Tabletop game

Zendo

Zendo (2001) - Tabletop game
Tabletop game1 April 2001

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.

Game details

Board game

First published
2001

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Credits

Image: McGeddon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Description from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Credits and connections

Open the interactive version on https://mythscribe.cloud/app/work/cmuxc3mp219ayqk78y97p59zj.