Who goes first?
From the source rules

Who goes first in Aqua Garden?

UCHIBACOYA · English base-game manual · multiplayer opening · 2–4 players

Choose the starting player by any method. Put their Owner token on the “1st” space of the Standby track, then place the other players’ tokens above it in clockwise seating order.

Rule details

This is the initial setup order. During play, the Owner token farthest behind on the Main track acts next; that player can take another turn if still farthest behind. Turns do not simply continue around the table.

At the start of a round, Owner tokens are on the Standby track. A lower token counts as farther behind. Owner tokens cannot end a move on an occupied space.

Moving to Standby ends that player’s actions for the round. The next round begins with the Owner token at the bottom of the Standby track, so the initial seating order does not determine every later opening.

In the two-player rules, an unused-color Owner token called Lucy starts in the third Standby position. Lucy is a dummy token, not a third human or a separate test for choosing the human starter.

Solo play has its own changes: use four-player setup and three-player play rules as directed, with no Lucy and only your own Owner token moving. Multiplayer starter selection does not apply.

The source link opens the publisher-linked shared folder. Select “«Зоосад. Вода» правила на Английском языке.pdf”; the starting instruction is on PDF spread 3, printed page 5, setup step 16.

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