Pond (2025) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview and Objective
• Components
• Setup
  • Player Setup
• Taking Your Turn
  • 1. Start Phase
  • 2. Main Phase
    • Play a card from your hand
    • Spend Berries to buy a Frog card from the Shop
    • Merge Hibernating Frogs into a Hero Frog
    • If your deck is empty...
  • 3. End Phase
  • VP on cards
• Special Card Actions
  • March Action
  • Attack Action
  • Build a Lilypad
  • Merge 2 of your Frogs into a Long Fwooog
  • Hibernate a card
  • Deploy a Frog
  • Reaction
• Keywords
• Long Fwooog Rules Summary
• Ending the Game
• Frequently Asked Questions

Overview and Objective

POND is a 2 to 4 player competitive game where each player will command a unique faction of adorable frogs to fight for control of the map!

When the last VP token is taken from the supply, the game ends immediately, and the player with the most VP wins.

You'll gain VP tokens each time you deal damage to an opponent's Long Fwooog, as well as at the end of your turn for every Pond and Lilypad you control.

The Frog cards you purchase and Hero Frogs you recruit are also worth additional VP at the end of the game.

Components

• 64 Frog Cards:
  • 25 "Frog with Two Knives" cards
  • 25 "Frog with a Big Net" cards
  • 8 "Frog with a Knife" cards
  • 8 "Frog with a Net" cards
  • 5 Wizard Frog cards, 5 Pumpkin Frog cards, 5 Banana Frog cards, 5 Cowboy Frog cards (faction starting cards)
• 17 Hero Frog Cards
• 48 Small Frog pieces
• 16 Long Fwooog pieces
• 13 Lilypad tokens
• 4 Faction Boards
• 1 Map Board (2-sided)
• 40 VP tokens (plus 3 extra)
• 3 Combat Dice

Setup

1. Place the map board in the center of the table.
   • For 2 player games, use the side with 9 ponds.
   • For 3-4 player games, use the side with 13 ponds.
2. Place VP tokens based on player count:
   • For 2 players, use 120 VP worth of tokens.
   • For 3 players, use 112 VP.
   • For 4 players, use 105 VP.
   • You may opt to use more VP for longer games!
3. Place the Lilypads near the board, then place 1 Lilypad in the Fountain (the central pond).
4. Place the combat dice near the board.
5. Set up the shop:
   1. Place all "Frog with 2 Knives" cards in their own stack.
   2. Place all "Frog with a BIG Net" cards in their own stack.
   3. Shuffle all Hero Frog cards together to make the Hero Frog deck, then deal 3 random Hero Frog cards from this deck face up to the shop.
   4. Shuffle all other Frog cards together to make the Shop Deck, then deal 5 random Frog cards from this deck face up to the shop.

Hero Frog cards have a darker background and a Hibernate icon in the top right corner instead of a Berry icon.

Player Setup

1. The player who most recently saw a frog (real or digital) goes first.
2. Give VP tokens to the remaining players:
   • 2nd player gets 1 VP, 3rd gets 2 VP, and 4th gets 3 VP.
3. Select a faction to play as and take that faction's components:
   • 1 Faction Player Board
   • 4 Faction Long Fwooog pieces
   • 10 Faction Frog pieces
     • In 2 player games, everyone takes 12 Frogs.
     • In 3 player games, the player in the starting Pond between the other 2 players takes 12 Frogs.
   • Your faction's starting deck of 10 cards, including:
     • 5 Faction Frog cards (Ex: "Wizard Frog")
     • 1 Faction Long Fwooog card (Ex: "Long Wizard Fwooog")
     • 2 "Frog with a Knife" cards & 2 "Frog with a Net" cards
4. Shuffle your starting deck, then draw 5 cards.
5. Place 1 Long Fwooog in your starting Pond.
   • Your starting Pond is the pond along the edge of the board closest to you; in a 2 player game, use the ponds shown in the setup diagram.

Taking Your Turn

POND is a turn-based game. Each turn is split into 3 Phases: Start Phase, Main Phase, and End Phase.

After a player ends their turn, play passes to the next player clockwise around the table. This pattern continues until the game ends (when the last VP token is taken).

