There are four ways into Ponder. Pick the one that fits the time you have.
The Library: one board, your choice
Choose a family and a difficulty, then open any board. Nothing is scheduled and nothing expires, which makes the Library the best place to learn a new set of rules. Stuck on a hard Binary board? Try some Blooms for a while; the Binary board will still be there. You can replay boards you’ve finished, and replaying doesn’t erase your first completion.
The labels Gentle, Standard and Challenging are a rough guide to a board’s size and how much reasoning it takes. Some boards will feel easier or harder than their label, depending on which families you already know.
Daily Calm: today’s set, at your pace
There’s a new set of six puzzles every day. Calm lets you work through them at your own speed and stop between boards. Your time and hint use are recorded, but nothing is ranked.
One catch: choosing Calm takes you out of that day’s Race. Once you’ve seen the puzzles, racing them wouldn’t be fair, so decide before you start.
Daily Race: one run, one clock
Race is the same six puzzles as a single timed run. The clock starts on the first board and keeps going until the last, so start when you have time to finish. Hints are allowed. They don’t add time, but your hint count appears next to your result. Compare times with friends and groups, or treat it as a personal challenge.
The six puzzles come from six of the eight families, and the line-up is never the same as the day before. Bridges and Mini Sudoku boards in the Daily set are Standard; the other families are Challenging.
Weekly: a longer collection
The Weekly collection has 48 puzzles: two Gentle, two Standard and two Challenging from each of the eight families. Work through them in any order over the week, or filter to one family when you want to focus. Weekly progress is kept separately from the Library and the Daily set, and a collection you’ve started stays available after its week ends.
Where to start
If you’re new, open the Library, pick a family that looks interesting and start with a Gentle board. Read the short rules on the board, make a few moves, and take a hint if you get stuck. When a family starts to feel familiar, try it in the Daily set or the Weekly collection. There’s no set order and nothing to unlock.