Zen Koi

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Are there important things I should be doing? Yes.

Did I decide to take advantage of the new phone actually having space for a frivolous app? Yeah.

Is it possible that I'm a smidge embarrassed by how much I like the game so far? Maybe.

Zen Koi

It's Zen Koi from LandShark Games.

It doesn't take a lot of skill, really. It's not fast paced. You play as a koi, level up by eating different food items in the pond (to increase your speed and agility), and if you eat certain food items, you can make gems that will expand the pond (introducing new food). Once you get the last pond expansion, the koi levels up to a dragon, and really, if you do it once, you've probably covered most of what will happen in the game. The part that changes and keeps most people interested on repeating the whole cycle is that you can breed your koi with those introduced in the game and collect the different patterns. (Your rarity stat influences whether the mate will be common or rare.)

Granted, this depends on whether you have an empty slot on your egg list, which can only hold eight eggs, so it's entirely possible that your koi can ascend to a dragon without a mate being introduced to the pond. (One workaround to this is to ascend the koi on your 'My Koi' list, which only starts out with three slots, because dragons have a separate list, and an empty koi slot means you can hatch an egg. Or you can buy additional koi slots with the in-game currency [pearls].)

Did I find out that I'm a few years too late to trying this game, so most info is aimed at Zen Koi 2? Unfortunately. I think Zen Koi came out in 2015 and Zen Koi 2 left beta in 2018, maybe? Most content about Zen Koi seems to be dated to 2016 at any rate.

Anyway. This is the landing post for personal chatter about the game, which will be in the comments. I highly doubt that I'll be playing this on an aggressive collector approach.

Game started: 1 Jan 2021 || Originally posted on Pillowfort: 2 Jan 2021 || Archived here on Dreamwidth: 19 Sept 2024

Comments

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2 Jan 2021 (2:45 am, EST): Well, buying more slots on the Egg List does not seem possible.

Starting Koi Slots on the My Koi List: 3. Starting amount of Pearls: 15.

Ways to earn Pearls:

• When your koi swims pass a white flower [revisiting old sections of the pond after it's been expanded], it will bloom and might reveal one of four types of boosters, either base gem (speeding up pond expansion), or 1 Pearl. You have to swim to the bonus to claim it.
• Ascending a koi to a dragon. (Currently, I've earned 1 Pearl per dragon, but that might change based on common vs rare color patterns.)
• Watching a video advertisement earns 1 Pearl. (See bottom for note.)
• Paying IRL money to buy a certain amount of Pearls. This will also remove all advertisements from your game play.
• Reward for unlocking an Achievement (a certain color pattern), finishing a koi collection, or finishing a dragon collection. Amount varies.

Price for Buying Koi Slots:

• Slot 4: 10 Pearls [Met]
• Slot 5: 25 Pearls [Met]
• Slot 6: 50 Pearls [Met - 2 Jan 2021, approximately 5:30 pm]

According to the My Koi wiki page, future prices will be:

• Slot 7: 100 Pearls [Met - 3 Jan 2021, time unknown]
• Slot 8: 200 Pearls [Met - 6 Jan 2021, 12:30 pm]
• Slot 9: 500 Pearls [Met - 17 Jan 2021, time unknown]
• Slot 10: 1,000 Pearls

Note: I had thought I saw someone mention a 20 ad per day limit, so I had worked out the number of days to max out video ads to earn that many Pearls: 5, 10, 25, and 50 days (90 days total). However, I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is right now (keeping in mind that most posts are from 2016). I'm not keeping track, so I don't know how many Pearls from other activities to deduct, but I wasn't stopped at 20 ads today.

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22 Jan 2021, 2:50 pm (EST): Once you add the 9th slot, the Egg List will (sometimes) only let you have 7 eggs at a time, but it won't give you an indication that your Egg List is full (like it does when you reach 8 out of 8). I'm probably not going to buy the 10th slot if it means I'll only have 6 egg slots available (some of the time).

ETA: I'm not sure if it's due to WiFi issues or what, but it's not a guarantee that I've only had 7 egg slots available. Other times, it lets me have the full 8.

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2 Jan 2021 (3:10 am, EST): There's something vaguely unsettling about the prey not having an official name, and the names in the wiki pages change from 1 to 2 because game file titles are used for Zen Koi 2's wiki (not linked below).

