

Zendo: Design history of a board game (2007) - jsnell
http://www.koryheath.com/zendo/design-history/

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zem
this is a really lovely game, and i encourage everyone to get a few interested
friends together and give it a try. 4-5 people is the optimal number (one game
master and 3-4 contestants in each round).

also while you can play a game with a variety of tokens, there is something
very satisfying about using the icehouse pyramids, due to (1) their sheer
aesthetic appeal (2) the fact that there's a tradition of using them, so you
feel like you're playing the game the 'proper' as opposed to makeshift way and
(3) the community has already worked out the optimal way to use them to play
zendo (i.e. which properties are relevant and which are not, what makes a good
koan, where the balance between too simple and too complicated lies, etc.)

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jsnell
I think there's something to be said for just trying it out first with
whatever is on hand. Lego blocks are a good and very easily available
substitute. Use 3 size of blocks (e.g. 1x2, 2x2 and 3x2) in 4 colors, more
options than that will just muddy things up without adding anything
interesting. The set of possible relationships between pieces is different
than if using pyramids, but it's roughly as rich a vocabulary.

Though with Lego you do need to make it clear up front that rules like "a koan
has the Buddha nature iff it looks like a dog" are too subjective :) Doesn't
happen with the more abstract pyramids.

~~~
zem
agreed - lego is probably the best easily-available substitute for pyramids;
the difficultly is that you have to be a lot more precise up front about which
features and combinations are and are not acceptable for use in koans. it does
have the easily-relatable trio of colour, size and pip-count, which is nice.

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hellbanner
For a second I thought this was Kindo, by
[http://www.spacebears.fr/](http://www.spacebears.fr/) (great game design!)

