Traditional games: Besides CHESS: What are the best in the world?

a reply to: Brotherman

I'm with you on Tetris and Kerplunk.

Damn, I wonder if you can still buy Kerplunk.

a reply to: Cymru

This game?

Amazon kerplunk

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: Cymru

This game?

Amazon kerplunk

Spot on, and the original is on fleabay

www.ebay.co.uk...:gmIAAOSw-CBhgY01

a reply to: Cymru

Boom. Don’t ever say I never did nothing for you lol

a reply to: JamesChessman

Now I understand, I'd say that applies to a few games especially team sports. We learn in ways many did before us because it worked, most of us cannot and do not think outside the box. That doesn't apply to AI because we tend to operate them in a way where it starts from scratch. We've only got one lifespan and attention span and we need that boost from the group because we don't really learn anything on our own.

AI is going to show us ways to do things we'd never dream of, I'd say that would definitely apply to things we think are exhausted. Like the combustion engine.

TheAlleghenyGentleman has a nice link down below your reply, maths is fun. I think it's possible for humans to play every game of chess just not in one lifetime, our ancestors played the long mathematical game many times in terms of the lunar cycle it's not exactly a new concept... Not saying we'll play every game possible and be aware of it.

But AI might.

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: JamesChessman

This webpage, a favorite resource of mine has broken down mathematically the scale of moves in a go game. Sorry. Eat your heart out chess.

A favorite resource of mine

The number of possible go games is extremely large. It is often compared to the number of atoms in the universe ([ext] around 10^80), but it is in fact much much larger. In this article, we will first explore the question from a mathematical perspective, and then also give some information on bounds for realistic game lengths.

Peolpe love to use the expression 3D chess. 3D 19x19 go. That would be something to comprehend

^Thank you, your post have convinced me to look more into Go.

Is there basically a consensus that this is the most advanced game from Asia?

(By the way, the expression about atoms of the universe, I've heard the same thing about Western chess, lol. So I guess both games have practically infinite different results.)

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
There is only one greatest game and it is not chess


It is GO. The greatest of all board games

Thanks, you've really increased my interest in Go. I will definitely look more into it.

Funny enough, I did get into a smaller spin-off game called Reversi, which is basically using the same pieces of Go (unless they could also be custom-made for Reversi specifically).

Have you heard of this game / played it? I think it's probably child's play compared to Go, but I have a digital version of Reversi, and I have enjoyed it.

I didn't really mention it at first because I don't think Reversi is really usually considered a serious game (although there have been a few people who have been very serious about it).

Also, it's fun in digital form, where the gameplay is based on surrounding pieces to flip them to your color. But in real life, I think the burden of manually flipping / replacing pieces constantly, would render the game practically unplayable.

So although Reversi began in physical form (invented 1883, apparently), I think digital options have all but made it relegated only to digital gameplay.

What do you think of this much simpler game, that's basically using Go's pieces?

a reply to: JamesChessman

Reversi or othello is different for so many reasons. In othello one plays inside the box. Go is played at the intersections.

Go is a beautiful game. The companion game to chess. Did you watch the video I posted? He does a great job of breaking down the nuances even if the boards he lays out are always terrible examples of actual gameplay.

The more you play go the more you see something abstract about game play you might not have noticed in the past.

Go is exciting, tense. To be able to play 19x19 games to end game you must put in time. Trust me. It is worth it. I can’t imagine my life now without this game. I play it daily.

My rank is only a 10 kyu. I toy with the idea of paying a professional to give me private lessons online when I have more time. Hopefully someday.

If you really are interested in playing send me p2p and maybe we could play some games and I can get you pointed in the right direction.

Do you like anime. There was a popular anime called Hikaru no Go (pronounced Hick - a - roo) that was a go master trapped in a go board that influences a child to try and become a professional go player. Professional go players go through tremendous training and it is extremely difficult

Professional dan rankings are normally awarded in Japan, China, South Korea or Taiwan, through one of the professional Go associations. The attainment of professional qualification differs in different countries: In China, a few amateurs are given the 1p grade as probationers, on the basis of success in amateur tournaments. In Japan, student professionals are called insei, and have to play in internal insei competitions to qualify; mostly they are adolescents, and must decide whether to continue based on their chances of a career in Go, or go to university. Insei rarely take part in amateur events, but some of the top amateurs are ex-insei. In South Korea, four amateurs become professional every year, at the top of a ferocious league system of 80 aspiring pros. Once within the professional system, promotion is based on game results. Most professional players begin studying Go seriously when they are children, commonly reaching professional status in their mid to late teens. Some rare students achieve professional status at a much earlier age, such as Sumire Nakamura and Cho Chikun. In order to qualify as a first dan professional (1p), one must have deep resources of game experience and study. In local positions, professionals are often on close ground with each other, understanding good shape, tesuji, life and death, fuseki and joseki patterns. However, in global positions they often differ in positional judgement—the global impact and interaction of josekis and differing importance of various parts of the board during the opening and middle game.

Here is the wiki article detailing professional Go players

Professional GO players

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

Well you definitely have me looking more into Go.

I'd love if I could download a free program of Go, so I can play by myself, on my Mac.

Can you recommend one to download? There seems so much out there, that I don't know where to start...

a reply to: JamesChessman

I would recommend making a profile on this site. However, just playing the cpu isn’t as beneficial as playing humans. Do both. People are very friendly on this site if you aren’t a jerk. There are a ton of resources here that will guide you and teach you how to play.

OGS

Learn to play

Practice

Observe others play

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

^Thanks, I'm doing the beginner exercises on that site, which is a nice introduction to a game I've never played before.

I put my same user name, "JamesChessman" although I'm still just learning the site plus the game.

What is your painting, a samurai(?) cutting off the corner of a Go board?

a reply to: JamesChessman

Hahahaha. Yes. There are tons of amazing images involving go.

I sent you a message on OGS

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

^Thanks, I saw your friend request. I'll need a few days to get used to the website's tutorial, which I'm enjoying right now, to learn the most very basic elements of the game.

It's appealing. I'm still absorbing it all. The visuals are beautiful and clean. I like the surrounding-army gameplay. But I'm still learning.

On the website, you'll have to let me know if you want to do something on there, so far I only saw ur friend request, and I'm digging the tutorial.

Funny enough, I had found that site right before I saw you mention it, but I'm glad you did, because the sheer numbers of online resources of Go, is just overwhelming, at first, and I didn't know if I had found a good one or not.

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: JamesChessman

I would recommend making a profile on this site. However, just playing the cpu isn’t as beneficial as playing humans. Do both. People are very friendly on this site if you aren’t a jerk. There are a ton of resources here that will guide you and teach you how to play.

OGS

Learn to play

Practice

Observe others play

Why is the samurai flying though. I know that ninja were mythologized but were samurai also similarly mythologized as flying etc.?

Or is the painting... just symbolic of the gameplay of Go?

Is Go associated with samurai?

Anybody else play Catan?

My sister-in-law is addicted to this game. I will play it with her, every once in a while, but I am not crazy about it.

I like Rummiikub. I play it once or twice a month. My mother and her friends play it every night.

originally posted by: Cymru
a reply to: Brotherman

I'm with you on Tetris and Kerplunk.

Damn, I wonder if you can still buy Kerplunk.

I haven’t t seen kerplunk for sale since well for a long time bro seen it on eBay but not a complete set usually I’d imagine would be hard to play without all the sticks and marbles

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

GO and AI have some interesting history too

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: Cymru

Boom. Don’t ever say I never did nothing for you lol

And from back in the day ....

I grew up with old fashioned board games and cards.I
like to play Monopoly with my grandson even though
he wins EVERY time.I would play Candy Land and Chutes
and Ladders with my daughter when she was a child.
There was this one board game based on a Superman movie
she liked as well.

a reply to: JamesChessman

Go originated in china.

The four arts (四藝, siyi), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic talents required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman. They were the mastery of the qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument, 琴), qi (the strategy game of Go, 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy, 書) and hua (Chinese painting, 畫)

But I believe the Japanese modernized it over a thousand years ago. I think the iconography is representative of power and respect

In the history of Go in Japan, the four Go houses were four major schools of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. (There were also many minor houses.) At roughly the same time shogi was organised into three houses. Here "house" implies an institution run on the recognised lines of the iemoto system common in all Japanese traditional arts. In particular, the house head had, in three of the four cases, a name handed down: Inoue Inseki, Yasui Senkaku, Hayashi Monnyu. References to these names, therefore, mean to the contemporary head of the house. The four houses were the Honinbo, Hayashi, Inoue, and Yasui. They were originally designed to be on a par with each other, and competed in the official castle games called oshirogo.

Four go houses in Japan