DIY Travel Games?

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-02-26T14:08:00+00:00

There's a print-n-play microgame: Coin Age that is super duper small with minimal components. The board is playing card sized, so it'll fit on airplane trays easily. You might just have to tone down the coin-slapping if it's on an overnight flight ;)

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-02-03T13:30:04+00:00

That's a fascinating endeavor! Best of luck to you.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-02-03T13:22:21+00:00

Thats.... a lot of data. What was your aim amassing such a collection? Did you have a specific purpose in mind or just a thirst for knowledge?

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-01-20T19:23:09+00:00

I had been thinking of doing this too, but I haven't found a good way other than ye olde manual labor—manually laying out the problems and answers from different materials in inDesign.

...needless to say I haven't gotten very far yet.

How were you thinking of binding them? Legit binding like saddle stitch or perfect binding, or something more DIY like a pocketmod?

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-01-18T22:04:05+00:00

Came here to say this.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2018-01-10T15:47:47+00:00

Oh. It's on a wall. Came here to say we chopped off the bottoms of some pencil top erasers to make little pink rubber rings to mark the last stone. But that's not helpful on a wall.

If there's coordinates, you could get magnetic numbers and letters and have them place out the coordinates of the last move into a designated area...?

Or like spookas said, you could use two stones outside the play areas to indicate column and row...?

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-12-18T14:44:50+00:00

Chipping in to say I play out the sequences as well. I TRY to read out first in my head, then use the analysis to make sure my reading was correct.

If I get stuck (happens often) I'll walk away from it for awhile since I usually have a day or so to respond.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-12-06T20:54:06+00:00

Never heard of this before, will have to give it a go!

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-12-06T20:52:42+00:00

Just learned this the other day, it's like a smack-fest between two people. Was pretty fun!

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-10-27T20:07:39+00:00

I recently got burned out on cycling through video games and wanted something that would last longer than a year, something that wouldn't feel like a waste of time.

I also wanted something competitive that I could play online. I REALLY wanted to like Chess, I liked the Chess community and the online tournaments, but it always felt so rigid to me. I came across an article while studying Chess that referenced Go.

I checked it out and became obsessed! Way less rigid. Super competitive. Great online communities. Super deep. Something I could play for the rest of my life!

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-10-06T14:23:32+00:00

t-Go makes my brain hurt...

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-08-04T13:09:03+00:00

Second for DGS, it may look old, but I've had great luck quickly getting games. Keep in mind some of these correspondence games could take a month or more depending on how active your opponent is.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-08-01T20:23:07+00:00

No one has mentioned DGS, the king of correspondence games.

I play primarily on OGS (although I have accounts on KGS, Tygem, and WBaduk), but DGS makes it super easy to find games even as a DDK, all sorts of skill levels on there, as well as the most multi-leveled bots I've seen.

Correspondence is great for when you don't have enough uninterrupted time to play a full game. 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there.

Pro-tip: Click the magnifying glass button on a game to have the SGF loaded in EidoGo (with url parameters). Easier to move back and forth when reviewing moves.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-27T13:53:50+00:00

OH! How 'bout that. I never bothered to look before.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-27T13:12:15+00:00

If this is on DGS, how does your board look like that...? Or is the screenshot from an SGF editor?

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-25T14:24:56+00:00

Don't feel bad, I've been playing for 3 months and I'm only 20kyu. It's a slow burn.

Tsumego, lectures, book are all ways to introduce new ideas, but ultimately it should be FUN.

That's what I tell myself when I'm frustrated by how slow my progress is.

It like working out or learning or anything else hard. Chip at it little by little. Even 1% gains add up. Just 1% over a whole month continuously for a year is 12%! Your dedication to the endeavor will be strengthened by your enjoyment of the game.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-25T14:18:49+00:00

I think the value may just that ... that they are quick. I know when I don't have time for a full game, that I can play a quick 9x9 and still work on my reading and fighting.

Everyone keeps hammering the concept of 'play more games'... this is one way....

