Each cloud pours 8 water. Water always falls until it lands on something solid, and then runs sideways along it. Where both directions are open, it splits into two equal halves.
A channel is a trough. Water lands inside it and runs sideways along it, so a channel is how you carry water across a gap.
A stone is a wall. Water falls straight past it, but cannot run sideways through it, so a stone is how you stop a stream splitting.
A channel or a stone cannot be placed in mid air. It needs solid ground, or a piece you have already placed, next to it.
Under each plant is how much water has reached it and how much it needs at once: a sprout needs 2, a bud needs 4, a flower needs 8. Water arriving from two sides adds up.
Dry ground soaks up every drop that touches it and gives nothing back.
Nothing is timed and nothing is lost. Tap a piece you have placed to take it back, unless another piece is resting on it.
A cloud hangs over a valley and pours 8 water into it. Below, a few plants are waiting for a drink. Between them is bare rock, open air, and dry ground that swallows whatever touches it. You lay down channels and stones until the water finds its way.
Three rules, and the whole game comes out of them. Water always falls until it lands on something solid. Then it runs sideways along whatever caught it. And where it could go both ways at once, it splits into two equal halves, so 8 becomes 4 and 4.
That last rule is what turns a valley into a puzzle. Every split halves what arrives, and a flower that wants 8 cannot be fed by a stream that has already halved twice.
A channel is a trough. Water lands inside it and runs sideways along it, so a channel is how you carry water across open air to somewhere it could not otherwise reach.
A stone is a wall. Water falls straight past it but cannot run sideways through it, so a stone is how you stop a stream splitting and send all of it one way.
Neither can be placed in mid air. A piece needs solid ground, or a piece you have already put down, next to it. So the order you build in matters, and sometimes a piece exists only to hold up the next one.
The board hides nothing. Every stream carries its number, every plant shows what has reached it and what it still needs, and the water redraws itself the moment you place anything.
So the difficulty is not in what you cannot see. It is that the move which looks best is often the one that ruins the valley. A channel that delivers water right now can be the piece you needed three steps later, and there is almost never a spare piece to waste. The harder valleys were chosen for exactly that quality: a fatal move that reads, on screen, as well as the right one.
There is no clock, no score and no way to lose. Tap a piece you have placed to take it back, unless another piece is resting on it. Clear starts the valley over. Ask for a hint and you get one piece of one way through at a time. Asking costs you nothing: the game stops pushing you upward, and if you need a hand twice running it eases the valleys back down a step.
Six valleys to a sitting, which is a few minutes, and you can stop after one. Difficulty comes in three bands and you choose which one you want before you start, or let it climb on its own as you solve cleanly.
Ponoki will walk you through the first five valleys if you would like, one idea at a time, pointing at the thing she is talking about rather than explaining it. You can ask for that guide again at any point without losing where you got to.
Free to play in your browser, on a phone or a laptop, with a finger or a mouse. No account, no download, nothing to install. The game is at the top of this page, ready when you are, and there are more calm games for busy minds on the home screen.
Ponoki is a calm game, not medical advice, diagnosis, or therapy. For adults 18+. If you are in crisis, please contact your local emergency services. See our Terms and Privacy Policy.