How to play
The pond starts with six flowers, one of each colour. Every player has 6 tiles, each two hexagons wide with a petal colour on each half (each colour also has its own shape). On your turn, lay one tile on two empty spaces side by side, then draw back up to 6.
Your first tile must touch a start flower that nobody has used yet.
Scoring
Each half of the tile you lay scores for its colour. From that half, look out in a straight line in each of the other five directions and count the matching petals until you reach an empty space, another colour or the edge. Add them all to that colour’s score. A colour can’t go above 18.
When one of your colours reaches 18, it’s in full bloom and you lay another tile straight away (two at once, if two colours bloom).
Swapping tiles
If none of your tiles has a colour you’re lowest in, you may swap all six for new ones before you lay.
Winning
The game ends when there are no two empty spaces side by side left (or when someone reaches 18 in every colour). Only your lowest colour counts: the player whose lowest colour is highest wins. If that’s a tie, compare the next lowest, and so on. The pond is bigger with three or four players.
Tips
A big score in one colour is worth nothing if another colour sits at zero. Keep an eye on the colours each rival is short of and don’t leave long open lines of those for them. Doubles (both halves the same colour) are the best way to extend a line from both ends.