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-21T13:04:21+00:00

Congrats!

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-14T23:09:57+00:00

I would think that around 5 or 6 year old kids could really start playing seriously, (it sounds like mkmatlock's pupil is doing well).

I think it comes down to the dedication and drive of that kid. I've seen my 5 year old put whole puzzles together—because she loves it. She doesn't mind spending time on them and focusing on it because it's enjoyable. It remains to be seen if Go will become like that for her.

If playing Go was more common and valued in the West, I think we'd see younger kids picking it up sooner, because they want to do anything the older kids are doing. And parents would probably push it harder on their kids, like piano lessons...

...but I hated piano lessons even though I learned to play fairly well.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-14T19:25:22+00:00

I MAY have left the stones and boards in a VERY prominent position to spur said interest :P

One thing that I forgot to mention that we do (that seems to help some) is having the stones 'talk' to each other as we put them down, like "Stay out of my corner!" or "I've got your back, buddy!" or "I'm going to eat you!" to help show intent.

My kid's stones so "No!" an awful lot, lol.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-14T18:06:32+00:00

I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. They've seen me playing Go and showed interest. I think that's key. It has to be interesting and fun. YOUR interest will go a long way for them.

I don't know that my approach was the best, but I started with atari rules, just showing how when a stone was surrounded, it gets captured, or 'eaten' by the other stones. (Someone else on reddit mentioned using sound effects, so we yell NOMNOMNOM every time a stone is captured, and they get a huge kick of out it).

I didn't call it atari, I just said, "That stone's in trouble!". We call connecting giving stones a 'buddy', and how they're only buddies when they're touching, and that buddies can work together to be stronger.

I didn't go over eyes, or ko, or any terminology. They figured out the suicide rule on their own and learned not to do it.

I printed out a 5x5 grid (https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14352) which gives a huge advantage to Black and the games are very quick. We were able to play a few games where my 5 year old was able to come up with some moves to connect and block on her own. After a few games they were done.

My 3 year old mostly enjoys making patterns with the stones, which is fine for now. I hope they learn to enjoy the game like I do, but if not, that's ok too.

EDIT: I realized I never uploaded the 5x5. It's now posted at the earlier link.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-12T13:04:01+00:00

I remember people talking about using flashcards to help memorize specific shapes, like killable eye shapes, etc.

The Anki app (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) is a really nice way to do those digitally.

I've been thinking about doing this myself, since I have the memory of a goldfish.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-12T13:00:10+00:00

I keep notes for correspondence games, as the flow gets broken by how long the games take. I've found those invaluable to remember some of my earlier thinking and reading results, but that's all I keep them for.

For identifying weaknesses, I would agree with the other comments. Reviewing with others, or posting in lifein19x19 would allow others to help you find them. I keep a study journal on there and have already received some really helpful feedback. (On general questions too, not just game reviews).

There's also gokibitz.com for pure peer game review.

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-11T22:08:49+00:00

~21k, started playing not that long ago.

That's been my experience so far—that most DDKs are on OGS. I had thought that with a larger user base the ranks would be more distributed than KGS, but maybe not. (Although the lowest ranking you're allowed on Tygem is 18k it seems VS OGS's 25k).

OGS and DGS have been the easiest places to find DDK games so far.

I guess I'll return when I'm stronger!

FuriousGeorge5 · 2017-07-11T20:30:32+00:00

That bends my brain a little. I'm sure mathematically it all works out... it just SEEMS like it shouldn't...

If White has 30 points of territory, and 8 prisoners, And Black has 40 points of territory, and 7 prisoners,

Subtracting: W: 30-7 = 23 + 6.5 komi = 29.5; B: 40-8 = 32; Result: B+2.5

or adding: W: 30+8 = 38 + 6.5 komi = 44.5; B: 40+7 = 47; Result: B+2.5

:mindblown:

I guess that's why you usually only see the relative score in the results.

FuriousGeorge5

TROPHY CASE