Go is a board game invented in China about four thousand years ago, making it one of the oldest board games currently played (along with Mankala, which is about as old, some say).  It was introduced to Korea and Japan just a few centuries ago, where it has become extremely popular, but was mostly unknown in Europe and America until the end of the last century, when O Korschelt, a German, wrote a treatise on the game, which has been translated into English.  Go is now increasing in popularity in the West.

The rules are very simple, comparable to Checkers, but strategically, the game is more comparable to Chess.  Also (like Chess), there is a large body of literature on the strategy of the game, most of it in Japanese, but much of this is being translated into English and other European languages.

This self-extracting archive file for Windows contains a program that will play a teaching version of the game (all of the standard rules, but on a reduced-size board).  The program contains a description of the game, an example game, and a brief tutorial.  It is actually an unabashed advertisement for The Many Faces of Go, which has an even more extensive tutorial, as well as test exercises and more sample games.  This sample program plays on a 9-line (teaching) board, with four levels of difficulty, while the full MFoG program plays on boards with 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, or (the standard) 19 lines, with twenty levels of difficulty.

Mindy McAdams has written an excellent introduction to the game, which you may enjoy reading.

There is a large amount of information about the game on the GoWeb, (the index to which is maintained by Ken Warkentyne), including playing equipment, places to buy books and equipment, and additional web sites dedicated to the game.  There is even information on ways to play the game through the Internet, such as the No-Name Go Server and Internet Go Server.

Steve@Steve-and-Pattie.Com

Since 16 Apr 2000, this page has been read times.