“It was in Japan that the game really flourished”

  Japanese board game with 10-million+ players in Japan alone. It is considered to have originated in China 4,000 years ago and is called wei chi (the surrounding game) in China. It migrated to Europe in the 19th century. It is usually played by two players.

  Recently pair-Go for four contestants has been introduced. In Go, taking prisoners, the acquisition of territory, the invasion of enemy territory and the establishment of influence that counteracts your adversarys ability to form territory, all fluctuate in relative value during the course of a game.

   The Go board is spacious enough for several independent conflicts which may only be related in the closing stages of a game. The normal board is a 19 x 19 grid. Beginners use a board of 9 x 9. Stones are placed on the intersections of the lines of this grid.

  Half are white and half black, and they do not move once played. It is simple - and it is. There are only a few rules. A Chess game becomes simpler as pieces are removed from play by capture, but in Go the board starts empty and increases in complexity as more pieces are added to it (this is its main distinction from Chess and similar to X's and O's).