Kohaku: The Big Pond Adds Secret Goals, New Tiles and a Shared Pond Mode

Kohaku: The Big Pond gives players a choice about what they want from a return to the koi pond: extra scoring puzzles for the familiar game, or a shared pond where every tile placement can affect everyone’s plans. The expansion also brings six features and Blue Koi, adding variety to the base game’s tile drafting and placement.

Designed by Danny Devine, Kohaku first arrived in 2021. Players draft koi and feature tiles to build individual ponds, with different features rewarding different arrangements. A small sundial expansion followed in 2022. The Big Pond includes that addition alongside new modules, so groups can choose which elements to use. It requires the standard edition of Kohaku; the source says it won’t work with the deluxe edition’s acrylic tiles.

Extra goals for individual ponds

The Sundials module sets out compass cards around a central sundial card at the start of play. Each player gets a sundial in their own color, which serves as a starting feature in their pond. The regular drafting and placement rules remain in place, while the compass cards reward players for placing particular features in specific directions relative to their sundial.

That directional puzzle asks players to plan their pond around the scoring opportunities revealed for the game. The compass deck contains eighteen different features, giving this small module plenty of possible combinations from one play to the next.

A second module gives each player a personal end game goal. At the start, each draws two hidden objective cards, keeps one and returns the other to the deck. The chosen card awards points for tiles found in that player’s pond. It’s a straightforward way to give players different priorities while they work with the same tile supply.

New tiles reward careful placement

Four Blue Koi enter the tile stack after four random koi tiles are removed. Each Blue Koi can count as any one color when scoring, and players can choose its color separately for different features. The flexibility has a limit: a Blue Koi can never count as a two-tone koi. It’s a small rule with a useful tactical payoff, since the same tile can help with several scoring checks without meeting every color requirement.

The six new features mix with the base game’s tiles. Bamboo Reeds score adjacent koi when their colors or color combinations match; four identical koi around them are worth fifteen points. Cats reward a pond containing all four koi colors within their view, for nine points. A Cat can see three sides of its tile, while the fourth side is permanently blocked, so placing one can close off part of the shoreline and steer future building.

Mandarin Ducks score two points for each such feature in any player’s pond. That shared count makes them a reason to watch what other players collect, as well as what you place yourself. Fountains score for unique features diagonally adjacent to them, with the best result coming from four different features in the corners. They bring a different placement puzzle from tiles that check only their immediate neighbors.

Herons are worth eight points, but no new koi can be placed adjacent to them. Their payout comes with a spatial cost: players need to weigh the points against the way the tile can constrain later pond building. Wildflowers also care about adjacent koi, but let the player choose one color for each Wildflower when scoring. They give one point per adjacent koi of that color, or twelve points when that color appears on all four sides.

These additions introduce more than new scoring targets. Cats and Herons can block future placements, forcing players to adapt the shape of their ponds. The other features reward matching colors, collecting variety or looking beyond a tile’s immediate neighbors. Groups can add the tiles for variety while keeping the established individual pond format.

A shared pond changes the contest

The expansion’s biggest shift is The Big Pond mode. Instead of building separate ponds, players place tiles into one pond in the center of the table. Tile drafting uses a loop: on a turn, a player may take the two tiles directly in front of the koi token. Reaching a different pair costs coins, paid to skip tiles along the way.

Everyone begins with four coins. After spending them, players can gain more only by drafting tiles that have coins on them because someone previously passed them over. Each draft still includes one koi and one feature. The player adds both to the shared pond, then places one of their three player tokens on the feature they just added.

At the end of a turn, a player may remove one of their tokens to score its feature immediately. Matching koi in that player’s color add bonus points. Since each player has only three tokens, they’ll have to choose when to claim a feature rather than waiting to build it to its fullest potential. Other players can change what’s available before that moment arrives, making tile placement a direct contest.

A fresh way to revisit Kohaku

The modular approach lets groups decide how much to change. Sundials and hidden goals add scoring considerations to individual ponds, while the new tiles bring fresh arrangements and placement constraints. The Big Pond asks players to share space and time their scoring claims, shifting a calm puzzle toward a more competitive table dynamic.

The reviewer, who named Kohaku their best game of 2021, describes the shared mode as a fresh way to play after many sessions with the original. Their read is that the added choices extend replayability without making the base game’s familiar tile play feel overloaded. Kohaku: The Big Pond is scheduled to arrive on Kickstarter from Gold Seal Games in April 2026.

A prototype was provided for this preview. Components and rules may change. Read more about the site’s preview policies here.

The original preview appeared at One Board Family.