Pond Parade

Gather lost ducklings into a parade. Don’t bump the bank, the rocks or your own line.

A white mother duck is out on the pond, and a good few of her ducklings have wandered off. She never stops swimming, so all you decide is which way she turns: swipe the pond, use the thumb pad, or press the arrow keys. Swim into a lost duckling, a yellow one or a little brown mallard, and it falls in behind her, so the parade grows longer and harder to steer. Bump the bank, a rock, a log, the reeds or your own line and everyone ends up in a fluster, which costs a heart. Peas and oats fill a well-fed meter that earns hearts back. Bread looks like food but is a trap, and its soggy crumbs grow algae.

Every ten ducklings the pond gets bigger, the pace picks up and something new appears, like lily pads or a current. A golden duckling counts for three but only stays a few seconds. Before each round a tip card shares something true about ducks, such as how ducklings learn who their mother is on the day they hatch. Play starts a fresh pond and keeps your best score; Today’s pond is the same forty lost ducklings for everyone, with a small clock and one scored run. Anyone who likes steering games will feel at home. Every peep and quack is one of our own ducks, and Ducklark is a small studio based on Long Island. There’s nothing to pay and it runs in your browser; the whole guide is at how to play Pond Parade.