Ponderings (Third Place Games)

Ponderings is the quietest of Third Place Games' daily puzzles, beside Grade, Regrade and Dovetail. A round watercolour pond holds a cluster of stones, each with a pale side and an ink side, and the goal is to make the pond still: every stone pale, or every stone ink.

Tapping a stone turns it over. Some stones turn alone, but others are quietly linked, and tapping one also turns every stone it is linked to. Links do not pass along: if A is linked to B and B to C, tapping A turns A and B but not C. Each tap sends a ripple in that stone's colour around every stone that turned, which is how you learn the hidden links. Tapping a stone twice puts everything back, so there is no undo button.

Three ponds come out each day, Small with 12 stones, Medium with 19 and Large with 27. They follow the US Eastern date, so everyone gets the same ponds, and each can be played once. The counter shows your taps beside Min, the fewest taps that can still the pond, and a clock runs while you play.

A finished pond can be shared as a row of dots, one blue dot for each of the minimum taps and a white dot for each tap over, so friends see how close you came without seeing the pond. The daily ponds are free with no account, and a one-time US $1 unlock adds unlimited practice ponds.