<br>keely et. al.<br><br><a href="http://gobase.org">http://gobase.org</a><br><br>The Blokus board does look similar to a Go board, from what I can gather, but with 21 lines per side (I guess, to form 400 squares, or did I figure this wrong?), vs. Go's 19, with tradition mandating a slightly longer than wide board for Go, avoiding true squares. Strategy is, I suppose, maybe, in a very general way, similar in that "territory" is seized, but in just about every other way the games are very different.
<br><br>There are so many many games in the world...I like the ancient history of Go, the almost mystical multi-millenia old cultural tradition, coupled with the fact the rules are so simple, yet the game is at least as demanding in complexity as other very demanding games.
<br><br>I also find it amusing, fascinating and enjoyable that such an ancient game stymies computers!<br><br>Ted Moffett<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/8/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">keely emerinemix</b> <
<a href="mailto:kjajmix1@msn.com">kjajmix1@msn.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Ted,<br><br>Please tell the ancient mystics I'm sorry. You see, only someone as limited
<br>in spatial cognition as I could possibly link Blokus with Go. It was the<br>squarish board made up of littler squares, you see, that got me. That and<br>the little token thingies, which I think is not how Go-ites refer to the
<br>stones. Thankfully, I avoided comparing Go with Pente. I made that mistake<br>only once and barely lived to regret it.<br><br>I have a beautiful old 4-track cribbage board with brass pegs, as well as<br>the Hodgins' $6.95 special training board, but the last person who tried to
<br>teach me the game ran screaming into the woods in sobbing frustration. I<br>believe Charles is still wandering about the forest north of Princeton,<br>regretting to the very core of his being the day that he said, "Sure, I'll
<br>teach you!" It's sad to see the devastation we humans can unintentionally<br>wreak on those around us.<br><br>And Chas, I agree -- Yahtzee is an exercise in masochism, which reminds me<br>of a painfully funny, painfully true story from my college days:
<br><br>My roommate, Christine, was dating a real toad named Todd, who had the looks<br>and personality of a strawful of milk and yet managed to make her life a<br>living heck with his petulance, jealousy, and immaturity. One day, perhaps
<br>after a few drinks, my other roomie and I asked her if she was just a<br>masochist or something. Chris answered,<br><br>"No way, you guys! My family's been Catholic for generations!"<br><br>Sigh.<br><br>
Thanks for the recommendations --<br><br>keely<br><br><br>From: "Ted Moffett" <<a href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com">starbliss@gmail.com</a>><br>To: "keely emerinemix" <<a href="mailto:kjajmix1@msn.com">
kjajmix1@msn.com</a>><br>CC: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] new topic: games<br>Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:21:42 +0000<br><br>keely et. al.<br><br>Do not arouse the ancient mystics wrath!
<br><br>Blokus is very different than Go! Blokus suits families better, and allows<br>brain teasing options, within the rather flexible ways the game can be<br>played, but Go reaches into the highest levels of human cognition in a board
<br>game.<br><br>Go is arguably the most incredible board game in history, perhaps dating<br>back 4000 years! No computer program yet can come close to beating the best<br>Go players. It is astonishing for the incredible complexity that develops
<br>out of the disarming simplicity of the rules, and highlights the functions<br>of human intelligence that those darn computers cannot yet best us at.<br>There was a Go club on the Palouse that once met regularly at the home of a
<br>WSU computer scientist. The game is very big in China, where it was<br>supposedly invented at least 3000 years ago, and in Japan and Korea.<br>Sometimes a very good Go player has visited the Palouse from these nations,
<br>associated with WSU or the U of I.<br><br>Chess is a plodding mechanical limited predictable game in comparison with<br>Go, which is why computers are so very good at Chess, and stymied by Go:<br><br><a href="http://www.game/club.com/gohis/go.htm#FundamentalRule">
http://www.game/club.com/gohis/go.htm#FundamentalRule</a><br><br><a href="http://gobase.org">http://gobase.org</a><br><br>Only two people can play Go. This is not the sort of family game that<br>Blokus can be, with four different colored pieces for four players. Go has
<br>only white and black stones, all the same kind, except for the color. Go<br>stones are placed on intersections of lines on a board with 19 X 19<br>rectangular placed lines (a perfect square is avoided for aesthetic or other
<br>mysterious reasons), while Blokus has 5 different sized pieces for each<br>player. Go has no restrictions on where the stones may be placed when the<br>game starts or at any other time, except for the KO rule (same board
<br>position not allowed twice in a row to prevent infinite capture), and<br>placing stones into surrounded intersections (suicide), while Blokus<br>mandates starting corners for each player. In Go stones are captured by
<br>being surrounded, while if I have this correct, Blokus rules do not allow<br>capture of pieces.<br><br>Go has a very clever handicap system achieved by placing stones on the board<br>at the start of the game in predetermined positions, the number of stones
<br>given dependent on the relative skill of the players. This can allow for a<br>competitive game between players of very different skill levels.<br><br>I've spent many hours studying and playing Go... I recommend the game to
<br>everyone, but I guess it's not the best family game given only two can play.<br><br>Ted Moffett<br><br><br><br>On 1/7/07, keely emerinemix <<a href="mailto:kjajmix1@msn.com">kjajmix1@msn.com</a>> wrote:<br>>
<br>><br>><br>>I took a break from being screechy, gnarled, smug and shrill by playing a<br>>new board game this afternoon with Jeff and the boys -- Blokus, which we<br>>bought at Hodgins as our "family gift" for Christmas. It's an
<br>>award-winning, Mensa-endorsed game similar to dominoes and Go, I think. I<br>>have the spatial ability of a lemur, and yet I'm able to learn this<br>>geometric, block-placing game easily, and I've won twice now. So, my New
<br>>Year's Family Board Game recommendations are:<br>><br>>1. Blokus<br>>2. Backgammon<br>>3. Pente<br>>4. Mancala<br>>5. Yahtzee<br>><br>>I am, without question, the world's worst chess player; I taught both of
<br>>my<br>>sons when they were five and they've been beating me since they were six.<br>>In addition, I'm dying to learn how to play cribbage, but I don't know how<br>>and the online and in-print instructions are too confusing. Still, on a
<br>>dreary, sloppy winter's day, it's great to hang out with the guys, turn<br>>off<br>>all electronica, and play a nice, testosterone-charged board game together<br>>(with my husband and two teenage boys, everything is
<br>>testosterone-charged!).<br>> Any other recommendations from the Visionaires in my life?<br>><br>>keely<br>><br>>_________________________________________________________________<br>> >From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes
<br>>has<br>>it all. <a href="http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/?icid=nctagline1">http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/?icid=nctagline1</a><br>><br>>=======================================================<br>>List services made available by First Step Internet,
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