Go was earliest board game in the world .lt have longer and longer history
Go was earliest board game in the world .lt born in China.It was widely spread as early as during the period of the three emperors and five emperors of China.ln Spring and Autumn Period,the go was become a strategy to analyze the world.So,political Strategists used the go make a new diplomatic mode,it vertical and horizontal.
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And an interesting external link
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Well, I did some research into this as well. From some lexicography trails.
My personal opinion is that at least some forms of precursor games (possibly several difficult kinds), existed in the 1st millennium. And modern players might be able to recognize them as a type of Go. Although, the rules and even the basic goals of these games could be very different (even different from place to place at the time, due to the difficulty in communication and local cultures).
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In my opinion, it is extremely unlikely that the first go boards were 19x19, or 17x17. First is developing a new idea, then expanding it to make it more interesting. These board sizes seem likely ‘expansion packs’ to use Claire’s terminology.
Which do you think came first, tic tax toe, or gomoku/pente/wuziqui? I think tic tax toe. 9x9 still seems like it might be too big to me. 6x6 capture go seems about the right size maybe? Anything smaller seems more like a thought experiment and the rules become less intuitive rather than more.
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The size may have been not clearly defined, varying from place to place.
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That’s probably assuming that someone was trying to invent or sell a game, or market it like you might do nowadays or run a Kickstarter.
If it’s just a collection of people trying to pass the time, I don’t see why it couldn’t start up on any size board.
People don’t always do things based off not the most sensible ideas, special or magical numbers can have some cultural or religious significance and could be chosen for that reason.
Even if you think why we measure angles in degrees with 360° as total, or possibly why one might choose 19x19 goban with 361 points.
Things don’t always have to come about logically even if the rules seems to have developed into something that seems reasonably logical.
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I completely agree with what you say of the context. The ‘expansion pack’ term is in reference to some other comments made by the go historian, @claire_yang, not as a literal reference to a commercial prospect of any kind. However, I do think it is more likely for ideas to begin in simple ways and then get added onto once everyone understands the basic premise, or as more ‘sophisticated’ people try to differentiate their elitist version of the game from that of the commoners, for example. (This was one of the contexts when that term was used.)
As for astrological or numerological explanations, well it’s possible, I suppose. But, as far as I understand, the 17x17 board predates the 19x19. Also, I have heard degrees of a circle and days of the year as explanations of the number of intersections on a modern board. In that case, my first question is, did the ancient Chinese use 360 degree circle measurements? How many days were in an ancient lunar year? These ideas seem more poetic than literal, but as you say it doesn’t have to be logical. It just seems far more likely to start small and grow, rather than the other way around. For example, first boards could have been 25x25. But the larger the board, the longer it takes to finish. Games that don’t finish before the sun goes down have a lot of drawbacks. Doesn’t it seem more natural to go from three in a row to five, instead of the reverse?
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