There are a lot of Go variants on https://www.govariants.com , many I haven’t tried out yet. Let’s change that and play!
I invite you to play with me any variant on the site. Either join in one of the game links that I post here, or tell me what kind of game you’d like to play!
Here are the first invitation links, all “normal” Go but on new board patterns!
Game #1 Rhombitrihexagonal
https://www.govariants.com/game/65cf8f5ce7d31b1d396fe3c9
Game #2 Circular
https://www.govariants.com/game/65cf8f1ee7d31b1d396fe3c7
Game #3 Trihexagonal
https://www.govariants.com/game/65cf8efde7d31b1d396fe3c6
All of these have unlimited time (I like correspondence games). There are no notifications yet, but I could post reminders here if you want.
The Govariants project
If you don’t know https://www.govariants.com yet, no problem! Let me introduce you. Currently it looks something like this:
The project is open source and aims to provide a website where all kinds of Go variants can be played. The focus lies on variants that were previously not playable anywhere on the internet, for example playing on different board patterns, with parallel moves, with multi-colored stones etc. The project started in 2022 and is being developed by multiple members of this forum. But anyone is welcome to contribute!
- Github repository: GitHub - govariantsteam/govariants: A place to play Go variants
- More information on how it started: Collective development of a server for variants
Getting started
First you need to create an account, which only requires choosing a username and password (don’t forget it!). Then you can create games, join games and play!
Creating a game
You can create a game on the landing page. A wide range of variants is available, and each can be customised with different parameters like board size, komi, time control etc. Select parameters of your choice and click “Create Game”! You will be navigated to the page for your new game.
Games List
This is the other notable element on the landing page. From here you can browse all games and navigate to the page of a specific game!
Seats
To join a game, click the “Take Seat” button on one of the seats next to the board. Each seat stands for one participant (determining e.g. the color you play with).
However you can also occupy multiple seats, and this is useful for trying out any variant on your own! (Note: To play a move for a specific seat, first you need to select the seat.)
Variants
Here is a list of currently available variants with short descriptions. Almost all variants use the normal go rules in some way, and these descriptions only include the new rule ideas.
Baduk
This is “normal” Baduk / Weiqi / Go.
BadukWithAbstractBoard
The name is a bit silly, but this variant lets you play on new board patterns!
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Rectangular board
The normal go board. -
Rhombitrihexagonal (“Polygonal”) board
Thread: Rhombitrihexagonal Go -
Circular board
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Trihexagonal board
Phantom
Players can only see their own stones. How does this work for counting? I don’t know … but I’d like to try and find out!
Parallel
Introduction
Parallel can be played by any number of players and features parallel moves. All players choose a move in every round. Once everybody has made a choice, all stones are placed simultaneously.
When multiple people play the same move, a collision occurs. The outcome depends on the configured “Collision Handling” (one of the game parameters).
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Merge: Collisions result in placing a single stone with all colors of the colliding players. For rules on multicolored stones see Fractional.
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Pass: Collisions result in no stone being placed at that position.
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Ko: Collisions result in a “Ko-stone” being placed. This stone vanishes after one round.
Capture Rule
Chains with no liberties are removed as usual. If multiple chains lose their last liberty simultaneously, the following priority rule is applied:
1.) All old chains with no liberty are simultaneously removed.
2.) Then all new chains with no liberty are simultaneously removed.
New chains are those containing stones placed this round, and others are old chains. Note that step 1 may free up liberties and thus save new chains from getting removed in step 2 (similar to normal go, a stone that captures a Ko).
Example Position with three players:
Thread on parallel moves: Go variant: SAS Go
Capture
Also known as Atari go, here the first player who captures a stone wins!
Thread: Anyone interested in playing capture go?
Chess
This is a strange variant where stones can move! Jokes aside, I believe this was added as a proof of concept.
Fun thread: A strange new variant
Tetris
Players are not allowed to form chains of size four (Tetris shapes).
Pyramid
Played on a rectangular board with area scoring where the centre is worth significantly more points than the edges. The point value is equal to the intersections minimum distance to the edges.
Thread: Pyramid go 🔺
Thue-Morse
Instead of alternating, the playing order follows the Thue-Morse (fair sharing) sequence.
Thread: Thue-Morse (Fair Sharing) Sequence: A possible alternative to komi?
Freeze
Immediately after a chain is put into Atari (i.e. its liberties are removed to one), the next player is “frozen” for one move. While frozen a player may not play any move that results in the capture of stones.
EGC page: Freeze Go (B) – European Go Congress 2023
Fractional
Introduction
Fractional is a team game for any number of players that features parallel moves with collision handling “Merge” (see Parallel) and multicolored stones. The chains of stones (a.k.a. groups) are determined for each color individually and can overlap with other chains.
Players place stones with two colors, the first being their team color (e.g. Team Black, Team White). The second color is typically shared with players from other team(s). Each team receives points for stones and territories of their team color (i.e. area scoring).
Definitions
Connectedness
If C is a color, two stones featuring C are called C-connected, if they can be connected by a path traversing only stones featuring color C.
Chains
A Chain of color C is a maximal set of pairwise C-connected stones.
Territory
If C is a team color, a maximal set of connected empty intersections is a C-territory if all adjacent stones feature C.
or alternatively …
[…] if no adjacent stones feature another team color.
Example Position (see also Parallel Fractional Go: Game 3)
Initial Thread: Fractional Multicolour Go
Keima
Each move consists of placing two stones that must form a keima (knight’s move) shape with each other.
EGC page: Keima Go (B) – European Go Congress 2023
One Color
All stones display the same color, but behind the scenes the colors (that are being used to determine captures, territories etc.) are that of a normal game of Go!
Senseis Library page: One Colour Go at Sensei's Library
Drift
After each move, the board transforms with a toroidal shift in both x- and y-direction (configurable as game parameters). Example for such a shift: The top row of intersections moves to the bottom of the board, together with all stones on it. Chains that lose their liberties as a result of a shift are removed simultaneously.