• Green Fish or Tadpole.
• Blue Fish or Dart Fish (cyan).
• Amoeba or Sticky. It's a pale green circle with a darker green dot inside and eight appendages that stick out straight.
• Jellyfish (aka Jellies) or Jellyfish (orange). To me, it's a pale brown and doesn't usually look like a nice bell-shaped jellyfish like in the chart.
• Diving Beetle or Boatman.
• In agreement on the Puffer Fish.
• Leafy Fish or Leaf Fish.
• Flying Fish or Angel Fish.
• Rock Fish or Shield Fish.
• Double-Tailed Fish or Up Down Fish.

Hm.

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Or as I unhelpfully call'em: Dark Green, Skinny, Light Green, 'Brown thing?', Beetle, that fuckin' Puffer Fish, Leaf, Winged Fish (or Flyer), Armored Fish, and 'Vaguely pretty thing'.

Also, there are are a total of 23 prey in Zen Koi 2, so that's why colors are indicated in the names. A white version of 'Sticky' is a Snowflake, there's at least one other color Jellyfish, and a tweaked version of the Angel Fish with a halo is called Halo Fish, for example. Based on looking at the wiki page, it also doesn't seem like a guarantee that you'll always meet certain prey in certain Pond levels.

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2 Jan 2021 (1 pm, EST): I'm doing the "I went into this game cold with no strategy or prior knowledge of the game play involved" strategy.

This means that I let my first few koi breed with all available mates, filled up my Egg List super quickly, had to ascend koi to dragons without letting some color patterns breed, and probably will mean I won't finish this particular koi collection.

Apparently, there's a clone feature, so you can keep a particular color pattern to finish getting all possible color patterns from offspring while ascending the original koi to dragon. I know there's a release option after your koi have bred and you see the possible offspring (details on the Egg List), and it's possible to release a koi after it's hatched if you get a repeat. That's just not quite useful yet because I've just started out and have zero repeats, you know?

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Breeding note: Once your koi has leveled up to level 4, it's an adult. Mates will appear once you're at the halfway point in a level. Mates will not appear (and you'll get a notification telling you that a mate can't come yet) if your Egg List is full, but they also may not appear if you're leveling up in one of the smaller pond levels (prior mate is "too close"), you've just hatched one of the eggs (offspring are "too close"), or you leveled up your koi too quickly.

~

Breeding quibble: There's got to be some nerdy notes about what color patterns will produce each possible offspring out there that I'm just not finding right now. I'm not sure if I should ascend a particular koi without worrying about breeding it because I've already got its possible offspring or not. (You'd think with certain Achievements being a direct result of breeding certain color patterns would mean someone's got notes out there.)

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2 Jan 2021 (1:25 pm, EST): Pond Progression (AKA you don't necessarily have to eat a prey once it's introduced). Tapping the prey will cause a white circle and your koi will automatically follow them in the most direct route, which might take it through the red kelp that slows it down (red edges on the screen, eyes close, and apparently painful). Having a white circle also clues the prey in, and most will try to swim away.

Note: Once you've finished making the gem(s) to expand the pond, your koi will automatically swim to the next level's symbol (the gem(s) will circle your koi). If you tap the screen and interrupt the auto-swimming (and don't want to try to find the symbol on your own), the notification bit on the bottom (where level up notices and other info show up) can be tapped and you can select the 'Deliver the gems' option to restart the auto-swimming.

Pond Level 1 (Start): Tadpoles and Dart Fish.

When starting out, you might not have a high enough speed stat to directly chase the Dart Fish, so approaching from the side will help. If you swim close and tap the prey at the last moment, you might do better until you can level up your speed and agility stats.

Progression Requirement: Eat 3 Dart Fish and 6 Tadpoles.

1 Dart Fish + 2 Tadpoles = 1 white gem. 3 white gems = Activate swirly triskelion symbol.

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I'm not sure if the progression requirements change randomly or if it's tied into the color pattern of the fish, but these notes relate to the Sutato Koi.

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Pond Level 2 (swirly triskelion symbol): Tadpoles, Dart Fish, and introduce Green Amoebas and Jellies.

Green Amoebas will follow and 'stick' to other prey (you can eat several prey at one time). They also will follow and try to stick to you, but if you stop moving, they'll leave. Out of all of these prey, Green Amoebas won't really try to evade being eaten.

Progression Requirement: Eat 12 Tadpoles, 12 Jellies, and 12 Green Amoebas or Dart Fish.

4 Tadpoles + 4 Jellies = 1 blue gem (with one dot).

4 Green Amoebas = 1 yellow gem; 4 Dart Fish = 1 red gem.

3 blue gems + 3 yellow or red gems = Activate stylized sun (circle with eight small circles connected to it).

