Name this game

[pokerfan]

With a group this diverse, we will have the correct answer in less than ten minutes.

[InternalDialogue]

1. It's been ten minutes already, so I'll answer past the deadline.

Go.

[pokerfan]

2. Yeah

Learned it at university. Quite popular with the computer crowd as machine play has proven to be an intractable problem.

[InternalDialogue]

3. I never had anyone to teach me.

A year or so ago I thought I'd figure out if there were a computer program. I learned the very (very) basics online after a search, and I downloaded a game, which proved to be buggy.

It looks and feels like a game I would love to play all the time. But, for me, no roommate, no spouse -- kind of tough to get a game going.

How proficient do you feel you are? Is Go something you think requires years and years of experience to play well, or do you enjoy it even at a very basic level?

[pokerfan]

7. I haven't played it seriously in over twenty years

One of the great things about the game is that it can handicapped by starting black with up to 9 stones. One of the guys at school was a shodan (black belt) which meant that he would be a nine stone underdog to the best players in the world. At my best I was about a 7 stone dog to him but there were many players who I could beat.

I'm afraid I would almost be starting over again.

I think it's a very easy game to learn and enjoy, but like most things takes a lifetime to master.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. The game is called Go..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(board_game)

edit :: I'm a bit late to the party.. I was fucking around at digg.com and forgot to refresh this thread before I submitted my answer.

[Generic Brad]

5. It looks an awful lot like Othello

But I get confused easily. I'm old.

[darkstar]

6. hehe

me too...almost posted right away...but i kept on thinking "Or is it that other similar game, the, ah, shakespeare thingymacallit, Hamlet, no, damn it, WTF, Lear...."

[pokerfan]

8. Everyone says that

But if you look closely you will note that the stones are placed on the intersections of the squares rather than the squares themselves. Further, the stones are the same color on both sides.

Othello is a fine game, but it is more akin to checkers if Go is compared to chess.

Now, does anyone play backgammon?

[Generic Brad]

9. I can't look closely. I'm old.

Eyesight is one of the first things to go.