1. Place the main board in the middle of the table.

2. Place all the pond tiles (water, foliage, water-lily, shore, and lantern), the storage expansion tiles, the koi tiles, coins, and luck tokens in an area which is within reach of all players. This is the common supply.

For 4 players: All koi are used.

For 3 players: Put 1 small, 1 medium, and 2 large koi back in the box.

For 2 players: Put 1 small, 2 medium, and 2 large koi back in the box.

3. Each player receives a sensei board, 1 spring tile, 2 coins, and 1 luck token, which they place in front of them. Put unassigned sensei boards and spring tiles back in the box.

4. Divide the cards by type (playing cards, goal, summary).

For 4 players: all playing cards are used.

For 3 players: remove the cards marked “4+” from the deck.

For 2 players: also remove the cards marked “3+”.

For a solo game, see the solo section.

Put the removed cards back in the box.

Shuffle the remaining playing cards and place the deck face down to the left of the main board. Reveal the top 5 cards and place them face up in the designated spaces of the main board.

5. The player who most recently admired a pond becomes the first player and takes the Summary card with the symbol

5.1 Alternatively, you can assign the card randomly. Each of the other players receives one of the other Summary cards (return any unused cards to the box). Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes from the supply the water tiles and the koi shown in the following table and places them in empty storage spaces on their sensei board.

First Player: 2 water

Second Player:

Third Player:

Fourth Player:

6. If this is your first game, we recommend leaving all the Goal cards and tiles in the box. Add them to the game once you are familiar with the rules.

Randomly choose 3 Goal cards and place them face up near the board. Then take the Goal tiles shown on those cards and place them next to them.

In a 2-player, game, use only 1 copy of the chosen Goal tiles (example: a single Centennial Carp, a single Statue, etc.), as the icon on the cards reminds us.

Exception: Always use all tiles for the Path and Branches Goals.

Return the unused Goal cards and tiles to the box.

Example setup for 3 players