I'm looking to buy a board and stones, and ~$200 is my budget for it.

The stones cannot be the size of M&Ms... like the board I bought off of Amazon for $30....

You can get nice plywood boards (rectangles, not squares on the grid). Spend your money on slate and shell (Japanese style). This makes more sense than playing with glass stones on an expensive board. For USD 200, perfect board AND perfect stones are impossible AFAIK, unless you are lucky with used sets.

It helps a lot to tell people where you are based, it makes a big difference to what people can recommend.

Hi Ken, you can check out agathis (shin-kaya) Japanese table boards,
and the 10 mm ING weighted stones.

YMI is selling a 3/4" Bamboo goban with 13x13 grid on the other side, plus a set of double-convex Yunzi stones for $114. http://www.ymimports.com/p-2331-bamboo-34-reversible-go-board-w-double-convex-yunzi-and-bowls.aspx#.Urpk8rSacpc.

You can also check out YMI's other stuff if you'd rather mix and match stones/bowls/gobans.

My first goban was bamboo. They make for nice, durable boards with a sharp, bright sound. I have both double- and single-convex Yunzi stones. Yunzi is a very nice material for the stones. I've never felt that I was missing out because I was using Yunzi rather than slate and shell (though I've never used slate and shell, so perhaps I don't know what I'm missing).

I've had generally good experiences with YMI as a vendor.

Have a look at the sets here and find something that fits your price range.

http://www.ymimports.com/c-56-go-game-sets.aspx

Just to note: Agathis is not shin-kaya. Shin Kaya is the common name (in go circles) for White Spruce, often either Alaskan or Tibetan. Agathis is a harder board, for which shell stones are not recommended (because of the hardness of Agathis wood). Agathis is also often provided with a paint rather than a stain.

WOOD

Kaya is one of the most prized woods, but is outside your price range if buying new. Shin Kaya (literally "New Kaya") is a decent and inexpensive substitute, mirroring the look and hardness of Kaya. Other solid woods include bamboo, agathis, and less frequently hiba, katsura. These "solid" wood board are available in floor, table, folding. Then on the cheaper side are the veneers, including beech.

STONE TYPE

You also need to decide what type of stones you want. What you choose is totally personal preference: either single-convex or double-convex. Single-convex have the benefit of being easier to place a problem on the board, then figuring out the problem with upside-down stones. Even so, many people prefer double convex aesthetically. Double convex often have a "wiggly" problem when playing. This seems to affect at least (in my experience) the cheap plastic, and the glass. The 10mm Ing stones recommended earlier are one of the double-convex stones that do NOT exhibit the wiggly problem because they are slightly flattened. They are also weighted, eliminating the other major "flaw" of plastic stones.

STONE SIZE

Single convex Yunzi are available mostly in two sizes that refer to its width, but generally both will fit "Chinese size" boards.

Double convex sizes refer to the stones height and are available in 6mm-12mm with the most popular being in the 8mm-10.5mm range which, in the terminology of go stones, includes "33" (9.2mm), "34" (9.5mm), and "36" (10.4mm).

STONE MATERIAL

Single convex: plastic, or Yunzi

Double convex: plastic, glass (Korean or Japanese), Yunzi, or slate and shell.

BOWLS

Bowls come in two major shapes, Go Seigen, Kitani. The preference is totally subjective.

Bowls are the most variable in terms of wood (and for which I have the least recommendation).

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Hopefully, the above objective information will help you decide what you prefer.

Subjectively, at about the $120 price point, I strongly prefer a 3cm Shin Kaya table board with 9.5mm double convex glass stones, and inexpensive bowls of your choice.

The thicker shin kaya boards seem to jump in price up to $100, and the thicker stones (glass 10mm are $50-$70 plus shipping), slate and shell stones begin at about $200.

Of course, this is all talking about a go set that stays at home. Other considerations (size/weight/case) are in play when searching for a mobile or travel set.

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I quite like my $70 shin-kaya board from YM Imports:

http://www.ymimports.com/p-2349-shin-kaya-reversible-12-go-board-japanese-standard-size.aspx

An old set of 7mm shell and slate stones with old wood bowls are what I generally use with it, but they were unusually inexpensive when I found them on eBay.

