This might be a bit of a "fluff" topic, but I think it's a fun way to get to know each other as players.

If you could pick any kind of gear to play on forever, what would you prefer to use? Do you like a traditional thick goban with little legs, or something for tabletop? The wood of the board, the bowls, the kind of stones, the overall environment. Get specific and say why!

For me, I'm simple. I like a nice tabletop bamboo board with a light finish, no etching of the lines. Yunzi stones are a must for me. The weight and feeling of them is beyond compare, and the way you have to oil them and care for them adds an emotional investment. Plus they glow in the light, and the sound they make when you play them is so nice, very solid and heavy. Biconvex is preferred, easier for me to grab.

For the bowls, I think anything dark makes for a nice contrast with the board. Jujube, maybe, I love that reddish hue. I prefer to sit at a table, like in a coffee shop (if it's quiet) or someone's dining room, with drinks and snacks. You'll find me chatting with my opponent sometimes between our moves and the game becomes a way to catch up with friends.

How about you?

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Joseki (n): 1. Japanese term meaning "when Jo lives in seki."

Leela Zero, KataGo, Ryzen 3600, 1080 Ti, 144hz monitor, mechanical keyboard, Lizzie, GoPanda2
I love my perfect setup for spending time with Go.
20% playing 40% analyzing and 40% studying (only exploring variations and searching new lines, refining shapes, avoiding weaknesses, no L&D anymore)

Glass stones when friends are around.

Shell and slate for special occasions.

KataGo is a precious tool for my endgame studies. I also love how I can change komi while using KataGo to analyze my games better in all phases.

Finally, a use for all those Ryzen cores!

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Joseki (n): 1. Japanese term meaning "when Jo lives in seki."

No idea what Risens are.

Not nearly enough puff posts around here, man. 99% of the chatter is about computer stuff which just puts my 15-10k ass to sleep.

I have a couple of sets and they each have function. Unfortunately, there are not enough go players in Boise, Idaho, so my gear, if it cared, doesn’t get much air and light. Yowler, the cat, often sleeps on the purpleheart board.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

If I had an unlimited budget then this would be my ideal choice...

A Tenmasa (strait grain top) Kaya floorboard between 6 - 6.5 Sun (perfect size for me when I'm sitting on the floor)
--> Not the highest quality masame (strait grain) cut, but I like tenmasa patterns more than Tenchimasa (strait grain top and bottom) or Shihomasa (strait grain four sides).

A 2.5 - 3.0 Sun tenchimasa Kaya table board for casual play.

Size 36 Suwabute (Native Japanese) Snow-grade Stones (ignoring the fact they will probably cost more than my house).

Shimakuwa (Island Mulberry) bowls.

I think I would simply play with Erythen.

If I had an UNLIMITED budget to get my ideal set:

I'd want a well-loved historical Kaya floorboard with a beautiful calligraphy essay by Honinbo Shuei on the underside. Although it would be aged, I would hope that the kaya would not be too dark in color.

For the stones, I would like to have mammoth ivory white stones and vivid green with great clarity imperial jadeite dark stones made into size 40 stones with Japanese craftsmanship and quality control.

I'd also want a pair of boldly striped natural Kurokaki (Black Persimmon) bowls.

Then I would have DeepMind rebuild AlphaGo with continual improvements based on quantum computing to help out with the study of the game.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

The desire to possess a huge block of ancient wood implies there is a dedicated 3x3 meter room for go in one’s home. That would be cool.

Bright, not necessarily eastern, décor. Stained glass in the southern windows. Fresh flowers. A self-aligning overhead projector would deliver the computer’s moves onto the board for the first few years but it would be replaced by Sony’s Meiji-o-moto play pal.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

Something like this



Of course coupled with a couple of displays running LZ/KataGo in a cloud.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

A hyuga kaya table goban, 2-3 sun thick, masame-cut, with a pleasantly old set of size 34 clamshell and slate stones in mulberry bowls.

