And when you play Go on a thick kaya wood board with real clam and slate stones the sound is exquisite!
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I’ve never had the pleasure, but it is on my bucket list. I frequently bemoan the fact that I don’t play enough Go.
My “Go” Got up and went…
Is the game GO similar to Othello?
Historians think Othello was probably based on someone watching a game of Go and not knowing what was going on 
. The game Penta (I’m not sure that’s right - it was invented by some students at OSU - you play with colored stones on a grid trying to get 5 in a row) was also based off the game Go. Most years I volunteer at the school where my wife teaches and teach her third grade class the game. They say the game of go works the brain in the same way playing a musical instrument does. There is also research in the far east that suggests regularly playing increases brain function and health. One study I read came across the startling statistic that of the thousands of professional Go players in Asia, there are no verified cases of Alzheimers, even though statistically there should be a few dozen at any given point…part of my doubt that study, but if it was true it could affect how we look at and prevent that terrible disease.
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I have missed the evolution of board games or games of any kind. Played Quake for a while and did get a copy of Myst, but was more into outdoor games, especially soccer and hunting. The family games were Spoons, Uno or Pictionary when we got together for holidays. Most of the time we got together at parties and did played and sang bluegrass for a long session. So all the references to table top gaming or video games that make up so much of the inspiration sources for this forum take effort to understand. I kind of feel a bit left out of that whole universe (not to mention comic books and superheros, which, requiring money to acquire, were just not around the house). I was more of a library lurker when not outside.
So to all my fellow table-top non-gamers, here is a good link to get perspective on the energy in that world. It’s pretty amazing.
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Some day, and I hope that day is October of next year, I’ll get to attend Spiel at Essen.
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Sorry so late in reading this… But I thought you might want to know… I think the game you’re talking about is Pente. I used to play it all the time when I was a kid. Totally forget how to play. I’ll have to try it out with my son.
- Tom
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Buy it. Then…
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Holy mackerel! That’s awesome and sooo bookmarked for later!
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I forgot to follow up on this. I did make a small Pente board and play with my family. The board was too small though as I printed it on 8.5 x 11 paper yielding, of course, roughly an 8" x 8" gameboard. I did have the foresight to make the center of the gameboard colored so it could be used as a Nine Men’s Morris board as well. But the thing that made it difficult to play was playing pieces. Which I also cut out of paper. But because they were so small, they were very difficult to work with. I think when I make the board and pieces on my Glowforge I’ll go 22" x 22". Not sure what material yet. The pieces will be colored acrylic, of course.
Anyway, Pente was good fun! So was Nine Men’s Morris (which my 8-year old son routinely beats me at).
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Thanks. Now I’ll probably make a custom tileset for Carcasonne when I get my GF.
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If he likes Pente, then let him try Weiqi (or Go), that’s the game Pente was based off of in the first place
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I confirmed what I remembered about the game… it wasn’t actually based on Go. Just used a Go board to play on. Source: Pente - Wikipedia
That said, I never learned to play Go. Since the board is identical, Go is definitely the logical 3rd game to play on it. It’ll be nice to laser-make this board and the pieces. And to have the efficiency of Pente, Nine Men’s Morris, and Go in one is appealing!
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Actually, though Wikipedia doesn’t list it, I read an interview with the guys who created pente years ago and they said they took their inspiration from Go, so not based on it, true, but inspired by it, I guess. As far as the rules of Go are concerned, you could learn them in 15 minutes or less. It’s the strategy that’s derived from the incredibly simplistic rules that makes it the most strategic game in the world. I would certainly recommend it. And yes to being great to make on a Glowforge. One of my first projects will be to make my wife some new Go boards for her classroom. The ones I made by hand a few years ago are starting to look a little rough (I just drew the lines on and put a few coats of polyurethane on them. Not like they really need to be replaced, but since I’ll have a Glowforge anyway
sidenote, if you start learning Go and playing with your son, start on a 9x9 grid. It’s easier at first to start to get a feel for basic mechanics of the game, but then switch to at least a 13x13 grid as soon as you feel comfortable. It adds a lot of depth to the game. 19x19 is tournament size, but make sure you have at least an hour or more to play (or walk away and come back later, that’s always fun to.) I taught my youngest son to play when he was just in kindergarten. Tried to teach my father-in-law, but I think he got embarrassed when the kindergartner kept beating the pants off of him.
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Oh, we’ll definitely learn and play Go. But I think we’ll have to wait until the 'forge so we can have a nice playing experience. Unless we play on a computer or something. That could be a good way to start off. And I have 0 problem if my son beats me. His IQ is considerably higher than mine. (And I’m not kidding.) It’s great to watch his strategies work out in the end. That’s why I love to play strategic games with him… Risk (and variants), Checkers, Chess, Nine Men’s Morris. I’ve never gone easy on him in strategy games. And he knows it. I’m not sure, but it’s entirely possible I enjoy it more when he beats me than vice versa.
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Well, as it happened my official Tak sets arrived before Glowforge. I’ve enjoyed many games of Tak in the last few weeks. And now I really want to design some more sets. (Part of the lore of Tak is that each player carries around his or her own pieces.)
It’s a fun game. Simple rules, deep strategy. Read the rules here or watch the video to get a rough idea of how the game works.
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Just a quick Pai Sho update - an artist found me and worked to create new tile designs - they’re now the default at http://skudpaisho.com/ if you want to check it out. Or if you didn’t know about playing online. Tournament coming soon 
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This looks amazing! I love Patric Rothfus and so does my cousin he will be so tickled to get a custom set for him and his wife (when ever my forge arrives). Thank you for the link this is awesome
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I am new to the forum but have had my order for a pro forever. I started a chess board over 30 years ago and because I couldn’t figure out part of the case I forgot about it. It’s basis was slightly burned wooden match sticks glued to thin wood alternating ends of matches. I used a transparent stain on the squares and then put them together. The beauty of what you have created inspires me to finish. These pieces will add so much to my original project. My problem…I don’t see your file but it may be my unfamiliarity with the forum. I am logged in.
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If you right-click on the image, and click “save as”, you should get an SVG file.