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Zendo
Zendo
The Buddha is in the beer.
A koan has the buddha nature if and only if...
Playing Giant Zendo at the park, May 2013
This is a closeup. Notice the reflection of the stones in the ball, very zen.
A Zendo game in progress. Designer Kory Heath is shown.
Game in progress. (Taiwan BoardgameDay CON)
These Zendo pieces are not your standard colors, making for interesting games.
Marking and guessing stones

Zendo (2001)

Players
2–6
Best: 4
Playing time
15–60 min
Age
12+
7.20
Average rating
3,449
Ratings
2.52/5
Weight
#1364
BGG rank
Top 5,000
Designer:Andrew Looney, Kory Heath
Artist:Alexander Bradley, Eileen Tjan
Publisher:Looney Labs
Average rating, ratings count, weight and rank are sourced from BoardGameGeek (BGG).
Game DNA
  • This game: Strategy 5, Luck 5, Interaction 5, Complexity 5, Theme 2
Strategy5.0
Luck5.0
Interaction5.0
Complexity5.0
Theme2.0

This game's strategy, luck, interaction, complexity and theme.

Abstract StrategyPuzzleDeductionSimultaneous Action SelectionPattern RecognitionInduction

Overview

Zendo is a game of inductive logic in which one player, the Moderator, creates a secret rule that the rest of the players try to figure out by building and studying configurations of the game pieces. The first player to correctly guess the rule wins.

Inspired by Eleusis, Zendo uses Looney Pyramids but was released as a standalone game in July 2003. In 2017, a version of Zendo was released that had only one size of pyramid but added blocks and wedges. It also includes an optional system of cards for generating the Moderator's rule, useful for novice players who are not yet comfortable making their own rules. A similar set of cards for playing "Pyramid Zendo" (i.e. the version without the other shapes) is also available as an expansion for Pyramid Arcade.

Expansions

Zendo: Rules Expansion #1
Zendo: Rules Expansion #2
Not available yet

Player reviews, retailers/pricing and rules videos have no real data source for this game yet.

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