Life In 19x19

I've been using the size 36 glass ceramics from gogameguru for about six months. Was looking into perhaps upgrading to slate and shell so bought a sample of stones in size 36 and have a question.

They look extremely similar, aside from the striations on shell. They sound the same. The wobble is nearly identical.

What is the draw? If you prefer slate and shell, why?
The only main difference I can see is they are a bit more uniform in shape and the slate wobble a bit more audibly. Is this worth the cost? Maybe. I haven't decided. What do you think?

I prefer slate and shell. I've played with yunzi, plastic, ing stones, and glass before. For the money, I'll take glass stones, but the feel and look of slate and shell is appealing to me.

Slate and shell are just nicer materials, not really for any functional reason. Glass feels cheap, maybe because it's the same material that people are always throwing away after drinking the contents. Slate and shell feel more like real materials instead of manufactured cheap things, if that makes sense. Japanese style shell has those neat lines, and while the Korean ones from 6 brothers don't really have that, they still have a faint pearly quality that makes the white glass stones look cheap in comparison, like crystallized globs of Elmer's glue.

Why have a hardwood desk instead of a fiberboard/whatever one? It's an aesthetic choice. If you like glass and are happy with glass then, eh, you just saved yourself a nice bit of money?

I don't understand it either. Though in my case it's not so much the price as that I can't see how anything can be so aesthetically pleasing as to be worth killing a living creature to make. That kind of behaviour never makes sense to me...

foe wrote:I've been using the size 36 glass ceramics from gogameguru for about six months. Was looking into perhaps upgrading to slate and shell so bought a sample of stones in size 36 and have a question.

They look extremely similar, aside from the striations on shell. They sound the same. The wobble is nearly identical.

What is the draw? If you prefer slate and shell, why?
The only main difference I can see is they are a bit more uniform in shape and the slate wobble a bit more audibly. Is this worth the cost? Maybe. I haven't decided. What do you think?

I prefer single-convex Yunzis (I like the satisfying click and green tinge) but I think a big part of the interest in slate&shell is the way they feel. My impression was that shell stayed quite cool. I also notice a bit of a sound difference, with the shell being more muted.

Very interesting views. Thanks! The bit about Elmer's glue really resonates with me. I've thought the same, mainly from the inconsistencies where the stone may...lean a bit while on the board. Not all of them though, so not too big a problem for me. I suppose if I ever decide to buy a proper floor goban I will invest in the stones to go with it. But for casual use and studying it is not very important for me. I couldn't figure out why they pay more if general experience is the same. But I understand the nice wooden desk. Perfect anology.

Splatted wrote:I don't understand it either. Though in my case it's not so much the price as that I can't see how anything can be so aesthetically pleasing as to be worth killing a living creature to make. That kind of behaviour never makes sense to me...

Isn't this more like cows with leather instead of elephants being poached for tusks? So long as the meat is being eaten and population levels are not allowed to sink too far. But... They did move to Mexico for shells. I do not know if it is because the preferred type are nearly extinct or just standard fishing etiquette.

Pure fetishism.
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“Guilty!”

foe wrote:What is the draw? If you prefer slate and shell, why?

They (subjectively) look and feel much nicer. I wouldn't go as far as the person who gave "pure fetishism" as an answer, but I suppose that fetishism plays some role. There is something to be said for setting the mood. I do really enjoy looking at pictures of nice equipment.

foe wrote:Is this worth the cost? Maybe. I haven't decided. What do you think?

If you are thinking of "worth" as investment value, then the answer is probably no. If you judge "worth" based on consumption value, it depends on how wealthy you are and how much you enjoy the other things that you could not do if you spent that money on slate-and-shell stones.

If you are very wealthy, why not choose to own beautiful things? If you are not, then I think that you should think carefully about what else you could do with the money. You could save for your kid's college fund or get some regular go lesson from pros. If you are an artistic person, then perhaps it would be "worth" it.

One interesting bit: Some people I have talked to in person say that they wish they had stuck with glass stones and shin-kaya boards for longer. These people bought the lower-end of the slate-and-shell-plus-kaya luxury goods and ended up wanting to upgrade to even better slate-and-shell-plus kaya later. In short, their message was that you should play on cheap equipment as long as you can until you can save up for a set that you would want to keep for life instead of going through multiple upgrade cycles, which can be quite bad for your wallet as the secondary market is not very active.

For me it would be artistic aesthetics as reason. But the majority of that is coming from the game itself, and glass is close enough. Excellent point about getting the lowest of the best before later deciding on best of best. Better to wait and be certain than jump early just to be there.

What you wrote:

foe wrote:For me it would be artistic aesthetics as reason.

What I read:

Cordially, Tom

I use glass stones for the go set I take with me for playing in the club or a coffee shop and it works fine. I don't think slate and shell stones improve my playing. However, I do prefer slate and shell stones. I haven't found any glass stones that are as uniformly regularly shaped as slate and shell. I think glass stones are made in molds from poured molten glass with no post-cooling adjustment of the shape. When they cool, slight irregularities develop which are noticable when you handle the stones. Since slate and shell stones are made by hand, stone by stone, there is better quality control of the shape.

As JF once said about go equipment:

John Fairbairn wrote:if you've got it, flaunt it.

If you have to ask...