Columba: The Pond

The Pond: Special Card for Columba

Carrier pigeons stop there before flying to the nearest dovecote...

Rule This card is shuffled with the others and is placed accordingly on the board. However, the players may not cover up this card or place domesticated pigeons or falcons on it.

The player who has just played this card randomly draws a pigeon tile from the four different tiles and places it on the pond square matching the color of the tile.

Then have a closer look at the territory:

 If there is no estate (remember: a part of the territory where there is a dovecote) corresponding to the drawn tile color, the tile remains on the pond until a dovecote is built.
 If there is one estate of the color of the drawn tile, the player who owns that estate takes the tile and uses it immediately to extend his estate.
 If there are several estates of the color of the drawn tile, the pigeon flies to the nearest dovecote. In the case of a tie, the pigeon will choose the largest estate.
 If the estate can't be extended, the pigeon flies to the next one (or stays on the pond if there is none).

This procedure is repeated at the end of each turn of the player who has placed the pond.

During final scoring, whenever possible, the squares of this card are taken into account and considered like squares from the estate.

Source: The Pond rules insert.