Introduction

Zong Shi features the art of Cyril van der Haegen (Magic the Gathering, Arkham Horror, Dragon Rampage, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game) and is the newest game by designer Kevin Nunn, who has brought you such recent Kickstarter hits as Rolling Freight and 1955: The War of Espionage.  Watch the video below to learn more about Zong Shi from the designer himself.

Game Components

Zong Shi will be produced at the same high level of quality as Pastiche and The Road to Canterbury.  The beveled edge, ultra-sturdy box will have a canvas textured exterior, durable plastic insert, and transparent plastic cover to keep the components secure within the box.  Zong Shi is for 3-5 players and will have an MSRP of  $70.00.

The components of Zong Shi include:

• 1 Game board
• 1 Jade-green Buddha (start player marker)
• 5 Master pawns in player colors
• 5 Apprentice pawns in player colors
• 5 Player Workshop boards
• 5 Player Reference cards
• 20 Respectful Visit tokens (four in each player color numbered 1, 2, 2, 3)
• 5 Townsfolk Award tiles
• 32 Project cards
• 12 Masterwork Project cards
• 36 Scrolls of Fortune cards
• 24 Pawn Shop Exchange tiles
• 1 Cloth Chinese bag
• 40 boxes (plastic tiles) of material (ten each of bronze, silver, jade, & gold)

Game Overview

In a large town in old China, several talented artisans, Masters in their own right, aspire to become recognized as Zong Shi—the Grand Master craftsman. You are one of these master artisans and, together with your apprentice; you are competing with the other Masters to attain this elevated status in the town. To succeed, you’ll have to impress the townspeople with your skills. How shall you do it? Will you acquire a specialist’s mastery over certain material, or will you enlarge your workshop? Will you create a large number of smaller projects or will you build fewer, but greater, masterworks? That is for you to decide.

Your creations will require material - bronze, ivory, gold, and jade. You will likely acquire many of these materials from bins at the Marketplace. If the right materials are not available at the Marketplace, you may need to visit the Pawn Shop and exchange for the materials you need.

Scrolls of Fortune from the Temple may be acquired to give you guidance and assistance as you create your works. The support of revered townspeople will gain you popularity and prestige. Respectful Visits to these townsfolk, offering them appropriate gifts, will earn their support.

Manage your opportunities better than your rival Masters, and you will become the town’s new Zong Shi!

Rewards

Backing Zong Shi will allow you to acquire a number of exclusive game components that will only be available for this Kickstarter project.  The first exclusive component is a representation of this project within the game, so you can help Zong Shi succeed both in real life and in the game!  In addition to the project card you can also receive two additional Scrolls of Fortune not found in the game.  (see below)

Both the project card and the Scroll of Fortune cards are exclusive to this Kickstarter Project and will never be reprinted again for any purpose.

In addition to the exclusive rewards you can also get the Limited Edition Black Master and Apprentice.  These figures will be produced in a limited quantity and will only be available via Kickstarter or for possible future sale directly from the publisher.

Game Play Basics

Zong Shi combines a number of strategic elements such as worker placement, resource management, and project completion into a cohesive, exciting, and most importantly, fun game.  In Zong Shi you try to score the most victory points by using your Master and Apprentice to acquire goods in the marketplace to complete artistic works.  Visits to town elders allow you to acquire Scrolls of Fortune that grant special rewards and abilities.  The game ends the round after any player completes a sixth project and the player with most victory points wins.

Click here to view the complete rules for Zong Shi

A Commitment to Quality

Gryphon Games is committed to producing games of the highest quality, both in production and game play.  We feel it is important that people who buy Zong Shi receive a game that is well made and will be in playable condition for many years.  Due to this commitment to quality,  Zong Shi is more expensive to produce than most games, however we refuse to skimp on the production and feel that Zong Shi can only be produced using the best printing, box and components available.

The Production Staff at Gryphon Games

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