My girlfriend has taken a very serious interest in the game, mostly due to my passion surrounding it. However, she's having trouble focusing on the game because, as she looks at the board, she says that the contrast of black and white give her intense tunnel vision and then everything turns a sort of grey. Closing her eyes, breathing exercises, and other things we've tried don't seem to work. She thinks a different colored board might help, but isn't sure.

Her problem is exacerbated when the stones touch each other, so we've found that playing with smaller stones helps for a little bit, but she can't make it through a whole 19x19 without the board getting blurry and all the stones "greying out." It's really disappointing her, because she's trying to put time and effort into becoming a better player.

I've looked into the jade colored stones offered at YMI (both the tinted single convex stones and the "green apple" biconvex stones), but I'm not sure which would help the most. I feel that the single convex stones would be the better investment, because I could mark positions on the board during our teaching games. Honestly, I just don't want to spend a lot of money on something that won't help.

Has anyone any experience with this? Any suggestions to offer? Please help.

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Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

While I appreciate the suggestion, I have indeed already considered it. I'm on a bit of a budget, and I'd rather not have semi-precious stones laying around that I won't use, especially when I have no idea if it would help. For all I know, I could purchase contrasting blue and red stones and they'd morph into a purple blur, to her.

I was mostly asking if anyone has had this problem or seen this problem, and what helped them in that situation.

But I really do appreciate it and had considered it as a Valentine's Day present.

_________________
Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

What stones and board are you currently using ? (which are giving her the problems)
Could you post a few photos of your set ?

Does she experience similar problems with...
- checkers, or othello (with black-and-white pieces) ?
- black and white chess pieces in a normal chess game ?
- your same Go set, but playing pente instead of Go ?
- all board sizes -- 9x9, 13x13, 19x19 -- or only the big 19x19 ? (for many novices, the 19x19 board can be overwhelming at first)

Could you experiment with different colors... say, with the plastic bottle caps of 2-liter (or smaller sizes) soft drink bottles?
Or, try just with different arts and craft color papers -- cut out circles and see if she has the same problems
if the circle colors are red and blue, for example ?

Another option to consider would be something like these wooden stones:

http://www.uncommongames.com/product/p- ... -wood.aspx

I have no experience with this issue, so I can't be sure it will solve anything, but perhaps the softer colour and the lower contrast w.r.t. the board will help. At least the price of $17.95 makes the investment a lot smaller than many other options.

I don't have any direct experience, but you might also try going bigger, using 1-2 inch stones.

Store bought (stones are 1-3/8)
Make your own (any color you want to paint)

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That's a good idea. If you wanted something a bit more solid, you could try things like different color buttons from a craft store. EDIT: Or Ebay! (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buttons-Round-A ... 2a284b0e60)

And I'm sure you've seen this, but you can get darker boards (http://www.ymimports.com/p-1752-beechwo ... REbRKXrNHM), and boards made out of particle board that are less intensely yellow (https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?prod ... category=T).

A bunch of buttons and a particle wood board would certainly be a cheaper option to try out.

Poker chips might also work - did anyone recommend that?

Anyway, I don't mean to pry, but you suggested that your friend has a visual impairment in the thread title, but don't actually mention what that might be. If you know that she has a visual impairment, her optometrist or ophthalmologist is the person to ask about what combinations of colors and shapes won't set off this reaction. If you are merely speculating that she has an impairment, a trip to the optometrist might save you a lot of heartache later on.

Good suggestion with the bottle caps and buttons. She has the same problem with checkers, chess, and all board sizes. This is what has always held her back in succeeding in these games.

I am using a cherry wood board with black and white marble stones. It's a very standard-looking set, nothing unique. The board is slightly more reddish than ash.

I will post pictures when I get a chance.



Thanks for the link! I think this might help her, especially if combined with a darker board. We'll see what happens. Worst case scenario, I can keep them in a satchel in the park and leave one of my old go boards there for whoever wants to play.



Interesting idea, but it would make it difficult to play 19x19 without buying a special board or making a subpar one.



The beechwood board is exactly what she was looking at that might help. I think I might try that combined with the blue and red button idea you'd mentioned.



Unfortunately, no optometrists in the area will diagnose this problem, or even consult regarding it. She has myopia, the same as I, but this is no explanation for this adverse reaction. Her last optometrist told her that "no one has this problem; if you do, it's in your head." Unfortunately, living in an area that requires no board certification to become a practicing optometrist means a tremendous amount of quackery. There's only one board-certified I know of, and they practice two hours away, and there is a $700 down payment on the appointment, just to make it. Supposedly he's known for working with people like Whoopie Goldberg and other celebrities. ... It's just not an option.

