[Icehouse] 2 player Zendo

[Jorge Arroyo]

The problem I see with many 2 player variants is that the master has
something to gain if the player doesn't guess the rule soon. This encourages
the use of very difficult rules. The only solution I see is to create cards
with rules and classify them in difficulty levels. Before the round starts
the players then agree on a level and choose (or randomly take) a card from
that level...

Otherwise, I like the variant. Playing for points might be fun too...

-Jorge

On Jan 11, 2008 11:25 PM, Guy Srinivasan <srinivgp at gmail.com> wrote:

> I know there are several 2 player Zendo variants up at various places, but
> nothing I found meets my requirements. Here are my requirements and a first
> draft to meet them:
>
> a) There is a Master and a Student for each rule. Almost certainly the two
> people playing will switch roles for each rule and some kind of currency,
> probably points, will stay with players over multiple rules.
> b) The rules should encourage the Student to correctly guess the rule as
> soon as possible.
> c) The rules should strongly discourage situations in which the Student
> takes many, many examples/guesses to figure out the rule and gets
> frustrated.
> d) The rules should encourage the Master to know beforehand how easy or
> hard her rule actually is.
>
> My first draft:
>
> Players alternate being Master and Student, and keep a running total of
> points throughout play. The current Master writes a standard Zendo rule and
> an integer, 10+, both hidden. This number is her guess at how many turns the
> Student will need to guess the rule, and actually represents a range. If the
> chosen number is X, the range is X through X+X/5. So 10-12, 11-13, 12-14,
> 13-15, 14-16, 15-18, 16-19, ... 20-24, etc. Play as in normal Zendo except
> that the Student has as many guessing stones as desired. The Student either
> builds a sculpture and asks that it be marked, or guesses a rule that the
> Master must find a counter-example to. Either counts as a turn. If the
> Student takes a number of turns less than specified by the Master's range,
> she gains +3 points. If the Student takes a number of turns within the
> Master's range, the Master gains +10 points. If the Student goes over the
> range, the Master gains +1 point.
>
> This was fun, but it's a little sad that Mondo is missing, and the point
> values and range values can undoubtedly be tweaked. Thoughts?
>
> Guy
>
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