1. Start Phase

Deploy 1 Frog to Ponds with your Long Fwooogs. If you have multiple Long Fwooogs on the map, deploy 1 Frog to each Pond in any order you choose.

You cannot deploy a Frog if your supply is empty.

2. Main Phase

During the Main Phase, you can Play cards from your hand, Purchase Frog cards, or Recruit Hero Frog cards. You may repeat each of these actions as many times as you are able to, and they are all optional.

Play a card from your hand

Choose a card in your hand and place it face-up in front of you, then resolve its ability as printed.

Frog cards have a large variety of effects, allowing you to gain berries, move your frogs, declare attacks and even more!

Played cards remain face up in front of you in your play area until the end of your turn, and are then discarded into your discard pile.

Some cards allow you to take Special Actions (like Attack and March). For more on these special actions, see Special Card Actions.

Spend Berries to buy a Frog card from the Shop

Many cards will allow you to gain Berries, which you can use to purchase new Frog cards from the shop. These Berries are a temporary resource that do not carry over between turns.

To buy a Frog card from the shop, spend Berries equal to the cost indicated on the Frog card's top right corner, then add the purchased card to your discard pile.

Immediately reveal a new Frog card from the shop deck to replace the purchased card.

Merge Hibernating Frogs into a Hero Frog

Hero Frogs are especially powerful Frogs that are not purchased with Berries, but are instead recruited by merging your Hibernated Frog cards.

To recruit a Hero Frog, stack up the needed number of Hibernating Frogs indicated on the Hero Frog card's top right corner, then place the Hero Frog card on top of the stack.

These hibernating frogs cannot be used again to recruit other Hero Frogs.

Immediately reveal a new Hero Frog card from the Hero Frog Deck to replace the recruited card.

Once recruited, Hero Frogs remain in your play area for the rest of the game!

If your deck is empty...

You must immediately Hibernate a card from either your discard or play area. Then shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.

Hibernated cards are no longer part of your deck. Set them aside for the rest of the game as a Hibernated Frog card.

You still count the VP on Hibernated Frog cards at the end of the game, even the ones stacked under a Hero Frog!

3. End Phase

When you are ready to end your turn, you enter the End Phase. Perform the following steps in order:

1. Move all cards played this turn from your play area to your discard pile.
2. Discard all unplayed cards from your hand.
3. Draw 5 new cards from your deck.
   • If your deck is empty and you need to draw, you must immediately choose a card from your discard pile to Hibernate, then shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.
4. Gain 1 VP for each Pond you control.
   • You control a Pond if you have the most pieces, which counts both Frogs and Long Fwooogs, in that Pond.
   • No one controls a Pond in case of a tie.
5. Gain 1 VP for each Lilypad you control.
   • You control a Lilypad if you have a Frog on that Lilypad.
   • You do not need to control a Pond to control a Lilypad in that Pond.

VP on cards

Many cards have VP printed on them. When you gain such a card, you DO NOT take VP tokens from the supply. The VP on these cards are counted at the end of the game and added to your VP total.

Special Card Actions

Some cards in POND allow you to take Special Actions, which are actions you take in the Main Phase that are otherwise unavailable.

March Action

To take a March action, move any number of your Frogs, but NOT Long Fwooogs, from one Pond to one adjacent Pond. Ponds are considered adjacent if they are connected by a river.

Long Fwooogs cannot move!

For example, you have 3 Banana Frogs and 1 Long Banana Fwooog in a Pond. With a single March action, you may move 1, 2 or 3 Banana Frogs from this Pond to one adjacent Pond.

Attack Action

When you take an Attack action, you can initiate combat in a Pond you are in that also has enemy Frogs or Long Fwooogs.

When you Attack, roll up to 1 die for each of your Frogs in the Pond, up to a maximum of 3 dice. Each die you roll has an effect based on its result:

• Miss – Does nothing.
• Sword – Deals 1 Damage to one opponent in the Pond.
• Bomb – Deals 1 Damage to yourself and one opponent in the Pond.

If there are multiple opponents in the Pond, you choose who receives which damage.

Each player chooses 1 of their Frogs to remove from the Pond for each point of damage they took. Removed Frogs are returned to their owner's supply and can be redeployed later.

Long Fwooogs are the last to take damage! If a player's last piece in a Pond is a Long Fwooog, then all remaining damage they take is dealt to that Long Fwooog.

