How to play "Run around the Pond?"

1) All participants start with 20,000 points which are to be reasonably used for the whole run.

2) During each move, a player can use any amount of remaining points. The used points are valid only in the current move and after the round is finished, they are definitely lost.

3) The player who uses the least amount of points in the current round, falls to the pond and is expelled from the game. All his remaining points are forfeited and nobody else can use them. If more than one player use least amount of points in the same round, all of them plop to the water and are out of the game. In the Run in the rain variant, the player who uses the most amount of points falls to the pond too.

4) If a player has no points left, he must make the next move with 0 points and it is very unlikely he will stay on the pondside.

5) The player who uses the most points in the current round (the second most points in the Run in the rain variant), receives a bonus of 500 points which will be added to his remaining points. If more than one player use the highest amount in the same round, no bonus will be given to anyone.

6) The player who does not make a move before the current round deadline (similar to a timeout), automatically uses the same amount of points as in the previous round. Warning! No days off (weekends, vacations, holidays) are applied in this game.

7) Every player who does not make the first move (after the run is started), automatically falls to the pond along with players who use the least amount of points. In the Run in the rain variant, this is applied to players who use the most amount of points too.

8) The game is finished either when only one player stays on the pondside (this player is the winner) or all players are squelching in the pond (nobody wins).