Tokens explained, by someone who counts them

The unit and the list price

Free episodes need no tokens at all. After those, each paid episode has a token price, and on all eight series we noted that price is the same: 12 tokens. It helps to think of a token as a unit of account and nothing grander. A series does not cost a sum in general; it costs a count of unlocks multiplied by a price per unlock, and you can do that sum on your fingers once you know the episode count.

How the unlocks add up

Here is the ladder as it stands, at list price:

• 3 paid episodes: 12, then 24, then 36 tokens in total.
• 4 paid episodes: the same start, reaching 48 tokens on Kiss My Enemy.
• 5 paid episodes: one step further, reaching 60 tokens on Isabella's Revelation.

You may stop at any rung you like, which is the reason we show a running sum and not merely a final figure. For the same numbers arranged by series, see the finishing bill.

Why the price can move

The 12 in our notes is a list price. During a promotion that figure can fall for a while, so the price on your screen may be kinder than the one on this page, and we would not pretend otherwise. The practical habit is short: before paying, read the price currently displayed, multiply by the paid episodes you still want, and only then decide. Our tally is a reference for planning. It is never a quote, and it cannot see what is on offer today.

What we will not tell you

You will find no conversion of tokens into money in this notebook, because we did not note one and would rather leave a blank than fill it with a guess. If you are weighing tokens against a subscription, the plans page sets the two side by side without inventing a rate between them. Likewise we say nothing about how tokens are bought, or whether they last, as neither appears in our records.