Long Fwooogs are not removed by damage, but you gain 1 VP token for every damage you deal to an opponent's Long Fwooog.

Build a Lilypad

To build a Lilypad, take a Lilypad from the supply and add it to a Pond. Each Pond can only hold a maximum of 1 Lilypad.

You may place a Frog on a Lilypad anytime you have a Frog in a Pond with an unoccupied Lilypad during your turn.

At the end of your turn, you gain 1 VP for each Lilypad that you control!

Merge 2 of your Frogs into a Long Fwooog

Remove 2 of your Frogs from any one Pond that does not have one of your Long Fwooogs, then deploy a Long Fwooog into that Pond.

You cannot deploy more than 4 Long Fwooogs, and your starting deck's "Long Fwooog" card is the only way to do so. Each Long Fwooog deploys 1 Frog at the start of your turn.

Hibernate a card

To Hibernate a card, set it aside as a Hibernating Frog card for the rest of the game. Hibernated Frogs do not return to your deck, and can be used to recruit Hero Frogs (see Main Phase).

You still score the VP printed on Hibernated Frogs, even the ones used to recruit Hero Frogs, at the end of the game! You get to Hibernate a card automatically each time you go through your deck (see "If your deck is empty...")!

Deploy a Frog

Place a Frog from your supply to a Pond where you have a Long Fwooog. If you deploy multiple Frogs from a single effect, you may deploy them to different Ponds (as long as you have Long Fwooogs in those Ponds). If you run out of Frogs to deploy, remaining deploy effects are wasted.

Reaction

Cards with Reaction effects can be played whenever their condition is met, even if it is not your turn! Only one Reaction card can be played at a time, pausing and interrupting whatever was happening. You can play a Reaction after another Reaction has finished resolving if the condition to play it is still valid.

Keywords

Once Per Turn: Indicates an ability that can be used once per turn and ONLY during your turn.

Passive: Indicates an ability that always applies, even when the card is not in play. For example, "Frog with a Pop" has a passive that prevents it from being Hibernated at all times.

Permanent: Cards with the "Permanent" keyword are placed in front of you immediately as soon as you gain them. Permanent cards are not discarded at the end of your turn, and they remain in your play area offering their benefits for the rest of the game. You cannot Hibernate a Permanent card!

Fountain: The Pond in the center of the map board. It begins the game with a Lilypad, and cannot contain Long Fwooogs.

Starting Pond: Your starting pond is the Pond along the edge of the board closest to you.

Long Fwooog Rules Summary

• Long Fwooogs cannot be placed in the Fountain (the very central Pond) and cannot occupy Lilypads.
• Different players can have Long Fwooogs in the same Pond.
• You cannot have more than one of your own Long Fwooogs in the same Pond.
• Long Fwooogs cannot move and do not contribute dice during an Attack.
• When you deal a Damage to a Long Fwooog, you gain 1 VP instead of removing that Long Fwooog.
• Your Long Fwooog only takes Damage if you have no other Frogs in the Pond.
• A Long Fwooog can take Damage multiple times in a single attack or turn.

Ending the Game

POND ends IMMEDIATELY when the last VP token is taken. The number of VP tokens available in the supply each game is determined by the number of players.

After you've taken the last VP token, any additional VP tokens you would have taken are lost.

Count up your total VP by adding your VP tokens and the VP printed on all of your Frog cards, including hibernated cards and cards used to recruit Hero Frogs.

The player with the most total VP wins! In case of a tie, the player last in turn order wins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I merge Frogs into a Long Fwooog without playing the Long Fwooog card? No.

Can Long Fwooogs move or attack? No.

Can I damage the same Long Fwooog multiple times in one turn? Yes, and you gain 1 VP for each point of damage dealt to a Long Fwooog.

Do Permanent cards count as part of your hand? No.

Can I play cards one at a time or do I have to play them all at once? You can play cards and take actions in any order you like during your main phase.

Can I move a Frog after it's already performed an Attack? Yes, you can March a Frog regardless of whether or not it has Attacked or Marched this turn.

Are Hibernated Frog cards still worth the VP printed on them? Yes, even the ones that have been used to recruit a Hero Frog.