Thanks 
I’ll keep everyone updated on how it goes 
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we use the program goci to run our club competition: https://launchpad.net/goci
It has a list of all your members with a current ranking, at each meeting you select the members that are present, the program calculates who plays who, and with how much handicap, and you play and register the outcome. And then the program updates the ranking.
Greets and success with your club,
Mirjam
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Is there a simple correlation between the “strength” it asks you to set and kyu/dan? I see that when you click “show players” it has a kyu/dan level but I can’t tell how it gets that from the strength number it asks for.
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Also, I made a few test players trying to figure out the strength numbers… any idea how to delete players?
that all sounds amazing!
as someone who found their local go-meet via the site of the national federation i can only recommend registering there!
All the best for monday and be sure to have lots of fun!
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Strength 2 down is one kyu down/dan up, one kyu is strength 18 or 20 or so.
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I don’t know if you can delete players, it keeps the history of all games to calculate strength/rank. So, if you delete a player, the history would become incomplete.
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In Linux it keeps its records in a hidden file named .goci (or something like that, I do not have the computer and software at hand). just delete or rename the file and you can start over with a blank one.
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Register with the Association. Go daddy has very cheap deals for websites, and consider put extra money to have it first in line in Google search. I thnk app $50
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If you expect to have brand new players (as in zero prior experience), consider making a 5x5 and 7x7 board to start with. (Just draw some lines on a piece of paper.) Games will be super fast, and newbies will outgrow them quickly, but they are a great way to keep them from feeling overwhelmed.
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If you have a small number of players, you can use the EGD’s calculator to keep track of ranks. You’ll have to take notes of the games and update each player’s ranking individually.
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And if you have brand new players with negative prior experience, consider the 1x1 board to keep them from feeling overwhelmed.
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I’m making 4 9x9 boards currently. I feel like they’re small enough for beginners.
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9x9 is good for just-past-beginner, but in my experience teaching people, 5x5 and 7x7 have been much more manageable right at the beginning. Maybe try it a few times and see how it goes?
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In my experience, 5×5 and 7×7 have been very helpful with total beginners, maybe just for 3-5 games each, and of course, them playing black. The fact that on a 5×5 board the Tengen point is on the 3rd line = on the 3-3 point can be emphasised.
BTW, three things I like to show and tell beginners when we begin playing on the 9x9 board (parentheses usually omitted resp. added when I repeat it later):
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3-3 lives (if there are no other stones close to it … either in the corner or to one side … if no mistakes or deliberate sacrifice is made … disregarding how big or small.)
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A stone on the 3rd line lives (quite probably) if two intersections to both sides are not occupied by the opponent (and no mistakes are made)
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two stones on the third line with two free intersections in between live (quite probably … if no mistakes or sacrifices are made)
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I’m surprised there is such a unified consensus here that 9x9 is too big for beginners…? I learnt to play here at OGS and after playing through the learn to play and reading through IWTG, I played 2 games of 9x9 and since then have pretty much exclusively played 19x19.
I’ve already made 4 nice-ish looking 9x9 boards haha, I guess I feel like 7x7 and especially 5x5 would simply be too small. On a 5x5 board, you probably aren’t placing more than 10 stones each… I feel like the 20-30 stones you get in a 9x9 game has more room for teaching without being too overwhelming.
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A also agree with @BHydden, 9x9 is totally fine for absolute beginners, from my humble experience.
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At my club, I exclusively teach beginners on the 13x13 board and it works fine for me.
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I never said that “9×9 is too big for beginners”.
It’s just that for the first few games 5×5 and 7×7 have shown to be helpful 
(though most games I play with beginners are indeed on 9×9), and this is not just fantasised but actual experience from teaching kids aged 8–16 and adults of all ages.
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As for rankings, my club - despite having many AGA-rated players, simply goes with a simple sliding handicap. We use ranks to approximate strength for initial handicap assignment, then once two players find something that feels about right, they keep track of wins/losses. If someone wins three games against the same opponent in a row, they drop a handicap stone (or give the opponent one more). It balances out pretty well.
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