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Pond Level 3 (stylized sun): Tadpoles, Dart Fish, Green Amoebas, Jellies, and introduce Diving Beetles.

Progression Requirement: Eat 15 Jellies, 15 Dart Fish, 15 Beetles, and 15 Tadpoles or Green Amoebas.

5 Tadpoles + 5 Jellies = 1 blue gem (with one dot); 5 Dart Fish + 5 Beetles = 1 red gem (with one dot).

Or: 5 Green Amoebas + 5 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (with one dot); 5 Dart Fish + 5 Jellies = 1 red gem (with one dot).

3 red gems + 3 blue or yellow gems = Activate stylized 'S'.

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Pond Level 4 (Stylized 'S'): Dart Fish, Green Amoebas, Tadpoles, Jellies, Diving Beetles, and introduce Puffer Fish.

You have to approach Puffer Fish directly from behind. Off at an angle, from the side, or directly from the front, and the Puffer Fish will puff out and not be able to be eaten. This means you need to manually swim into position and then tap on the Puffer Fish at the last moment to avoid the direct path leading to puffing out.

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Puffer Fish, 24 Jellies, 12 Tadpoles, and 12 Beetles.

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Jellies = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 6 Beetles = 1 blue gem (one dot).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (one dot) = Activate simple flower.

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Pond Level 5 (simple flower): Green Amoebas, Tadpoles, Jellies, Diving Beetles, Puffer Fish, and introduce Leaf Fish.

They disappear inside the green leafy plants, so there's no point continuing to follow them if they head to one.

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Puffer Fish, 24 Jellies, 12 Leafy Fish or 12 Green Amoebas, and 12 Beetles.

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Jellies = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Leafy Fish + 6 Beetles = 1 orange gem (one dot). Or: 6 Green Amoebas + 6 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 orange gems (one dot) or 1 yellow gem (two dots) = Activate stylized eye.

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Pond Level 6 (stylized eye): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, and introduce Flying Fish.

Once you tap on them and they're actively avoiding you, they can have a burst of speed. If you wait on tapping them, you might be able to position yourself inside their arcs, since they tend to travel in wide circles when not swimming away.

Progression Requirements: 24 Green Amoeba, 24 Diving Beetles, 24 Puffer Fish, and 24 Flying Fish.

6 Green Amoeba + 6 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Flying Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 yellow gems (two dots) + 2 purple gems (two dots) = Activate four swirls with halfway lines.

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Pond Level 7 (four swirls with halfway lines): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, Flying Fish, and introduce Armored Fish.

I'm not entirely sure if there's a way to reduce how many bites you need to knock off all of the 'armor' scales on their back (like there is in Zen Koi 2), but most often, you'll need to tap 4 times (3 bites before eating). Occasionally, you'll need to tap 5 times (4 bites before eating).

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Flying Fish, 24 Puffer Fish, 12 Armored Fish, and 24 Leaf Fish or Tadpoles. Or 24 Green Amoebas, 24 Flying Fish, 24 Tadpoles, and 12 Armored Fish.

6 Leaf Fish + 6 Flying Fish = 1 orange gem (with one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 orange gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 orange gems (two dots)= Activate simplified Icelandic sigil.

Or:

6 Tadpoles + 6 Flying Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots)= Activate sigil.

Or:

6 Green Amoebas + 6 Flying Fish = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 3 Armored Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

2 yellow gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots) = Activate sigil.

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Pond Level 8 (simplified Icelandic sigil): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, Flying Fish, Armored Fish, and introduce Doubled-Tailed Fish.

There's not really anything special about hunting them, but Double-Tailed Fish give you the most experience towards leveling up (I think you max out at 21).

Progression Requirements: Eat 12 Armored Fish, 24 Double-Tailed Fish, 24 Puffer Fish or Leaf Fish, and 24 Green Amoebas or Tadpoles.

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Green Amoebas + 6 Double-Tailed Fish = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 yellow gems (two dots) = Activate flower inside circle sigil (ascend to dragon).

Or:

6 Leaf Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 orange gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 orange gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 6 Double-Tailed Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

2 orange gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots) = Activate flower inside circle sigil (ascend to dragon).

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4 Jan 2021 (1 am, EST): Koi collections, Breeds, Awards/Achievements, and Collector's Koi.