But I'd like to further the request with a magical modification of our local coffee shop: slightly wider tables that don't wobble, to fully accommodate a board and stones. And wood floors, or at least not tile, so we could actually use slate and shell -- though I love the Ing stones I bring with me, they're just not as beautiful

Ryzen is a brand name for an AMD [another brand] processor. Equivalent to intel Core series.

SoDesuNe,

I like the equipment on your pic... specially the AI instructor.

Take care.

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一碁一会

I would like to have this one:
https://tchan001.wordpress.com/2017/06/ ... -sentetsu/

I go to tchann's page from time to time just to look at it. Otherwise I'm pretty content whith what I have:
https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=15307

Now what I would really like to have it's more time, to study and play, getting older looks like the time is compressing and passing much faster.

I see his last latest update was in 2017. Bummer Tchan is no longer posting. So many of his inline links and photos have expired or deleted.

The stones are small, 16-17mm diameter, I infer the board was created specifically for travel, 36.4 cm × 33.2 cm, compared to a full-sized board, 44.5 cm X 41.2 cm.

I am 65; the last twenty-five years have spun away from me in but a few breaths. “Precious” does not describe those left.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

having seen the late 吳清源 at the goboard gives me confidence for the years to come

I am grateful that go is part of my life

Back when I was living in New Mexico, the Edmund Scientific catalog offered a stone tumbler and I got the idea of having a go set with red and green stones that I could tumble myself. I envisioned the red stones made from petrified wood and the green stones made from malachite. I have long abandoned the idea, but it would makes a cool set of stones, don't you think?

But I'm doing pretty well. I have a Showa era kaya board with legs, which I found at a local import shop for the amazingly low price of $250. I guess someone's grandfather died and they sold the set without knowing how much it was worth. When I bought it I also saw a set of old, worn stones, the shells discolored and misshapen with concavities made by long use. I asked about buying the stones, too. I had seen a similar set elsewhere for the ridiculous price of $175. I was told that those stones went with a different board, but the salesperson called the shop owner, who threw the stones in for free! Amazing luck! Taoists will understand the appeal of those old, worn stones.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

WOAH, that's an insanely good deal for a board and stones like that!

I also like the idea of self-tumbled stones. Talk about an investment in your gear!

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Joseki (n): 1. Japanese term meaning "when Jo lives in seki."

[quote="Applebaps"]!

I also like the idea of self-tumbled stones. Talk about an investment in your gear![/]

The topic of making one’s own stones has been discussed at least once. Search or scroll back through this folder.

Thinking it must be possible to create my own set, I researched the subject by talking with lapidary, glass, and ceramic experts and became totally discouraged. The crafts of cutting rock, melting and casting glass, mixing and molding clay are not difficult to learn. But they turn into a huge commitment of time and energy, even soul numbing tedium, as one considers making 361 to 400 individual items.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

Oh no lmao, is there no way to like, cast them in a batch?

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Joseki (n): 1. Japanese term meaning "when Jo lives in seki."

Of course, but making the mold is complicated, too.

Firing, glazing, sanding, polishing, and finishing are more tedious than the casting or molding. If you have seen the video of the folks at the Yunzi factory, ladling out their lines of molten ceramic buttons, you can tell they have made so many millions they no longer measure the stock material. Inherent in a set of handmade go stones is the charm of dramatic variance. If this lack of precision is acceptable, or perhaps sought after, many manufacturing shortcuts can be used.

Ceramics, hot (molten) glass, warm (slumped) glass, lapidary (cut stone), and some other techniques like cutting wood, casting or shaping metal or shell (!) all have possibilities. It’s a fun project to discuss with people who are experts in the crafts and materials you might be considering. If you find someone who can help you get started, please start a new thread! Would be a fun topic to follow.

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David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

My best set is one I own: masame 2-sun hyuga kaya board, mulberry bowls (hiragata), 8 mm yuki hyuga clam stones. I have other sets with slate and shell stones and lesser, but still good, boards. The one I described first is especially pleasing because all the parts are sized to go well together.