Nick Reymann
United States
Barberton
Ohio
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Crafty Shaman Impersonator
-
Me and my family recently played without mondos and guessing stones, always allowing the player one guess at the end of their turn (they do not have to guess if they do not want to). We really enjoyed this version in its simplicity, and because guessing gives vital information to everyone else if wrong it is not a good idea to guess all the time anyways. Aside from being able to give a barrage of guesses, which usually held the game up when we played as after one wrong guess the person would take forever deciding on another one, nothing seemed to be lost in gameplay. Has anyone else played this way?
-
Justus Pang
United States
Houston
Texas
-
hmm it sure seems more streamlined....but then again I was never particularly taken with the mondo mechanic.
-
Jules
Belgium
Leuven
Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
-
We usually play it solo and always non-competitively, so we skip the entire master-mondo mechanic entirely, and only make a guess when we are about 99% sure. Or when we are so incredibly stuck we need an additional hint.
-
Nick Reymann
United States
Barberton
Ohio
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Crafty Shaman Impersonator
-
Juleske wrote: We usually play it solo and always non-competitively, so we skip the entire master-mondo mechanic entirely, and only make a guess when we are about 99% sure. Or when we are so incredibly stuck we need an additional hint.
That sounds like a great way to play it. Almost every game I have played with medium to hard rules evolved into a cooperation between all of the students anyways, with no single player "claiming" victory. I will definitely try it out and see how it goes over.
-
Jules
Belgium
Leuven
Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
-
Mingy Jongo wrote: Juleske wrote: We usually play it solo and always non-competitively, so we skip the entire master-mondo mechanic entirely, and only make a guess when we are about 99% sure. Or when we are so incredibly stuck we need an additional hint. That sounds like a great way to play it. Almost every game I have played with medium to hard rules evolved into a cooperation between all of the students anyways, with no single player "claiming" victory. I will definitely try it out and see how it goes over.
Yeah, exactly! And if you're a bit advanced at the game you really want to go for the meatier rules anyway.
-
Nick Reymann
United States
Barberton
Ohio
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Crafty Shaman Impersonator
-
After some more plays with the official rules and other variants, we ended up sticking with our original variant, where the student always has the option of making a guess after their koan is graded. At first, we thought a turn-less, pure cooperative version would be fun, but it was a disaster, where two of the four players ended up taking nearly complete control over what was built and not built. Plus, there is quite a bit of fun in being the lucky one who gets to answer correctly, even if you weren't the absolute first to figure it out, so turn-based playing fits just fine.
-
Justus Pang
United States
Houston
Texas
-
Mingy Jongo wrote: After some more plays with the official rules and other variants, we ended up sticking with our original variant, where the student always has the option of making a guess after their koan is graded. At first, we thought a turn-less, pure cooperative version would be fun, but it was a disaster, where two of the four players ended up taking nearly complete control over what was built and not built. Plus, there is quite a bit of fun in being the lucky one who gets to answer correctly, even if you weren't the absolute first to figure it out, so turn-based playing fits just fine.
I could see that, one of the must frustrating / exciting things about Zendo is when you have the answer but your turn just passed so you're praying the other students screw up until your turn comes around to you again!
-
Eric Clason
United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa
-
You might find the designer's design history http://www.koryheath.com/games/zendo/design-history/ interesting. It states that one of the reasons for the 'mondo' was to offer rewards during the game. Also the process of students guessing whether a koan has the Buddha-nature was found to be fun.
-
Nick Reymann
United States
Barberton
Ohio
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Crafty Shaman Impersonator
-
I've actually read that entire essay before and found it very interesting. Still, from the experiences of most people I have played with, they found Mondo to be a trivial addition at best and a flow-stopper at worst. The fun-ness of guessing is still present without Mondos: I'm sure everyone who has played Zendo can recount a moment when another player built a koan that looked like an easy Buddha-nature or not, only for the Master to place the opposite marker down, causing gasps around the table.
-
|
|
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
