early Let's Player of the demo.
• Cerebus Retcon: Inverted! When a fairy is swallowed by a toad in the demo, that was it—a fairy was clearly Eaten Alive with nothing else to imply from it but some hard Fridge Horror. The full game added loading screens with drawings of the game's characters and several of them show the fairies post-regurgitated by the toads with no worse for wear besides being covered with toad drool. One screen even shows the blue fairy and the strong fairy, with the latter having just been spit up, exchanging a thumbs-up, implying the fairies that had to be swallowed realize it's all part of the plan to solve various puzzles.
• Cheat Code: A button combination hidden in the credits allows toggling Vengeance Mode, which makes the blue fairy lick toads instead of poking them.
• Concentration-Bound Magic: A witch fairy is too busy channeling her magical marble once the merry fairy is released, making her unable to move. Strangely enough, the merry fairy doesn't depend on continued channeling for her to persist, so it's okay when a strong fairy grabs a witch fairy, or tosses her, or launches her on a launch pad, or when a toad jumps on top of the witch fairy or even eats her.
• Cowardly Lion: The brave fairy is clearly not excited to help the blue fairy, having a constant fearful look on her face, but she is perfectly willing to assist her with her goals regardless.
• Crystal Ball: Each witch fairy carries with her a magical marble that permits her to summon a single merry fairy and recall her back if not blocked by something in the way.
• De-power: If a merry fairy that a witch fairy summoned is lost, the latter's crystal ball breaks. The witch fairy will shrug it off and remain controllable, but she won't be able to summon anything for the rest of the level, having the same skillset as a merry fairy (ironically enough).
• Denial of Diagonal Attack:
  • Strong fairies and brave fairies can only use their abilities in cardinal directions.
  • The witch fairies can only summon their friends on the tile due west and due east.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Most toads will attempt to eat the blue fairy as retribution for her poking them.
• Draw Aggro: Brave fairies can use their overly long sleeves to annoy toads, like the pokes of the blue fairy (though only the blue fairy's pokes count towards level completion). The toad will predictably get mad and attempt to attack the offending fairy. This is required to beat some levels.
• Dull Surprise: Invoked to show that getting eaten by toads is no big deal to any of these fairies as none of them look particularly bothered once a toad's about the engulf them, with the blue and merry fairies still smiling right before they get chomped up. The strong fairy comes the closest to having an appropriate reaction, looking like she's bracing for the inevitable. But since it's established that Getting Eaten Is Harmless, it's justified.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The witch fairy is introduced properly in the Lair, but she can also be spotted in the merry fairy crowd that gets launched at the end of "Fireworks" in the Desert.
• Easter Egg:
  • The blue fairy has a very low chance to dab on the toad instead of poking it.
  • A rare animation for the busy fairy consists of her turning red from embarrassment over something she's read in her book.
  • A magical marble used by a witch fairy can detonate in her face if the merry fairy conjured up from it is gone, giving the witch fairy an Ash Face.
• Edge Gravity: For better or for worse, the fairies and toads cannot just walk off the platforms despite no physical barriers.
• Effortless Amazonian Lift: The strong fairy holds other fairies under one arm while carrying them and can throw them one handed.
• Elite Mooks: Subverted. The blue toads who show up since the desert might seem more powerful than the green toads, sharing their Overly Long Tongue move without being Stationary Enemies, but that often makes them more versatile tools for the fairies. Many levels would be impossible if the blue toads were replaced with green toads
• Exact Words: The tutorial for the sleeping toads says that, due to having just been woken up, "they won't mind one poke or two or nine." Sure enough, poking one ten times in a row leads to them snapping and instantly eating their aggressor.
• Eye Glasses: Busy fairies wear round glasses that are completely filled with their eyes.
• Eyes Out of Sight: The brave fairy has her eyes permanently hidden behind her fringe.
• Fairy Trickster: The entire focus of the game is fairies teaming up to annoy nearby toads, for seemingly no reason at all. (The busy fairies seem to disapprove, though.)
• Fastball Special: The strong fairy can throw her allies around, generally to reach other platforms. This is one of two ways to move busy fairies (the other is jump pads).
• Fearless Fool: A merry fairy in a hold of a strong fairy can suggest a direction. Her decision has absolutely no thought backing it up, so a merry fairy has no reservations against pointing into an obvious chasm.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the end of Desert-Finale, "Fireworks", a crowd of merry fairies gets launched across the screen as a sight gag. Hidden within the crowd is a single witch fairy, before she's introduced properly in the Lair.
• Genki Girl: The blue fairy and the merry fairy have very excited personalities. Emphasized on the official channel, where the blue fairy is depicted jittering with excitement while trying to get her friends to help, while the merry fairy gets so excited she regularly screws up the solution.