Breeds

Okay, so, you start out with one of the Sutato Breed. The prototype shown next to your collection heading under My Collection shows a Shikuro pattern for each Breed. Shikuro Sutato is a koi with a white body, fins, and tail, and the pattern is the three splotches and end segment near the tail and the head that's black.



Breeds are described as chained or progressive, depending on which game info you look at, because you have to hatch 5 of the current Breed before a mate will be sent with the next Breed's pattern. (There are 21 Breeds after Sutato, but I don't think I need to describe them all right now.) The next one I've encountered is Bux, which has box like segments down its back in its pattern color.

Collection

You start with one collection for the 16 Common types of Sutato (red, white, black, or yellow bodies, and those same options for the color patterns), but if you get a Rare type, that will have its own separate collection with different colors possible (still totaling 16).

There's a section for Awards (or Achievements outside of the game) for breeding certain color patterns. Under Sutato, there are three: Shishiro Sutato gets an Ice Award [white on white; the pattern looks like a silver/grey], and Akadai Sutato gets a Fire Award [red on red; the pattern looks more like a red-orange]. Both of those are Common, while Shiao Sutato [blue on white; the pattern is a pale blue] is Rare.

You don't get an award under the Award menu, but you do get a reward of Pearls (and Dragon Points) if you finish a koi collection. Once you've ascended all of them to dragons, you also get a reward under the Dragons menu.

Collector's Koi

All of this is parallel to the Collector's Koi, which is a section with it's own patterns that have Common and Rare collections of their own. As you build up Dragon Points, you unlock certain patterns that you can buy in the Shop, but it's also possible to encounter certain ones during certain seasons or have them show up in your inbox. Because I installed the game and starting playing on New Year's Day, I got an Ōmisoka in my inbox, which looks like it has firework bursts as its pattern. I suspect that the next holiday koi will be Kokoro, which has a heart on its head and a section around its eyes in its pattern color.

Awards

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Awards:

2 Jan 2021: The Ice Award for breeding a Shishiro Sutato [white pattern on white].

3 Jan 2021: The Fire Award for breeding an Akadai Sutato [red pattern on red].

14 Jan 2021, 6:50 pm (EST): The Bruce Lee Award for breeding a Kikuro Linea [black pattern on yellow].

15 Jan 2021, 2:30 am (EST): The Black Box Award for breeding a Shikuro Bux [black pattern on white].

22 Jan 2021, 2:50 pm (EST): The Yang Award for breeding a Shikuro Tancho [black pattern on white].

26 Jan 2021, 10:15 am (EST): The Yin Award for breeding a Kushiro Tancho [white pattern on black].

3 Feb 2021, 1:10 am (EST): Hajiro Award for Kukuro Shusui [black pattern on black].

Achievements

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Achievements:

4 Jan 2021, 12:30 am (EST): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Sutato koi.

- 5 Jan 2021, 1:40 am (EST): I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Sutato koi to dragons.

11 Jan 2021, 11 am (EST): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Ōmisoka koi.

- 11 Jan 2021, ~12 pm (EST): I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Ōmisoka koi to dragons.

16 Jan 2021, 1:15 am (EST): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Bux koi.

- 16 Jan 2021, 5:30 pm (EST): I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Bux koi to dragons.

22 Jan 2021, 11:50 pm (EST): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Linea koi.

- 23 Jan 2021, 3 am (EST): I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Linea koi to dragons.

28 Jan 2021, 2:10 pm (EST): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Tancho koi.

- 3 Feb 2021, 1 am (EST): I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Tancho koi to dragons.

25 June 2021, 11 am (EDT): I finished breeding all 16 of the Common Shusui koi.

- 1 July 2021, time unknown: I finished ascending all 16 of the Common Shusui koi to dragons.

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Archival note: I originally posted this over on Pillowfort on the 2nd of January of 2021 with various comments (and edits to comments) until about June 2021. This has been archived here on Dreamwidth on 19 September 2024.

The only change that I should note is that I was incorrect about only being able to take a koi to level 21 or 22. It's possible to hold off on that final gem and continue trying to breed your koi, but it starts to take longer and longer to reach higher levels. I only know of someone going up to level 31 before it started to take too long to hit the halfway point for having a mate be sent to the pond.

Why did I stop playing this game around June 2021? Honestly, trying to complete the full collection of each pattern was starting to break out old perfectionist tendencies, and it was no longer being a fun, low-stress game. I still occasionally like to play in my mom's game, but it's hard to really dive back in to mine with incomplete collections.

Completed: