The left is the stone used for the Japanese national treasure Go board, made with ivory and painted black and red. The right is one of a kind that is used now, green stones said to be easy on the eyes. But they look like beans and I would not play with them.
This is the national treasure board. The battle on the board is using the new pattern "Black Hole", the four stones at the middle, developed by a professional. It is beautiful, but the surface looks harder than a wooden board and a stone put on the edge seems to be unstable. This is not for practical use but for adornment?
I have played with about 40 players in SL so far. There were various levels from beginners to 7-Dan that is very strong. About 10 of them were stronger than me, so I might be in a middle or a bit higher. But now there is only one spot for the game, and a few steady players. The below is February 2015, nobody shown in here comes now. Current players are from the US, Canada, Mexico or Brazil. Sorry that the time zones are different. I would like to see Japanese players. Please join!
Go game place: tp://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Satori/229/158/27
To people who does not know what Go is, here is my interpretation. Many people know that Go is to enclose as large area as possible. The area is made by building walls with a series of stakes(stones), but the wall cannot be made at a time since both sides play alternatively. A single stake cannot claim an area, so it is important to arrange stones properly. If there is too wide gap, the opponent will invade. Also, it is a tactic to set a stake close to that of opponent to block up, or to pull out opponent’s stakes by surrounding them. In order to protect stakes from pulled-out (killed), it is necessary to build a house with at least two rooms (eyes) inside. The below shows the end of a game, where I painted the white area red and black green. You can see a big white area at the right below, and white invaded the left above black area like roots of a tree. White is winning this game.
How to set stakes appropriately at the beginning is called Fuseki (stepping stones), and typical ways to negotiate opponent stakes is called Joseki (set sequence). There are some recommended patterns but it is free to set stones anyplace you like. There are new patterns recently developed, the left is called “Tiger”, the right, “Spider Web”. I tried the Tiger and got a good result, but I have no confidence to use the Spider yet. Although the Go game has been played for hundreds of years, still such new patterns are found. It is one of the interesting things of Go. There are more strange ones which some professional players are trying such as the one shown in the second picture “Black Hole”, “Southern Cross” or “Fortress”. The left is a normal wooden board and the right was made with marble texture by a player and designer Dawn in the SIM managed by Evan, also a Go player.
After all I prefer a wooden one with black and white stones. I think Go is the most beautiful game in the world, with very simple rules and materials. White and black are different in size, white 21.9mm and black 22.2mm. It is said that white looks larger than black. Also, the grid is not square, longitudinal 23.9mm, transversal 22.2mm. The depth is longer since the board will be looked at an angle. It may not be necessary for computer games or in SL since it can be looked down straight. The oblong grid started at Edo era and the national treasure is much older than that. Put aside such a trivia, let us play a game!