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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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As of late, I have been musing about the nature of meta gaming, a term that is so broad that it is almost meaningless. A game is more than just the rules and pieces. The people who play it, the reasons that they play it and the way they play it are all a major part of the game.
Now, there are games where those elements can be minimized. For instance, playing Chess or Go, particularly online, can minimize the meta game elements. Abstracts that had no random elements or hidden information can be very ‘pure’ experiences. And, make no mistake, I do enjoy those kinds of games. While my Go is sadly lacking, I do like to play a number of games online, including many abstracts.
However, there are many games where the meta environment plays a major part. Almost any party game is more defined by the party than by the game. (Although, to be honest, some of the guys I play games with consider Puerto Rico a party game)
I early wrote about Intrigue, a pure negotiation game where the pieces and the play money are just there so that your arguments have a context. The deals that you make are the real game. I chose Intrigue because it’s a very accessible and pure example of that genre, not because it’s an unusual example.
However, one of the first games that I thought about when I considered the ways that the meta meets the game is an unusual game: Zendo. While it could be described as multi-player mastermind with little colored pyramids, the truth of the matter is tat it is a game that creates a meta environment that is simultaneously restricted and wide open as the sky.
I’m not going to reiterate the rules for Zendo. There are a lot of places online where you can read them for free if you feel like it. The basics of the game boil down to this: one player is the master. They set an unspoken rule that the other players have to figure out. The other players create examples in order to figure out, by process of deduction and elimination, what the rule is.
There is only one real restriction on the rule that the master comes up with. That is that the rule needs to be self-contained. That is one place that meta stays out of in Zendo! A rule cannot be that a pyramid points to Bob or that an example needs to be made before 12 PM. The examples and the rules are untouched by time and outside space.
But trust me, that still leaves a continent’s worth of room to work with 
The actual rules of Zendo the game (as opposed to the rules the master comes up with) are actually the code of communication between the master and the students. For all intents and purposes, Zendo is a conversation and the rules explain the language the conversation is made in.
If you’ve never played Zendo, this probably sounds like an awful lot of work and restrictions to go to in order to play 20 questions. However, the truth of the matter is that the restriction are not about keeping you from doing something. What they do is provide a structure for what you are doing, for the conversation you are having.
And, with someone who is a good master, it’s a conversation well worth having.
Once you are familiar with the structure of Zendo, it is a very open system. In fact, you don’t even need the pyramids to play the game. You could play it with a pocket full of change if you wanted to or even with just words or sentences. As I said, the rule and the examples only have to be self-contained. Beyond that, they could be anything.
I have some friends that do consider Zendo a party game. While I can see their argument, it is a very cerebral game that doesn’t have the light hearted elements that most people use to define a party game. I also know people who consider Zendo an activity, not a true game, since there is no way for the master to win. (Mind you, by that argument, almost all RPGs don’t count as games either) However, Zendo does have competition and there can be only one winner among the students.
To be honest, the biggest weakness that Zendo has as a game is that a bad master can spoil the experience for everyone. If a master either doesn’t understand how to use the language of Zendo well or one who intends to make an unsolvable rule will only frustrate the students. A rule should be tough, not impossible. (The definition of tough can vary depending on the group, of course. The number of blue pieces needs to a prime is an infamous example of a rule that can be perfect for one group and cause another group to kick over the table)
At the end of the day, Zendo is an interesting and unusual game. It plays with the roles that we are used to having as gamers. In a sense, the goal of the master really is to teach the students a lesson. For me, it broke new ground for what you can do with a game. Zendo has also been a fun game for me. It’s one that I’ve taught to quite a few people and almost all of them have had fun.
The game part of Zendo is how you communicate. The meta part is what you choose to say.
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has 2 petals around the rose.
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