Life In 19x19

Here is some not-so-good photos of go equipment I have collected over the years.
Since I had opportunity to travel with go and have a friend in Japan, I manage to collect some various pieces.

So let's start.

Here is my first set of stones. It is thin, part plastic part glass.
I won it as DDK on one of the first tournaments I played some 30 years ago.
I made board from cardboard (which did not last long, and by common mistake it had 19 squares and 20 lines...)
With this equipment I played some 4-5 games per day with my brother, and we were some 5 kyu in 4 months.



Second set I purchased on EGC. Fortunately, in 1989. it was in Nis, Yugoslavia, close to my city, so I went to play.
It is Ing's set, still fully functional. Stones are shiny plastic with lead inside.
Board is locally made, with wood grain in wrong direction.
This set I used for next 10+years, and became some 4-5 dan.



Next set is a little strange.
Board is japanese, two-piece katsura.
Stones and bowls are from Nihon-Kiin. When I visited Nihon-Kiin with some friends in 2003. we wanted to buy glass stones. They offered us sets that were to be discarded, for free. Those were sets without two stones from same set, width from 6 to 10mm. I sorted out one set of around 10mm for me, still with various styles and shapes. This is my current working set, and I like to play with it - it has seen lot of usage and has a lot of history in it.

And the set I am proud of...
Stones are hamaguri size 36 (10mm) (mexican, irregular of course).
I bought them in WAGC Hyuga 2001, for some 15k Yen (150 dollars at the time), half price it was in Tokyo and quarter in West.
Since it was lot of money for me at the time, I used money given to me from organizer for return flight accommodation during change of flight, and spent night at airport.
Bowls were bought in 2003, I had better job at the time
Board is kaya, present from Japanese man I met in Tokyo in 2001. I had to carry it during return flight, so it would not be damaged. It is wrapped for protection, so it looks shiny on some places.


And in Hyuga was also Takemiya Masaki, giving autographs when I bought stones, so it was natural to cue in line.
Only thing I had for autographs was box with stones.
Takemiya opened box, concentrated for a while, and masterfully signed inside of box. Nice moment!


I went to Korea in 2006, but unfortunately I have not found set worthy of buying

Next stop, WMSG in Beijing, 2008.
This set is jade glass (jade dust, mixed with something, and then poured).
It can be easily distinguished from more expensive jade by looking through light, stones in lot of cases have bubbles inside.
Bowls are from stone and not so expensive, so I had to buy one.

Yunzi stones originally came in these weaved bowls.


Here is one set I found for very nice price in some Beijing sports shop.
Box and bowls are very nice, worth more than price paid.
Stones are old-style yunzi, white ones have greenish color, and they are slightly wider, meaning you cannot use them on Japanese boards...
Good price was probably due to fact I found later that there is only some 140 stones each.

Here are sets that were given to our Go Federation from our friend who lives in Japan for 30 years.
He got it on countryside where he lived as gift.
We use them for special events and promotions.

These are old hamaguri stones, some 5mm, in modern bowls which was made for fatter modern stones.
They are chipped on some places, and white ones are turning yellow on shell lines.


And here is goban, some 11cm thick.
It is old, it's legs were held by newspapers from 50's, so it is certainly older than that.
It has scratches, lines are not always on same distance, but it definitely has history in it.
No blood marks, in case some geek asks.
Stones are also old hamaguri, some 5mm thick, in slightly better shape.
Bowls are made for them, and they are smaller comparing to modern ones.

And some more bits...

This is cabinet I made some 15 years ago, based on similar design I saw in Nihon Kiin catalogue.
It contains all sets you have seen here.
Btw, it is not so good for playing, your knees have to be in front of it, so you are either very bent, of far from board.
Simple table is always better.



And clock, if it is lightning game.

Finally, here are some stone samples, on cover are hamaguri blanks, they are later shaped into lens shape.
Near are some chinese marble, cristal, etc stones. There are also some strange stones I found during tournament games.


PS for geeks, who's figurine is on lower right?

PPS I have also several other games, and quite decent puzzle collection (ie wooden puzzle, Hanayama cast puzzle, etc)/
If you are interested, I could also post some images of it.

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Finally, I hope that you young players will see from photos and descriptions that you don't need a good set to be a good player.
You need to play.

Yuuki Mitani-君... key chain

Geek.

Nice to see your collection.
I am not as strong a player as you, so I (over-) compensate my lack of skills by trying to collect as many, as divers and as expensive go material as possible.
My 'personal museum' is now fairly extensive, but I still lack the more expensive/exclusive stuff .
Thank God I am not the only collector around.

You have a great collection with a lot of history! It feels special.

I am on the other end of the spectrum.

I have enough cheap sets to organize a medium sized tournament by myself. In my defence I used to loan them to new players (a few set are still in the wild), so I still consider them wise purchases.

I had few more sets, but I gave them to others, ie newer Ing set, folding Japanese board, hamaguri 32, etc, glass japanese 8mm in plastic stackable bowls.

Old Japanese gobans are not so expensive in Japan, you could find them for 300 dollars, but shipping is expensive.

For some time I considered to make glass cabinet, with lights, for goban and some other stuff.
But since I got kids, we are moving furniture around the house so I don't dare to plan something or make stuff.

PS I got some more small stuff, ie fans, hamaguri shell, just have to check where are they.

Since I am obviously fan of wood and stones, when I saw this at Games festival at Cannes, it was difficult to resist...
Solitaire game is not so fun or complicated, but it certainly looks nice.
And it is interesting for kids.

Bojanic wrote:Next stop, WMSG in Beijing, 2008.
This set is jade glass (jade dust, mixed with something, and then poured).
It can be easily distinguished from more expensive jade by looking through light, stones in lot of cases have bubbles inside.

This may be Yunzi?
Large and famous factory, from Yunnan China.
Available in various thicknesses, both single convex and double convex.

Yes, they are yunzi, as mentioned later.
Both yunzi sets are single convex.

Just one remark on color of boards.
First four photos of this topic are of stones (classical, black and white) on different boards.
I prefer color that is in similar contrast with both black and white stones.

Too dark color of board, and black will blend in, and white will be in contrast.
With lighter color, situation is opposite.

For me, first board (plywood) is too light, second (particle board) is too dark, and third one, (like in kids stories) katsura is just right.
Kaya is a bit light, but still good. Another strange thing for me with kaya board is that lines are slightly thinner. But maybe it is due to me being accustomed to katsura board.

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Similar thing is with other colors of stones. If stones are in similar contrast with board, you could use them.