The zetii spend a great deal of their time engaged in activities they enjoy, much more than humans typically do. This is a result of their lifestyle choice; without needing to devote time to collecting or creating possessions, they have a great deal of time to play, relax or make love.
The zetii are very spontaneous and will often invent games on the spot based on whatever they are talking about or find. There are also favourite traditional games, ranging from simple children’s games of tag to complex mental competitions. Debates can be popular, as are acted-out stories, similar to a human play. Zetii tend to have two specific forms of these; the traditional, ancient tales that are presented word for word, and less formal, more flexible forms, where the actors are applauded based on their witty improvisations at the time.
The range of games available for adults is wide, with some involving physical prowess, such as jumping, deep diving or speed swimming. Others are purely mental in nature, while others combine both physical and mental challenges. One such example would be memoranii, an old game once only played by scholars, but one that has become very popular in recent years. The game is explained in more detail here to illustrate the demands some zetii games place on participants.
Memoranii is complex, involving the lead player or “Head” first completing a linked series of moves, all within an imaginary zone or bubble. Then one or more other players must replicate the sequence. A typical standard adult game involves 32 moves, so the followers or “Tails” have to concentrate hard to remember the sequence, but their lives are made more complex as during their performance of the sequence the Head can command them to reverse direction, to perform the sequence in mirror image, or to skip any number of steps. Experts may play up to 256-move games.
In a more adventurous version of the game, the zone occupied by each Tail is deliberately placed so that it overlaps that of their neighbour. Usually, this is done in two dimensions (eg the zones all touch the seabed) but they can be distributed in three dimensions so a Tail might even have other overlapping zones on six sides of their own. This means that the Head can try to catch them out and create situations where their paths may cross. The Head loses if he or she gave a command that would make the players collide if they follow it correctly, but a good Head can try to create a sequence that makes it likely that the Tails will make a mistake and cross each other’s paths. The Tail making the least errors would then win that stage of the game.
Memoranii has been one of the most popular games at Ka-Tse Gatherings since around 11,200 pGA and the best players are thought very highly of.