Inside a 1980's electronic Go board

[CnP]

I bought a 1980's National electronic Go board from Japan a couple of months ago. It arrived yesterday and I took it apart because I wanted to see how it was put together and because I would like to convert it into something I can use.

I took loads of photos whilst I was doing it and I've put some of them up on a blog page, which may be of interest to anyone interested in electronic Go boards.

http://cosmomo.wordpress.com/

It's quite possible I'm the only person crazy enough to find it interesting though!

Most of what I know about this machine is from something Tchan001 posted on his blog years ago, but since that's now private I also found an article reproduced from a 1980's AGA report:

http://goulo.livejournal.com/68405.html

The prototypes are well crafted wood veneer, traditional Go boards. Small LED arrows around the perimeter of the board act as intersection indicators. Using magnetic stones, the device has the capacity to recognize, record and transmit the intersections played. Connection through a modem allows play - over the phone lines - against another players (similarly equipped) at great distance and very little loss of time.
The device can also be used to play over professional games, lessons, or one's own games. Electronic logic and a voice synthesizer prompt the play of the stones.

I guess I do a lot of stupid things and like other stuff the only way I can justify this is that it's interesting to me.

[Boidhre]

Wonderful, thank you.

[Nyanjilla]

ooooo.... Fun!

But when I saw this demonstrated in the Nihon Kiin early in the 1980s, it wasn't a modem---it was an acoustic coupler, as shown in the picture. Maybe later versions had a modem?

I suspect the reason why this type of board never really caught on was the prohibitive cost of phone calls in Japan at the time. Pity, because it was an attractive bit of kit.

[CnP]

Ok, I'm sure you're right about the acoustic coupler not a modem. I've forgotten about pre-modem technology (like fax!). I was very small at the time

[Boidhre]

Ok, I'm sure you're right about the acoustic coupler not a modem. I've forgotten about pre-modem technology (like fax!). I was very small at the time

For some reason I'm often far more impressed by what they managed in the acoustic era rather than the digital and I'm usually stunned by what they managed before electronics. Many unsung geniuses there.

[Gojira]

this is interesting too: http://www.netgoban.com/what-is-netgoban/

[Boidhre]

this is interesting too: http://www.netgoban.com/what-is-netgoban/

It's a pity the last post was from mid 2012.

Though considering the price of similar chess boards, it'd probably cost more than I'd want to pay for it.

[Gojira]

yeah its bad ... but it would be so cool =_=

[Rémi]

There was a project to do something similar with a webcam:
http://rocamgo.wordpress.com/
https://github.com/Virako/Rocamgo
(in spanish)

[skydyr]

There was a project to do something similar with a webcam:
http://rocamgo.wordpress.com/
https://github.com/Virako/Rocamgo
(in spanish)

There was someone at the US Go congress this summer who was working on a similar project. Unfortunately, I can't recall who, but his website was in English.

[CnP]

this is interesting too: http://www.netgoban.com/what-is-netgoban/

It's a pity the last post was from mid 2012.

Though considering the price of similar chess boards, it'd probably cost more than I'd want to pay for it.

But apparently there are some being sold in China right now. Tchan posted a link to it a while ago:

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=149048#p149048

[gowan]

I also saw one of these at the Nihon Ki-in in the early 1980's. One of the features advertized was the ability to study pro games and do problems with it. The intersections of the grip would light up to show where the next move is in a recorded pro game. As I recall it could be used to play games in real time over the telephone provided both people had one of these.