• Getting Eaten Is Harmless: None of the fairies are much bothered by being eaten by the toads; the strong fairy is merely nervous, the busy fairy gets annoyed, while the blue fairy seems to enjoy it. Several of the loading screens show a toad spitting a fairy out, or the fairies being drenched, but unharmed, after the level.
• Gray Is Useless:
  • The busy fairies wear grey robes and are the only type of fairy that cannot be controlled by the player, although they're Not Completely Useless as they can still be moved around by the player to hold down buttons... or be used as The Scapegoat to get eaten by the toads.
  • Similarly, the grey toads are basically Harmless Enemies who let you poke them due to just recently waking up, but like the busy fairies, they're not completely inert.
  • The magical marble of glass used by the witch fairy turns grey and shatters when the spell is broken by losing the merry fairy conjured from it, depriving the witch fairy of her special ability.
• Harmless Enemy:
  • The sleepy grey toads, the first enemy introduced, don't retaliate after being poked by a fairy given they just woke up. They only become hostile if you poke them ten times in a row, which is never necessary during normal gameplay.
  • Yellow toads are not upset by poking. They'll never try to eat fairies in revenge.
• Harmless Freezing: Fairies and toads are completely unbothered once they're released from occasionally appearing frozen blocks.
• Helpful Mook:
  • Genuinely Gentle type — The yellow toads don't seem too bothered by getting poked by the blue fairy, just following after her when poked and taking another poke as a "stay here" message, which can be pretty useful for the puzzle at hand. However, they don't take complex instructions and despite their best intentions the yellow toads can sometimes impede the fairies by getting the fairy they're following stuck in a corner or getting onto buttons they shouldn't.
  • Accidentally Assisting type — Even hostile toads can be manipulated into progressing the level, for example by getting rid of fairies which can't/won't get off buttons. Blue toads in particular can be exploited in numerous ways to solve the level: they can bodyblock their fellow toads, they can prevent switch-controlled entities from raising or disappearing, they can bodyblock fairies to save them from being launched off the stage, they can stand on buttons for you, etc.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: The brave fairy has her eyes concealed by her straight fringe.
• Ironic Name: The brave fairy doesn't exactly exude courage, and the game lampshades it by putting "brave" in quotations when introducing her. Likely double-subverted since despite her anxiety, she's willing to help out the blue fairy with her toad-trolling pranks regardless.
• Just Desserts: If the blue fairy fails to find a way to avoid it, she will be Swallowed Whole by green toads as revenge for their antics. The toads never attack preemptively.
• Kaizo Trap: Interacting with the flag doesn't immediately end the level; green and blue toads in particular will take the opportunity to grab you if they're still aggro'd and not somehow stopped. Even yellow toads sometimes need to be blocked away or otherwise handled to ensure they don't unthinkingly drop you down a pit.
• Level Goal: To win the level, you have to activate the goal (by poking all the toads), reach it, and not be in danger while a short countdown plays. If any toads are actively targeting you, the meter slows down significantly to ensure they have time to cause whatever trouble they have in mind.
• Mascot Mook: The green toads, despite being the 2nd type of toad introduced in the game (the first being the grey toads), are the most used of the bunch in the official channel and promotional material like the preview trailer and the channel's Youtube shorts, and in the game itself, they are the most used toads in the early stages.
• Misplaced Retribution: By hiding behind a fellow fairy, it is possible to have them eaten instead of the offending fairy. The angered toad settles for that and becomes docile again.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: The strong fairy has buff arms and can throw other fairies around.
• No Name Given: The fairies are referred to as "The [trait] fairy"; what their real names are, if any, are not given.
• No Plot? No Problem!: Poke All Toads has no storyline connecting any of the levels or zones, just the fairies' inexhaustible desire for pranks.
• Oh, Crap!: When the brave fairy pokes a toad, there is a brief moment of hesitation before horror dawns on her face as the toad's anger is directed at her.
• Only Sane Man: Busy fairies aren't controllable, with their body language suggesting they find the blue fairy's attempts to bother the toads childish. They also tend to look the most annoyed when eaten, and some loading splash screens feature the busy fairy complaining that her pranks ruined her book.
• Overly Long Tongue: The toads' main attack method is to shoot out their tongues in a straight line at the fairy who angered them. The maximum distance they can reach is multiple times their body length.
• Perpetual Frowner: The busy fairy and the green toads. The former is the Only Sane Man who's annoyed by her friends' antics getting her caught in the crossfire while she's reading, and the few times she smiles are when she laughs at the blue fairy's misfortune for being the instigator. The latter's emotional range goes from neutral to angry, especially when they're poked by the blue fairy.
• Perpetual Smiler: Merry fairies and the main blue fairy wear smiles in all situations. The smiles of merry fairies are genuinely cheerful, while the smile of the blue fairy is one of smugness.
