[board game] Go. Weigi. Igo. Baduk.

T

TseTse

Veteran X
Anybody here play Go?

Any recommendations for decent software and where to "buy" it?

For those not familiar with go, it's basically the greatest board game of them all. It's extremely simple to learn... but often called the most complicated of them all to master. It's also one of the oldest games.

It can be played in simple 9x9 format or up to 19x19 format.



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Im currently playing with Dariush software, and it is giving me a decent game.

Travace said:
looks like othelo which i have played back in the 80's
Othelo / Reversi game
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ya, othelo seems to be roughly based on it, except that othelo is about LINES of pieces you can capture and Go requires you to surround pieces entirely.

Ive heard folks say that while making a computer program beat grandmasters in chess is very doable, that they dont expect to be able to program a computer to beat the top go players any time soon...
 
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that's because the 19*19 board is over 5x larger than a chess board in terms of spaces, and there are potentially many more pieces / moves possible for any given turn, so exploring the game tree exhaustively is many times more expensive computationaly
 
i used to play it on yahoo games like 5 years ago. a friend of mine got me into it at school. he would look up all these strategies for it and whatnot, and then would get pissed off because a day after teaching me to play I would beat him regularly.
 
Madend said:
that's because the 19*19 board is over 5x larger than a chess board in terms of spaces, and there are potentially many more pieces / moves possible for any given turn, so exploring the game tree exhaustively is many times more expensive computationaly
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Plus it seems that it's very much less about raw linear calculations than it is about broad analysis of space and spatial strategies. It's such a fucking amazing game in that sense, esp if you have software that helps you visualize the current "control" spots.

Here's a pic of the game im currently playing. (yes i suck but ive got a small edge atm)

The computer has to not only analyze the specific linear calculations about how to control different areas, but it must look at the overall board and decide on priorities.

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Dogun said:
This statement is absolutely untrue. It takes a fair bit of learning to identify the end-state of a board, even.
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I mean... you can teach a 5 year old the basic rules and have them play 9x9.

To learn it in the sense of being good is another thing entirely. I used to take chess very seriously, but Go always always has scared the living shit out of me. lol
 
i found this awesome software at the online "store" with a demon tag.

im having trouble beating it at lvl 3 on 13x13. :ugh:

i dont like the japanese scoring system where you include captured pieces in the score. im a bit confused on some of the other rule nuances and "komi."

Here's 13x13 with it showing "hints." It can do a lot of cool analysis and teaching.

16a73ls.jpg



Here's 19x19 showing both "hints" as well as controlled areas. Yes, that's a large handicap...
w6yy53.jpg
 
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TseTse said:
i found this awesome software at the online "store" with a demon tag.

im having trouble beating it at lvl 3 on 13x13. :ugh:

i dont like the japanese scoring system where you include captured pieces in the score. im a bit confused on some of the other rule nuances and "komi."

Here's 13x13 with it showing "hints." It can do a lot of cool analysis and teaching.

16a73ls.jpg



Here's 19x19 showing both "hints" as well as controlled areas. Yes, that's a large handicap...
w6yy53.jpg
Click to expand...

wow u took 5 stones.....


you should play me! ill give you 2 stones!
 
Mitsubishi said:
wow u took 5 stones.....


you should play me! ill give you 2 stones!
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heh.

it wouldnt have made a proper screen without some stones down. im trying not to play 19x19 anyways. i havent played in years so i need to get ok with basic strategies again. my micro sucks. :sunny:
 
I thought I read somewhere that there are more possible moves in Go then there are atoms in the universe... but that doesn't seem right to me.

However, according to wikipedia:
anticipating the next four moves of each possible play (two of its own and two of its opponent's), it would have to consider more than 320 billion (3.2*10^11) possible combinations
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I play Go. Not so much recently, but I played pretty heavily with a group of friends a couple years back.

Here's an idea: Fucking buy it. Also, get a real board, real stones, and real friends to play it with.

Also: Kiseido Go Server.
KGS Go Server
 
Go is the most boring game in the world. As with MMO's, leave it to the uncreative asians to make something as boring and painfully drawn out as possible.
 
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