I've also got a $35 set of Ing stones and bowls that I quite like (and keep at work):

https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?product=ST060&category=sb

One of the benefits of the Ing stones is that they can be dropped on the hard floor of your local coffee shop and not chip or shatter

Thick boards (6 cm +) for table-top use are difficult to transport to and from a go club meeting. For that purpose a (thick) folding or slotted board is better and they also work fine for at-home use, but these boards are no longer easy to find in the West. Despite what Robert Jasiek said above, glass or yunzi stones are very practical stones. They don't need special treatment for cleaning as slate and shell stones do, they aren't fragile like shell stones, and they aren't expensive. Most amateur tournaments in Japan use glass stones. The plastic Ing stones are OK but I don't like the feel, a matter of personal preference. As for bowls, msgreg's use of "Kitani" and "Go Seigen" shapes perpetuates an advertising gimmick started by Janice Kim on her now defunct web store Samarkand. These terms are not used in Japan, Korea or China and wouldn't even be recognised there. Pick out your bowls by how you like the look and whether they will hold the stones you choose. On a $200 total budget you aren't going to have a lot of choices for good wooden bowls.

Agreed on all points. Though what you call "advertising gimmick" I would call "a way to identify" (reference for Go Bowl Names).

What I didn't mention in my long response above is that the OP could get multiple sets of stones. If Yunzi double convex are preferred, there's nothing to prevent also acquiring a set of plastic single-convex for study or mobile.

A price breakdown might look like this: $70(3cm board)+$40(nice stones)+$30(low-end wood bowls)+$15(plastic s/c stones)+$5(plastic Ziplock bowls)+$25(nice folding board)+$36(carrying case). A total of $221 in the US, and that's one nice set and one mobile set.

Hope this helps.

_________________
Founder, Central Mississippi Go Club
Free tips and resources for clubs and teaching
Go Kit Club Pack - pack of 13x13 go sets for clubs
Go Tin - very portable go

Thanks!

With a $200 budget, the shape of wooden bowls is the least you should be concerned with
The pricing for same size same shape bowls can vary tremendously depending on the type of wood.

A good site to learn about the different woods commonly available in Japan for go bowls http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/p ... /gosu.html

You can also look at their pricing for an idea of the cost of Japanese wooden bowls direct from the manufacturer before shipping.
http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/o ... index.html

At your budget, I would probably spend money on plastic bowls and cheaper go stones and concentrate on getting a nice board that might be kept for a while with an eye to upgrade the bowls and stones as budget allows in the future.

Probably avoid shopping overseas because of high shipping costs unless you can find an amazing bargain.

You might also take a look at the "Go Game Set: Build Your Own!" page from Gogameguru and see what might fit your needs. Do check out what the total cost would be with shipping as that could be quite a deciding factor when budget is tight.

You might even consider just buying the Newbie set and save the difference from your budget for a nicer set in the future as your passion for go grows.

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Go is such a beautiful game.

Fireproof: I'm considering buying that board (thread here) but I'm wary about how it will look with the multiple pieces of wood joined together. Is it very noticeable? Would you be willing to share pictures of it?

If it's done correctly it looks fine. I have a cheap YMI boards similar to the above (not reversible). If you look side on you can spot the joins but from the top looking down during a game you wouldn't notice. I can take some photos if you like, though it's not the same model (or most likely batch) as they one you are looking at.

I own either this exact set or one very, very similar to it (I got mine from YMI). I've been quite pleased with the board, stones, and bowls. The only complaint I have is that the bowl carrying bag (which admittedly mine is not the bag shown in the picture, it's the one shown here: http://www.ymimports.com/p-1476-yunzi-s ... uXs_bTTnIU ) has had a little trouble with the plastic handles that support the the bag when you're carrying it (I'm sure I could fix this with just a little super glue).

I don't notice the joins very often -- in fact, the top of the board is nearly seamless. The only thing I'd point out is that the finish is quite yellow, compared to natural, oiled wood, and over the three years I've used it a few minor scratches and dings have appeared.

side-view:


top:

Me too -- same bag, same trouble with the plastic handles... but I couldn't get the plastic to work with superglue and resorted to Gorilla Glue, which expands when it dries and left a much less refined edge.