Life In 19x19

Thanks for the pictures, I really appreciate the one with the beat up Goban and "fancy" bowls, I wish I could go and play there!
Yeah that's just what I was going to say. Hiroshima picture 2, the board, containers and stones look so humble and beautiful. I wonder what move black next made. Will he ...

I'm only replying to you since you wrote so much and asked me questions.

If my comments have genuinely disappointed you then I'm sorry. I also agree with everything you've said. This is the first, and I believe, the last time I'll be putting my foot in a contentious issue though, so I doubt I'll be ...

Thanks for re-iterating my point. What is about that which you don't understand?
Sarcasm aside, are you being difficult on purpose?
I understand what you say, just don't see how this solves the problem any better. If there even is a problem. Which was the point of my post, not the fact that I don ...

If hiding your opponent's clock had been the default way* to play from the beginning, then there would be no "gaming" the other player and making quick moves when you know, for instance, that they are running out of time. Note that, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, even pros apparently ...

Sorry for bumping this but it's a headsup in case anyone missed it, the campaign ends in 3 days. I wouldn't recommend this boardgame here if I wasn't certain that the community might appreciate it. As the designer has said, he was heavily influenced by Go and it shows. This is like the spiritual ...

I live in the UK and although I am lucky not to have a river running down my road, I find something even more surreal than the weather. Last Christmas I seem to remember it snowing in the Middle East. It's such a sad state of affairs.

Thank you, that was fascinating and the pictures were beautiful! Considering how invaluable those stones and boards are, I'm not sure I'd ever feel comfortable playing with them.

Actually I thought about it again and I think it's a great idea.

I don't know the history of how timing go games evolved (although I believe this forum would have been a good place to start asking) but it would have been fairer for both the players and the game if the opponent's clock was ...

Polama wrote:Yeah, I think you're right that handicap stones are still beneficial. Which is really counter-intuitive given that you're trying to lose, but it does seem that more stones lets you lose more precisely.

It's like learning to walk; a controlled fall

For what it's worth, I never try to rush my opponent or abuse how much time they have left. Although I also don't play very often, but when I do, I play for 30-40 minutes on IGS, where my opponents are generally quicker than me .

Anyway I think this might be an amusing way to play once or twice but ...

Twisting my melon man. You know these ideas are twisting my melon man.

Following Polama's suggestion, I wonder if near the end of the game, the player that is ahead can start filling their own territory to get back behind, since their opponent will run out of territory to fill first and be forced ...

Wow those are really great ideas! It sounds like those two simple rule changes you suggest achieve exactly the point of the varient. To reverse as much of the game (i.e. the aim, strategy and tactics) as possible while still keeping the incentive to play an aesthetically normal game. As you pointed ...

Haha. So much for that.

This thread is about a varient of Go which may or may not work.
The rules thus far:

Rule 1: Area scoring is used.
Rule 2: In order to win, lose by 30 points or less.
Rule 3: When you score the game at the end, count up the difference in prisoners. Up to that amount can be optionally added to your ...

I've sometimes wondered if it would be possible to engineer a Loser's Go variant somehow.

There is a go variant where the first player to capture loses. See m

The best idea I could come up with was to this:
Rule 1- In order to win, you must lose by a certain margin (5 points? 10?).
Rule 2 ...