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How to play / Pond Pairs

How to play Pond Pairs

Picture a heap of small tiles stacked in a shape, each printed with a little picture. You take the heap apart two tiles at a time, and the only trick is that you cannot take just any tile. Pond Pairs is a slow, quiet version of this old tile game, with duck eggs, feathers, pond plants and ducks on the faces.

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What a pair is

Every picture appears an even number of times in the pile. Select one tile, then select another with the same picture, and the two lift away together. Clear every tile and the pile is finished. Nothing is hidden: you can see the whole pile from the start.

Which tiles are free to take

This is the one rule that matters. A tile can only be picked when it is free, and a tile is free when both of these are true:

  1. Nothing is lying on top of it.
  2. Its left side or its right side has nothing touching it. One open side is enough.

Free tiles look bright. A menu setting can also shade the tiles that cannot move yet. Try to pick a tile that is held in and it will wobble and a short note explains why.

Picking, swapping and putting back

Select a free tile and it is marked as chosen. Select a second free tile with the same picture and the pair clears. If the second tile does not match, the game moves your choice to the new tile. Selecting the chosen tile again lets go of it, and on a keyboard the Escape key does the same.

Levels, and the pond of the day

There are two ways to play, shown as two buttons under the title.

  • Levels form a path that keeps going. The first few use small piles, then the shapes grow, and every fourth level is a smaller breather. More different pictures appear as you go, which makes pairs harder to spot. There is no clock, and an unfinished level is kept for you.
  • Today's pond is one pile, the same for everyone, with a new one each day. This is the only mode with a clock.

Every pile the game deals has been checked by a solver first, so a pile can always be cleared from the start.

How the daily pond is scored

Your score is the number of seconds you took, plus 20 seconds for each hint and each shuffle you used. A lower score is better. The clock only runs while the game is on your screen with no menu open. Your first clear of the day is the one that counts. If you play the pond again, it is just for fun and the first result stands.

You can post your score to the day's board, or share a short text with your time and the help you used.

Undo, Hint and Shuffle: what each one does

  • Undo takes back a move, as many times as you wish, and costs nothing.
  • Hint highlights one pair you can take right now and says what it is. Each pile comes with three hints free. After that, the game may ask you to watch a short advert before giving another one. In the daily pond, every hint adds 20 seconds.
  • Shuffle mixes up the tiles that are left. Each pile comes with one free shuffle, and the game promises that a shuffled pile can still be cleared. Another shuffle may ask for a short advert.

The Hint and Shuffle buttons show how many free ones you have left. On a keyboard, Z or U undoes, H gives a hint and S shuffles.

When no pairs are left

Sometimes the pile has no free matching tiles at all. The game notices and offers Shuffle or Undo. Undoing a few moves and trying a different order is often better than using your shuffle.

Streaks, freezes and your path

Clearing the daily pond keeps a streak of days in a row. Every seven days in a row earns a streak freeze, and you can hold two. A freeze covers one missed day. Your path screen shows a calendar of the days you cleared.

Playing smarter

  • Look for the tiles that sit at the bottom of a tall stack. Taking the tiles above them first is what releases them.
  • When several tiles of one picture are free at once, pair the two that release the most tiles behind them.

Pond Pairs questions answered

Why will one of my tiles not move?

It is either covered by another tile or hemmed in on both its left and right sides. Clear what is touching it and it becomes free.

Does a shuffle ruin my daily score?

It adds 20 seconds to the time, no more. That is a small price when you are truly stuck.

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