So we’re not talking about Goboxing?
It sounds like it would be interesting to try, but I can’t imagine the initial placement would even necessarily be necessary… could just start with one black stone at tengen and take it from there.
Though having the option to tenuki could make it interesting. Maybe an alternative would be to have players start with stones on the star points, Tibetan-Go-style?
I actually tried contact go many times: it’s totally feasible but your opponent chooses the direction and how the game forms. Generally you need to be at least 7 stones stronger than the opponent to have a chance at winning (from experience).
I’m finding it suprisingly “a proper game” and interesting, rather than “a mikey mouse idea that is just a bit of a laugh”.
As I observed in comments, it demands reading perhaps more than normal go - maybe true for any variant where we don’t have instinct and proverbs - and I find it a nice exercise in reading because the variation space is smaller (and also because the “stakes for losing” are less I guess)