Zendo is a game of inductive logic designed by Kory Heath in which one player (the "Master") creates a rule for structures ("koans") to follow, and the other players (the "Students") try to discover it by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule. The first student to correctly state the rule wins.
Zendo can be compared to the card game Eleusis and the chess variant Penultima in which players attempt to discover inductively a secret rule thought of by one or more players (called "God" or "Nature" in Eleusis and "Spectators" in Penultima) who declare plays legal or illegal on the basis of their rules. It can also be compared to Petals Around the Rose, a similar inductive reasoning puzzle where the "secret rule" is always the same.
The game can be played with any set of colorful playing pieces, and has been sold with a set of 60 Icehouse pyramids in red, yellow, green, and blue, 60 glass stones and a small deck of cards containing simple rules for beginners. The Icehouse pieces were replaced in the second edition with blocks, single size pyramids and wedges. Origami pyramids are a common choice of playing piece.
History
The rules were published in 2001 after more than a year of playtests and changes. In 2004, the Zendo boxed set won Best Abstract Board Game of 2003 at the Origins Awards. In 2005, the set won the Mensa Select Game Award. Zendo is also published in Looney Labs' Playing with Pyramids, a book of rules and strategies for a dozen popular games playable with Icehouse pieces.
In December 2017, the company reissued Zendo game separate from the Looney pyramids line for the first time. The Icehouse pyramids were replaced by blocks, single size pyramids and wedges. Buddhist terminology were also removed from the instructions.
Gameplay
Within Zendo, most players are known as Students, who will build structures of pieces known as koans. Before play, one player (known as the Master) will invent a secret Rule, such as "a koan has the Buddha-nature if and only if it contains one or more green pieces".
- Master: The Master determines whether that Student's koan follows or breaks the Rule (also stylized as: "possesses or lacks the Buddha-nature", in fitting with the game's philosophical theme) and marks it with a white or black stone accordingly.
- Mondo: Each Student guesses whether the koan follows or breaks the rule, by holding a black or white stone in their hand. The Master marks whether the koan follows the rule, and stones are revealed simultaneously: Students who guessed correctly are awarded a Guessing Stone.
- Color of pieces
- Number of pieces
- Relative orientation ("pointing at another piece/parallel to another piece") of pieces
- Groundedness (pieces supported entirely by other pieces are not "grounded") of pieces
Awards
- Zendo won the 2003 Origins Award for "Abstract Board Game".