The only valid attributes are the observable ones, but generally you are observing an image of a pyramid koan. The image is not the koan. The image is a picture of the true koan, and the master must honestly answer questions of fact regarding the true koan. (“Are those two pieces actually touching?” “What colors and sizes are found in this koan?”)
Image Zendo on SDG is nearly always used for pyramid Zendo, but any images may be used. The master will tell you what makes a koan allowable in the dojo.
Masters should inform students if the image itself is the koan, so that features such as a pyramid going out of frame, reflecting or transmitting light from another pyramid, casting a shadow on another pyramid, or pointing right or left, are known to be observable.
Only observable attributes of the words are valid. Language, meaning, and pronunciation are not relevant, since they can't be observed in the dojo.
There is no reason foreign languages or even gibberish can't be used as koans. The Master will tell you what's allowed to be a koan.
In cases of foreign languages, accents are usually ignored.
Capitalization and punctuation are usually ignored.
Whitespace is often ignored except in that it separates one word from the next.
Vowels are usually AEIOU.
The order of letters in the alphabet may be important. That is, in terms of the Spock rule, Spock is assumed to know the order of the alphabet.
Koans should usually consist of no more than 5 words as excessive length can over-cloud the rule.
Some masters have tried dojos in which the meaning of words is an observable attribute, but this is more nebulous than is desirable for Zendo. Not everybody agrees about the meanings of even everyday words.
If the master is using a dictionary or other reference work (Wikipedia, say, or Google) to determine the Buddha nature, the master must disclose this to the students.
Only numbers are allowed. Some require math, others won't.
Many number zendo dojos use only integers, and often only positive integers.
Consider factoring into primes, bases other than base 10, number of digits, number of odd digits, ….
Consider transforming the koan in some simple way: writing it backwards, removing every second digit, removing every even digit, adding 3 to it, putting a '3' in front of its last digit, ….
If the master allows numbers with leading zeros or decimals, that may tell you something about the nature of the rule.
If a koan has fewer attributes, it's easier to see what's going on; generally, this means 7 will tell you more than 42, which will tell you much more than 12346273.
See the
Zendo page on the Icehouse games fan site for a glossary of Zendo terminology. This is helpful when considering the rules that are possible.
Past Zendo rules used in SDG games are archived and can be good for getting ideas.
The Zendomizer can help you make some interesting Icehouse Zendo rules.
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Zendo need not use pyramids exclusively. Another popular variant is Text Zendo, where koans are comprised of words instead of pyramids. This is the default format for Zendo challenges on SDG. Number Zendo and Image Zendo are available as variants.
The user who issues the challenge will be the master. Players who are new to Zendo should play a few games first before issuing a challenge.
SDG Zendo supports 2-5 students.
Image zendo koans have an optional annotation, which most browsers show when the mouse pointer hovers over the image.
Only the master can change the pop-up text of a koan in the dojo, by clicking on the koan label; but a student can submit an annotation when submitting a koan. That description lets a student submit an ambiguous image but choose to specify either “touching” or “very close but not touching”, for example.
Students in the dojo may click on the koan label to reach the koan tagging page. Any number of tags may be defined by the student and applied to any koans in the dojo; the student may subsequently filter out koans according to tags. Tags are like notes, private, so nobody else can see that you're interested in which koans have exactly two orange pieces.
