Koi Pond

Koi Pond is a pond you keep, seen from straight above: teal water, a wooden edge, stones along the lip and a handful of koi turning slow circles. Tap or click anywhere on the water and a pinch of food drops through the surface. The nearest koi swing their heads round, pick up speed and glide over to take it, and rings of ripples spread out behind them. Drag across the pond instead and you stir the water, pushing leaves and lily pads along and sending the koi flicking away.

Feeding is the whole loop. Every mouthful makes a koi a little bigger, and once the pond has been fed enough a new fish swims in from the edge wearing a pattern you have not seen before. There are thirty to find — Kohaku, Taisho Sanke, Showa, Bekko, Ogon, Tancho, Asagi, Kumonryu, butterfly fins and more — and each one is written into a Collection book the moment it arrives. Light moves on its own from first light to a lantern-lit night, and a Night toggle takes you straight to the lanterns whenever you want them.

Pond mode is endless. No timer, no score to chase, no game over — the pond is saved in your browser, so the koi you grew are still there next time, at the size you left them. When you want something quicker, Feeding Frenzy gives you sixty seconds to feed as many koi as you can, with a combo multiplier for feeding several in quick succession and a best score kept between runs. Either way it is built to relax: soft ripples, drifting pads, hovering dragonflies and gentle plops you can silence with M.