Again, last night, I am running my weekly Monday Games Night in Durham, NC, and after I left the main venue to go to my favorite pub, I had an inspiration. I busted out a Treehouse stash and this is what happened.... ---------- Title: Single-Stash Zendo This variant is best played with a limited number of people who all present at the game start. This is because it is a one-stash variant and, as such, you will not have enough pieces to build koans to seek the rule or disprove a guess. Starting: Begin as normal, with the Master thinking up a rule and making two koans, one marked as having and one marked as not having the Budda Nature. Determine who goes first any way that's legal in your area--or don't, and let folks shout out as they see fit (but be sure to restrain someone who is machine-gunning rule guesses). Playing: Students do not build koans and do not ask Mondo or Master and do not aquire guessing stones. Instead, on a Student's turn (or whenever a Student shouts out a rule), the Student makes a guess at the rule or passes. If the Student guesses and is incorrect, the Master must adjust one of the two koans to disprove the guess. The Master may add or remove pyramids to make this disproof. Then, it is immediately the next Student's turn--don't let folks double-up and dominate the win! Winning: If the Student's guess matches the Master's rule, that Student has won: shake his or her hand as everyone laughs (or groans). That Student is the next Master (or go in sequence or let the loudest whiner be next). ---------- The folks with whom I sat at the bar playing RAVED about it; and it wasn't long before we were running "freeform," where they were making guesses so quickly that I was almost constantly adjusting one or the other koan. Thoughts? David Artman