About Zenjin
Zenjin is a free experimental puzzle game you can play directly in your browser. Put stones on the game board and attempt to match them to score points. The game requires no download or account and works on desktop and mobile browsers.
How to Play
Click on the board to place a white stone. Stack two black frames to create a black stone. Combine at least 3 white stones or 3 black stones to clear the space and score points. You cannot place a stone on a black space.
Tips
Trying to create black stones is harder but gives more points. A safe strategy is to get quickly rid of the white stones, as they clear the black frames they generated when they leave. Enjoy the koi fish and the floating leaves, it’s also part of the game.
Designer’s Notes
I made Zenjin as an experiment in minimalist gameplay. The idea was to have very little game play elements to juggle with; in the beginning, I had only black and white stones, like the classic ‘go’ game, but it felt a bit easy to only try to match these pieces, so I added the frame mechanic and the choice to generate a black stone. Scoring had to be calibrated accordingly; I ended up adding a combo system to reward big clears else the game would often end up in the same score range.
It is possible to play a lot of moves and still end up with zero points, which I find interesting, as the visual ended up being an old wooden board floating on a river, with fish passing underneath. I guess I unconsciously was trying to capture the essence of zen detachment and make a game about it in a short burst.