Game Overview: The game plays over four rounds. The player with the most points at the end of the fourth-round wins. Players must choose when the right time is to leave the pond. If they step on a Hippo or remain on the pond when a second Hippo is revealed, they lose any points gathered that round. The next round begins with the player who was next in the original player order. Cards may have hidden lotus points, actions, Hippos, or nothing at all hidden underneath.

Round Overview: A player has two actions on their turn:

Their first action will be to move onto a new lily pad card and flip it over and activate the event under it. They can only leave the pond if they are on a perimeter tile. If they start on any other tile, they must move. If they can’t move they are out of the round and lose the tokens they collected that round.

Their second action is either to move again to an unrevealed card, OR leave the pond by removing their player token (which allows them to bank any collected points from that round).

Movement: At the beginning of each round, players start their turn and first action by moving their hamster onto a perimeter lily pad card. Players move one lily pad card per action in any direction (orthogonally or diagonally). A player may not move onto any previously revealed lily pad card. When landing on a face-down tile, collect any lotus tokens that may be on top of it, then reveal the card immediately by flipping it over. If lotus points are revealed, collect the respective number of points from the General Supply and place them in front of the player.

When revealing an action, perform it immediately (explained under Card Glossary). A player must use their actions to move off the pond before a second Hippo is revealed to bank collected points.

Once off the pond, a player is finished for the current round. However, points are not banked until the current round is over (points can still be stolen). Once the round ends, all hamsters that avoided being eaten bank their points by moving them onto their player board. If a player is still on the pond and has no legal moves left (i.e., all cards around them are revealed, and they are on their first action), they are now considered Hippo food and lose any non-banked points!

Ending a Round: A round is over when one of two conditions is met:

• Two hippo cards are revealed. Any players still on the pond at this time immediately lose the round, returning all lotus tokens in their temporary holding area back to the general supply.

• The last player leaves the pond, or there are no valid moves left for the remaining players. Any players that left the pond before being eaten move all gathered lotus tokens to their player boards to count toward their final score.

Beginning a New Round: To prepare for a new round, return all lotus tokens on the play area back to the supply, gather all pond cards together, add one additional Hippo card to the deck and repeat steps two to four from “Game Setup”. The next round begins with the player who was next in the original player order.

End of Game Scoring: After four rounds, declare the person with the most lotus token points as the winner. In the event of a tie, play an additional two rounds. Any players who were not part of the tie are out for these two rounds. Follow the game board set up corresponding to the number of players attempting to break the tie game. If no victor is declared after two rounds, it's a tied game!

Buzzkill Rule: If a player steps on a Hippo card ON THEIR FIRST TURN, they are out of the current round but get three bonus points from the General Supply to add to their banked storage.

Card Glossary:

'Hippo:' The current round is immediately over for the person revealing the Hippo card. Remove their hamster and return any unbanked points to the General Supply.

'Peek:' Peek under any card that is adjacent to the player.

'Move lotus flower:' Move one lotus token from any card to an adjacent adjacent card.

'Steal lotus flower:' Take one point value from another player's unbanked point stash. Make change if needed.

'Lose a lotus:' Active player returns one unbanked point back to the General Supply.

'Splash:' Active player falls off the lily pad, their turn is immediately over. They climb back onto the lily pad for their next turn.

'Springy Pad:' Active player's next move (on this turn or the next) will be to a lily pad that is two lily pads away (orthogonally or diagonally).

'Empty lily pad:' Nothing gained, nothing lost!

'One lotus flower:' Pick up one lotus point from the General Supply.

'Two lotus flowers:' Pick up two lotus points from the General Supply.

'Blue Star lotus flower:' Pick up three lotus points from the General Supply (three light pink tokens or one blue token).