Zen Master
Zen Master Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Material
- 24 black matches
- 24 white matches
- 10 Score Cards
- 50 Number Cards
- Extra materials required: just a pencil and paper
3–5 players, ages 8–99, 30 minutes.
Objective of the Game
In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang represent two opposing forces within us. In ZenMaster, the player who best succeeds in balancing these two forces will be the winner.
1. Setting Up the Game
- Play as many games as there are players. Select one player as the first dealer, then dealership progresses clockwise. Each player will be the dealer at least once per game.
- The Dealer shuffles the Score Cards and places them as a face down deck in the middle. All the matches are placed aside in easy reach. Then the dealer shuffles the Number Cards and deals a hand of nine cards to each player. Players look at their cards without revealing them to their opponents. The remaining Number Cards are discarded face down to one side.
2. Playing the Game
- The player to the left of the dealer turns over the first Score Card from the deck. Then he leads the first trick – he selects one card from his hand and places it face up in front of him. In clockwise order, all other players place one of their cards in front of them. When all players have displayed one card, the player with the highest Number Card receives as many black matches as indicated on the Score Card, and the player with the lowest Number Card receives as many white matches as indicated on the Score Card. The matches are displayed in front of the players.
- After the trick, all the open Number Cards and the open Score Card are discarded face down to one side. Then the player to the left of the new dealer turns over the next Score Card and leads the next trick.
- When a player holds white matches, he returns them in pairs of one white and one black match until he only holds matches of one colour. These matches indicate how much he is out of balance.
3. End of the Game
- The game ends after nine tricks – the last Score Card is not used. Then the players score the number of matches they hold. The result of each player is recorded on a note pad. The fewer matches a player scores, the better. If a player succeeds in scoring 0, the highest of his earlier results is erased.
- Before the next game starts, all matches are returned.
- When all games have been played, the player with the lowest total score is the winner.
4. Variants
- Each player receives ten cards. As before, the game ends after nine tricks. The last card is not used.
- If at least one player succeeds in scoring "0", each other player receives a penalty of 2 additional sticks for that round.