Zendo, play by forum

[Proxima]

I'm sorry. I didn't want to start an argument or anything.

WillLem, since Silken has passed it up it's your turn.

[WillLem]

I'm sorry. I didn't want to start an argument or anything.

No problem, it's all good it's been highlighted a couple of times recently that the rule master should be able to decline any guess they consider not to be in the spirit of the game, or at least ask the player to revise their guess. Maybe we can proceed with that in mind going forward.

@Simon - if people agree, maybe this could be added to the rules in the OP?

Anyways. New round, then!

Having The Buddha Nature
NOT

Lacking The Buddha Nature
KNOT

[Ramon]

AKHTBN if each consonant is adjacent to at least one vowel!

[Proxima]

KKNOT
NKOT
NOKT
NOTK

[Simon]

I think WillLem found a good and unintrusive wording: The rule master may decline koans (and, by extension, batch-tests of koans) for being too far away from the spirit of the game.

I'll sleep over it, and then add that to the game rules. Tabletop Zendo has a surprisingly similar clarification: The master may disallow a physical koan from being built if there is not enough space on the table for it.

A guiding light is that the players should be efficient. Tabletop Zendo entices efficiency with its turn order; your opponents get to take a turn every time after you do. If you want to test all 24 single-piece koans (4 colors, 3 sizes, and each either upright or flat), you'll need 24 turns, and the match will be over by then.

The alternative is to embrace early mass-testing. The master should provide not only the 2 starting koans, but also the 260 same-letter koans up to length 10, the remaining 650 two-letter koans xy, all 650 of the form xyyyyyyy for x ≠ y, and the remaining 300 possible koans of consecutive letters, e.g., KLMNOP. It's a different game. I wouldn't mind playing this, but that would need infrastructure. The forum thread itself would be the limitation here!

-- Simon

[WillLem]

The rule master may decline koans (and, by extension, batch-tests of koans) for being too far away from the spirit of the game.

I'll sleep over it, and then add that to the game rules.

Yes, we'll also likely get a sense of what's generally considered "in spirit" as we play more rounds with different rulemasters.

AKHTBN if each consonant is adjacent to at least one vowel!

Alas, FLY contains no vowels and yet has the Buddha nature.

Having The Buddha Nature
FLY
NOT

Lacking The Buddha Nature
KNOT
KKNOT
NKOT
NOKT
NOTK

[Proxima]

It's tempting to make the obvious guess, but let's try something less obvious....

A koan has the Buddha-nature if it contains at most two of the letters {A, K, H, T, B, N}.

[WillLem]

It's tempting to make the obvious guess, but let's try something less obvious....

A koan has the Buddha-nature if it contains at most two of the letters {A, K, H, T, B, N}.

To choose a single counterexample from that group involving letters already in the white koans, NT does not have the Buddha nature.

Having The Buddha Nature
FLY
NOT

Lacking The Buddha Nature
KNOT
KKNOT
NKOT
NOKT
NOTK
NT

Out of interest, what was "the obvious guess" going to be?

[Silken Healer]

AKHTBN iff it's a proper English word and if it's a homophone it's the shortest possible of all the words it could sound like

[Proxima]

Out of interest, what was "the obvious guess" going to be?

"A koan has the Buddha-nature if it does not contain K." Fortunately, your counterexample works equally well to disprove that.

NO
OT
TON

[WillLem]

AKHTBN iff it's a proper English word and if it's a homophone it's the shortest possible of all the words it could sound like

BOW is shorter than BOUGH, has no shorter homophone, is a proper English word, and does not have the Buddha nature.

Having The Buddha Nature
FLY
NO
NOT

Lacking The Buddha Nature
BOW
KNOT
KKNOT
NKOT
NOKT
NOTK
NT
OT
TON

[Proxima]

FLEA
KOAN
ON
TO

[Silken Healer]

WHITEKOAN
BLACKKOAN
AKOANHASTHEBUDDHANATURE
AKOANHASTHEBUDDAHNATUREIFF
AKOANHASTHEBUDDAHNATUREIFANDONLYIF
OHNO
HONO
PEAS
OHNOMORELEMMINGS
HONOMORELEMMINGS
ONOMATOPOEIA

[Ramon]

N

[WillLem]

Time for the Koan Formatter!

Having The Buddha Nature:
  FLY
  NO
  NOT
  ON
  TO

Lacking The Buddha Nature:
  AKOANHASTHEBUDDAHNATUREIFANDONLYIF    KKNOT   OHNO
  AKOANHASTHEBUDDAHNATUREIFF            KNOT    OHNOMORELEMMINGS
  AKOANHASTHEBUDDHANATURE               N       ONOMATOPOEIA
  BLACKKOAN                             NKOT    OT
  BOW                                   NOKT    PEAS
  HONO                                  NOTK    TON
  HONOMORELEMMINGS                      NT      WHITEKOAN