Zendo

Zendo is played with colored pyramids, guessing stones, and black and white markers placed within reach of all players around a table. One player acts as the moderator, secretly inventing a rule that governs the relationship between the pyramid shapes, sizes, colors, and their placement. The remaining players take on the role of students trying to discover that rule through cooperative or competitive deduction.

The main goal for players is to successfully figure out the secret rule created by the moderator. Players achieve this by building various pyramid configurations on the table and having the moderator evaluate them with black or white stones indicating whether the structure follows the secret rule.

On a turn, a player builds a new group of pyramids on the table. Before testing, all players can make guesses on whether the new configuration follows the secret rule or not. Once guesses are revealed, the moderator announces the correct answer, and players discuss the implications of the result.

Players earn guessing stones when they correctly predict whether a configuration follows the secret rule or when they successfully guess the secret rule itself. These stones can be spent to make additional guesses or test new theories during a turn.

The game typically ends when a player correctly states the secret rule and proves it by building valid and invalid examples that satisfy the moderator, or simply when players feel they have explored the puzzle thoroughly.