• Press X to Die: The landing zone indicator displayed when preparing to throw another fairy with the strong fairy displays a blinking warning sign if it's located above a space without land, while the strong fairy herself expresses clear concern. She'll still toss when you confirm the decision and there's an achievement for that.
• Rage Breaking Point: Grey toads aren't woken up/infuriated enough by 9 or less pokes. The tenth one overflows their cup of wrath and prompts them to attack. Green and blue toads will also get angry when poked repeatedly, eventually retaliating by attacking too fast to avoid.
• Ring Out: Launchpads and energy blasts can shove fairies off the side of the level.
• Shout-Out:
  • Desert-4, "Door stuck!", is referencing a Counter Strike meme and has you set up a situation where someone is bodyblocked by their own supposed ally to win (no door though).
  • The visual effect for Ring Out is in reference to Super Smash Bros.. See official video.
  • Coast-Finale is called "Tiny Airlines", after an infamous form of Griefing from Dota 2.
  • The Vengeance Mode code in the credits is a slightly-rearranged version of the Konami Code.
• Shrug Take: If a witch fairy has lost her merry fairy, trying to make her summon it anyway will cause her to just shrug.
• Smug Smiler: The blue fairy is ceaselessly smugging at the toads.
• Springs, Springs Everywhere: Numerous levels feature arrow-shaped launchpads that the fairies can use. They display their direction, but not distance.
• Stationary Enemy: The grey toads and the green toads won't go anywhere even after being poked. The green toad just attacks with its Overly Long Tongue, and the grey toad won't even do that (though it will attack if poked WAY more than necessary).
• Taking the Bullet: Most of the other fairies are more than willing to be eaten by the toads to help achieve the blue fairy's goal of... poking them.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Played for Laughs with Vengeance Mode, unlockable with a button code hidden in the credits, which causes the blue fairy to lick toads instead of poking them.
• Taunt Button: Each fairy (except the uncontrollable busy fairy) has two different taunt animations, short and long.
• The Team Normal: The blue fairy can poke toads and complete levels, the strong fairy can lift other fairies and toss them at a fair distance, the busy fairy stands in place and can't be controlled, the brave fairy can grapple and Draw Aggro if needed and the witch fairy can summon a controllable merry fairy. Meanwhile the merry fairy's ability is... nothing. Except for boundless enthusiasm of course.
• Token Wizard: The aptly named witch fairy is the only playable fairy to cast magic. Every other fairy in the game is either using their physical abilities and wits to outdo the toads or is the busy fairy.
• Trial-and-Error Gameplay:
  • Jump pads do not show where their landing zone is, so before seriously attempting to solve a level where they're present it's best to just check them out face-first and get ready to reset.
  • Space levels feature off-screen blasters triggered by buttons. Their firing line can be marked by an inaccessible jump pad, but it doesn't have to be, causing the player to instalose without warning on their first try. Epitomized by "Totally Safe" bonus level, which is swept clean by dozens of lasers with only a few unmarked safe spots.
• Troll: The blue fairy has a smug smile and goes around poking toads for seemingly no reason. Since Getting Eaten Is Harmless, she finds the risk of being eaten by a toad Worth It.
• Unwinnable by Design: In addition to the usual puzzle game situations where you've lost what you need for the solution, there's also an explicit Obvious Rule Patch that if a grey toad has eaten any fairy (only the mandatory blue fairy can provoke it, but it is possible for an expendable fairy to intercept its attack), the level can't be completed, even if all toads have been poked. This is meant to emphasize that angering grey toads is just a hidden joke and never an intended part of a solution.
• We Cannot Go On Without You: If the blue fairy gets eaten by any of the toads, or otherwise lost during the level, it's game over for you. However, any of the other fairies getting eaten is not just okay but often required to finish the level.
• What the Hell, Player?: The witch fairy calmly shakes her head if you try to make her move when she's busy channeling magic or to recall the merry fairy she summoned if she doesn't have clear line of sight, but if you keep on giving her orders she's unable to do she'll look directly at the screen in disapproval, annoyance on her face.
• Wings Do Nothing: The fairies all have small insectoid wings on their backs but are still unable to fly over any gaps in the level. Bizarrely, dummies that serve as grapple points for brave fairies have two leaves for wings and can actually fly if there's no platform underneath them.
• Work Info Title: The objective of "Poke ALL Toads" is to poke ALL toads and get away with it.
• You All Look Familiar: Levels often feature fairies of the same type in a level. They all have the same personality, animations, and abilities. The only exception is the blue fairy. Similarly, expect every toad to look the exact same and only be differentiated by their designated color (grey toads being sleepy harmless enemies, yellow toads being cheerful and willing to befriend the fairies, etc.)