About

An 8-bit Frogger homage, staged in a pond that is perpetually under maintenance

Reflecting Swamp is a small arcade game about getting a brood of ducklings safely across the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. You have three lives and a countdown timer. Hop one grid square at a time, bottom to top, up the long axis of the pool, until you reach the far bank at the Memorial steps. Clear the crossing and the next one runs faster. Repeat until the pond wins.

How to play

The water is laid out in lanes, and each lane wants something different from you:

• Dodge lanes — shallow enough to swim, but the traffic is fatal. Mind the turtles, the National Park Service ranger patrol boats, the hi-viz contractor algae-scraping rigs, and the thrashing fill hoses. Some dodge lanes also hide a fixed drain; the grates do not move and do not forgive.
• Ride lanes — deep channel where the open water itself will take a duckling under. Cross by hopping onto the drifting pool-liner chunks and floating debris and riding them. Drift off the side edge and the duckling is swept away.
• The stone median — a safe strip across the middle. Catch your breath; the timer will not.

You score one point per new row reached — the further up the pool, the higher the count. A run is meant to last a minute or three, not an afternoon.

Controls

Arrow keys or WASD to hop. On a touch device, use the on-screen d-pad. Press P to pause. Land a top-five run and you get to type three initials onto the high-score board, in the grand tradition of machines that ate quarters. The board lives in your browser and nowhere else.

There is no camera, no microphone, no account, and no login — just the pond. The full details are on the Privacy page, and if you would like to reach the team, see Contact.