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Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

If you are not aware already, you may want to look into an ophthalmologist instead, if you are able. They are medical doctors who specialize in conditions of the eye and vision, as opposed to optometrists, who are doctors of optometry, not MDs, and work primarily on vision correction and more common eye conditions.

I will pass this on to her and see if that's the route she wants to take. It impacts no other aspect of her life, and and neither of us have insurance, so this visit could cost us hundreds, if not thousands.

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Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

This might be a good time to check out whether you can qualify for Medicaid. If this is an early sign of glaucoma, you want her to be treated appropriately before she loses her vision. If it's a neurological problem, you don't want her to suddenly develop tunnel vision and panic attacks on the highway in the middle of the night.

This is not an eye problem, IMHO. It sounds like a neurological problem. If money were no issue, I'd recommend seeing a neuro-opthamologist.

Due to some recent health problems of my own, I've been forced to become an amateur student of neuro-opthamology.

@Csobod:If you don't mind, I'd like to ask some questions.

1) How old is she?
2) Does she have any other neurological symptoms? ( Numbness? Tingling? Headaches? Ringing ears? Flashes of light in the corner of her eyes upon sudden head movement? etc )
3) Is she a vegetarian?
4) Has she at least seen an optometrist? ( They are relatively cheap and common. You can even find them in Sears and Costco )
5) What does she see when she looks at an Amsler grid?

This is an amsler grid. Ask her cover one eye, and to stare at the dot in the middle. Then switch eyes. What does she see?
Any grey areas? Blank areas? Wiggley lines? Broken lines?

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It never ceases to amaze me the kinds of things we can learn on a Go forum. What is up with the $700 appointment ??? (Which currency, btw? )

Just out of curiosity, approx. where are you located (maybe within 500 miles is good enough? ) ?

Maybe you can try playing with dimes vs pennies

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I can guarantee it only happens while playing, but I will certainly pass this on.


Wow! Thanks for your help. I will answer as best I can:
1. 23.
2. No other medical problems, but some leg pain from a sciatic nerve strain during Christmas.
3. No.
4. Yes, she has myopia and wears glasses like me.
5. I will ask her tomorrow and post back on this.

US dollars. Its a boutique custom eyewear shop that mainly caters to the super rich and celebrities. I live in Michigan.

Guess I'll have to break open a couple rolls, Lol.

_________________
Sincerely, Chad R. Sobodash

Yes, it is nice to see a knowledgeable and helpful go community in action! Of course, identifying a root cause for any unusual impairment is preferrable to just finding ways to compensate, and I wish your friend much success in uncovering its genesis.

Returning to the original premise of the thread, for a board and stones suggestion to offset a possible "trigger" for the visual strain your friend experiences I think this is the "lowest contrast" combination using traditional go gear: a bamboo board with jade-colored single convex Yunzi stones from YMI. You mentioned that "overlapping" stones cause difficulty for her, and in this regard Chinese single convex stones are preferrable to double convex stones as single convex come in different width sizes (i.e. size 3 ~ 20mm, size 4 ~22mm, and size 5 ~24mm), so selecting the size 3 will help in this regard. Similarly, selecting a board that uses the Chinese standard will give you the biggest grid size (Chinese > Korean > Japanese). I have this combo (with size 5 stones) and it works well, especially in well-lit/bright environments, as the bamboo board has a matte surface and the yunzi stones are completely non-reflective. Just don't polish the board with anything more than a damp cloth, and take the time to clean the Yunzi and treat both the light and dark stones with mineral oil (other options, like sewing machine oil, are potentially toxic) for a velvety finish that is both pleasant to the touch, and easy on the eyes.

Let us know how it works out!

Some thoughts about contrast...

We tend to think that we see all colors equally well, but in fact we do not. We see mid-spectrum colors like yellow and green better. Our perception degrades at the ends of the spectrum: where blue fades into ultraviolet it is mediocre, and where red fades into infrared it is terrible.

See graph of how we see the 'visible' spectrum:

Chess players figured this out long ago. Twenty years ago, when I last played serious tournament chess, the standard was a board with green and light yellow squares, and dark brown and tan pieces.
The idea of using colors like this is to get not only contrast of intensity between black and white, but contrast between colors. A quick check on the net reveals that the boards now are green with almost white squares, and the brown pieces have gotten reddish, almost maroon.

See a pic of standard tournament chess set:

So my recommendation for minimizing eye strain is to get green and yellow pieces on a dark reddish-tan board. You can get colored construction paper at an arts and crafts store cheaply.

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For yellow and green stones with good contrast and small size, you could get a couple bags of M&Ms. Save the yellow and greens, maybe the oranges because they are seen as a dark yellow.

Make sure that your girlfriend eats the other colors. That's no joke. I'd like to know what effect a sugar rush has on her tunnel vision.

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Green go boards rock.