Toad Road

"The one where cool breezes blow across the hills and you want to relax on a blanket? That's Toad Road!"

- Bowser

Toad Road is the first of seven boards in Mario Party 9. It is an idyllic, blue-skied grassy area reminiscent of World 1 from New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It borders a body of water by the south and typical Mushroom Kingdom mountains in the distant background. The starting vehicle for this board is the Toad Mobile; the Rickety Ride and the Wiggler Wagon can be purchased at the Museum for 200 Party Points each. The mid-boss that guards the Fortress is Lakitu. The main boss, which is fought at the end of the board in a forest is Wiggler.

Layout
As the introductory board in the game, Toad Road is relatively straightforward with no complex mechanics. The players start out on the right side of the map, a path across a bright green plain decorated with trees, flowers and windmills. They eventually come across a pond, with the option of either driving around it or using lily pads to drive over it. This first portion of the map contains four blue pipes accessible via five Lucky Spaces. Driving past a Toad House Lucky Space, the players go up a small hill, the top of which contains a beanstalk. Past this first area, they scale a rocky mountain where the Fortress is found, triggering the mid-boss battle (Sock It to Lakitu in solo mode).

After the fortress is a destroyed bridge that should connect to another mountain on the left side. The path underneath the gap contains Mini Ztar Spaces, and across it are Mini Star Spaces. In order to jump across the gap, each player (with the captain, who rolls last, using a 1-10 Dice Block) must roll a combined total of at least 16 with four people, 12 when playing with three, or 8 when playing with two, on the Dice. Whether the players cross the gap or fall off to the lower road, it will be still the captain's turn if there are still moves. After the mountain and the gap, they reach the left side plain, a darker, forested path decorated with sharp bushes and brambles. Here is the cannon to the 9 Island (see below). After the Captain Event, the players meet the green Toad and trigger the "Almost There!" event, which places five Bowser Spaces on the final stretch. The next section is two branching paths going around a circular island accessible via either of two Event Spaces, where many Mini Stars are available. The paths soon converge and lead to the Bowser Gate, where the boss minigame (Wiggler Bounce in solo mode) is played.

The rocky formations at the top of the left and right mountains resemble an "M" and a "P", respectively, directly above 9 Island, standing for Mario Party 9.

9 Island
In this Captain Event, the players are launched by a cannon to a small island shaped like the number 9. Each player rolls a Regular Dice Block once, in an order determined by the captain. There are several sets of Mini Stars scattered over the island, ending with a set of 10. The island also has several Dash Spaces, meaning that a single player could potentially obtain all of the Mini Stars on the island. The event ends when all Mini Stars have been collected or after all players have rolled the Dice Block once without collecting them all. If the last player does not reach the end of the island, everyone will enter a warp pipe and will be headed back to the main route.

Lucky and Unlucky Spaces

 * Five Lucky Spaces in the first plain grant access to a blue pipe leading underground, where the player will find a simple row of six Mini Star Spaces: the first and second ones give out 1 Mini Star, the third and fourth ones give out 2 and the final two give out 3. The player has to roll a Dice Block once to land on one of these spaces.
 * Three Lucky Spaces give access to either of two Toad Houses on the board, where Toad shuffles four item cards (including one "No item" card). The player must track and pick two of them.
 * A Lucky Space is next to the beanstalk, which leads the player to a sky stage with six cloud platforms, each one holding two Mini Stars. They must roll a Dice Block and climb the number of clouds indicated, receiving all Mini Stars they pass by.

Profiles

 * Mario Party 9 Website bios:
 * Flag of USA.png "Ponds, grassy hills, and bright blue skies make this Mushroom Kingdom themed stage a pleasure to visit."
 * Flag of Europe.png "Get your Mario Party started on Toad Road – a stage that helps beginners get to grips with the basics whilst offering plenty of challenges. Prepare to duck down pipes and head above the clouds in your bid to bag Mini Stars!"

Trivia

 * The Toad Mobile shares its Japanese name with the Mushroom Car from Mario Party Advance.