I'm curious how often people actually play, and especially how they would characterize that frequency. Do you feel you play often? Or rarely? Do you think it's a lot of time spent playing, or are you actually looking to play more often if only you could find the time?

I'd say I play "a few games, every other day or so", which is "not that often" for a total of about 40 games a month every month since october (when I started playing again). They're all "medium" in the sense that the KGS automatcher defines it: 25m+5x30s.

It's a leisurely pace for me, both in frequency of games played and in how comfortable I am with the time limits. Math tells me I waste around 6-7 hours a week playing (usually there's some spare time on the clock), while I could have been doing more tsumego instead.

I haven't answered the poll, because most of my games are correspondence games. I probably play 1-2 live games a week, plus I have a bunch (10?) going on on DGS.

There is no way to answer. I only play on DGS. I often have more than 10 games going, but rarely complete more than one or two a week. If you want to know how often I play then I check the server many times a day. But I suspect you want to know the number of games.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Same for me as for others who answered: I have about 35 running correspondence games, and since I’m currently overwhelmed by Real Life and work, and I don’t even place a move every day, sometimes not for a week.

But Real Life games: once a week, at “my” Go club, every friday, 3-5 games, depending on who’s there and what board size we play; sometimes, when we’re three, we play simultaneously (i.e. everybody plays two games at the same time).

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

Hm. I didn't consider correspondence games at all.

It SHOULD count as playing, but it's probably not accurate to pretend that while the clock is running, your entire mind is exerting itself to find the next move until it is played.

At least, I don't think anyone can fully maintain concentration for over 100 hours, let alone several months or years.

But you could definitely find yourself with a quiet, boring moment, and then your mind can wander back to that one interesting game you've got going.

How to account for that in the context of my question, though...?

I've got two Malkovich games going now, and am considering starting a third. Those games fit into my schedule which is a bit crowded. But I am lucky if I make it to the club for a face to face game once a month.

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Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207

7 * (games completed / days a member of the correspondence site). Adjusted if you've taken any long breaks. I've usually got low teens worth of games going on DGS, and it worked out to about 3 games completed per week.

Correspondence games I definitely spend more time thinking on then any other type, but the poll is quantity of games not hours played.

I go through cycles of playing either one game a day or 5-10 games in a day lol.
But of course school just started so now it's either 0 or 1 or 5.
When I play I'm either really in the mood or just not feeling it.

This attitude probably came from dwarf fortress where losing is fun.

This summer I made a concerted effort to play one game each day for several months in a row. Surprisingly, that habit has stuck with me now that I'm back to work full time. (I'm a teacher.) While I don't play every single day, I can generally fit in a game in the evening after my daughter has gone to bed several nights a week.

When I was playing on DGS it absolutely meant 'playing' every day (including lying in bed at night). That's why I had to stop.

I find it interesting that the OP's own activity is described as - I'd say I play "a few games, every other day or so", which is "not that often" - but this type of alternative is not included in the poll.

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

I play about 1-10 games everyday. But I almost always play at least one, usually more like 5.

Well, it's around 5-10 games a week. I didn't expect very exact answers, because I didn't expect people to have exact statistics. Especially if they play go in more than one venue, it's easy to lose track of how often you really do play.

So far, the answers are very worthwhile to me. It really opened my mind to different perspectives, which is what I wanted.

Weird intervals in this poll. What if I play 3-4 games per week? Or seven?

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- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Well, I can understand that the OP couldn’t name ALL possibilities here.

I’d say click “five”.

I’d say click “ten”.

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

Probably 10-15 games per week I'd say, so I clicked 10. I don't feel I play that often because it's fairly spread out through my free time I think, with most of my games lasting ~30 minutes at a guess.

PeterN

Five times a week for me, just on KGS or IGS atm.
But only about two times a week very serious: the other three times are most often to calm down, try something new or being tired and to "shut down" my brain

You can play go to shut down...?

PeterN

Absolutely, I sleep well afterwards.
Hasn´t been the case some years ago when I took my Rank serious and got emotional sometimes, I have to add.

It makes sense that go can be restful.

If you're 100% focused on go, you will be 0% focused on things you don't want to think about.

I'm also very pleased to see that the troll responses to the poll have all received votes. It's why I put them there, and I feel successful.

If I play before bed I start seeing tsumgeo like things from the game in my head, sleep does not then come so easily.

PeterN