These techniques are introduced in the first “tree” (which is what a set of levels are called). There are other various ways to paint the object other than covering it with a rope. Thankfully, the developers don’t expect perfection from us and give us that 1% relief! While Angry Birds has three stars, Zen Bound has three benchmarks to reach: 70%, 85%, and 99%. Similar to the repetitive and frustrating experience of attempting to get three stars on all of the levels in Angry Birds, I found myself attempting to reach 99% painted on every level before I went on to the next. The goal now becomes clear: attempt to paint as much of the object as possible. When the rope is in contact with the object, paint shows up in an area a bit bigger than the rope itself. So what are the specifics of this rope wrapping game? The rope is actually “painting” the wooden object. But I found out that it’s impossible to judge the gameplay experience of these apps just by their pictures. My first reaction of the game wasn’t far off it really does consist of wrapping a rope around various wooden objects.

When Zen Bound 2 was released and I decided to discover what was going on. It’s just wrapping a rope around various wooden sculptures, right? That’s what I decided, and so I never got around to playing it.

When I saw the first iteration of this game, I scanned through the pictures and reviews and wondered why it was so popular.

Zen bound 2