A: First of all, it is not recommended to play this game unless the players are familiar with the game in question. This is because the fun lies in the “ah-hah!” moment where you recognize the structures as coming from the other game.
It’s possible for a moderator to run these without knowing the game in question, based on these guidelines, but definitely subpoptimal, as it will be much easier to recognize whether the structures match the game in question if they also know the game. Even a moderator who knows the game in question might want some clarification given in Zendo terminology, and that’s why this page is here.
Section titles link to the full rules for each game.
In Homeworlds, all structures must have exactly one “Star” and at least one “Starship,” where a Star is defined as either a single upright or a stack of two different color pieces where the top piece is the same size or smaller than the bottom one, and a Starship is defined as a flat. All Starships next to a Star must either all be pointing in the same direction, or in one of two opposite directions. There must not be more than three pieces of any given color in the structure.
Ideally, you’d play this with exactly four colors: red, yellow, green, and blue. If other colors are used for Homeworlds, they are mapped to those four. If, by chance, you’re playing Zendo with alternate or more than four colors, decide which will map to those, and only structures with those four colors follow the rule.
A structure must contain exactly one upright or exactly one stack. A stack cannot have a larger piece on top of a smaller piece. A stack cannot be all one color.
A structure must contain exactly one large, one medium, and one small, all the same color, and all in a line. The pieces must upright or flat. If upright, they can be stacked (in any order). If flat, they must not be chained, and must be pointing either one direction or the other along the line of pieces.
All pieces must be grounded and unchained, and either flat or upright. All flat pieces must be pointing at an upright of a different color (possibly through other pieces).