I'm desperately looking for some cheap igo sets for popularization purposes, which I'll need within a month because I'll be hosting an Asian board games event at Mechacon. My price range is $20 and under. I'll need the sets for all day play and a small tournament. Any suggestions?

I found this magnetic travel set, but does anyone know if it's big enough to be used practically?

By the way, if you're in the New Orleans area and are able to swing by, I would love to meet you and would greatly appreciate any help you could give.

Thanks!

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wow. that's a really good price, especially for magnetic. and yes, its large enough to be used practically.

You could get some better stones:

http://www.amazon.com/Hi-tech-Antibacte ... 30&sr=8-13

(OK they aren't jade!)) These cost $7.99.

Make boards out of paper/card using free go board templates - then get a print shop to do a job run on shinkaya colour (er.. dirty yellow) cardboard it is common to get shops to print on 3mm board for posters. This can be done online with a 48 hour turnaround. You could have a complete full sized go set with "proper" stones for under $9.

Grids can be found here:
http://www.gungfu.de/go/gobans/konstruk ... lates.html

Most people are used to playing board games on cardboard so they won't know the difference. Also.. very easy to pack and carry ...

I hadn't even considered just buying stones. That's a great idea.

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One final point. I think the stone set contains 360 stones exactly. You only ever need 220 ish for a game. For every three sets you buy you can extract 4 sets so. each, full Go set could cost less than $7!!!

BobC (or anyone else), what sort of card stock have you printed the grids out on? That link inspired the plan to print out some 9x9 or 13x13 boards to teach my younger relatives when I see them in August, but figuring out what kind of paper will be sturdy enough has been tricky.

If you're looking at very cheap you're looking at $8 (leather board) -$12(real cardboard!) euros from Hebsaecker
http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/go-brett ... _3_11.html

this puts a limit on what is worth doing. Its quite possible to get boards printed on laminated card.
S If available card isnt sturdy enough then simplest is possibly to photocopy a grid onto paper then find a cheap bit of plywood. Use 4 tin tacs to secure the paper on the wood.

I picked up one of these sets to donate to a local coffee shop:

http://www.toyandgamewarehouse.com/store/detail.asp?product_id=H-280

The board is full sized, but the plastic stones are very small. The set is playable if not ascetically pleasing. I think it would be easier to play on than the magnetic set you mentioned. I also played a game on this board with the "ant-bacterial" stones mentioned above and those stones fit this board better than the ones that come with it.

You should also check out the AGF starter kit. It may have what you need and some nice hand-outs for the event: http://www.agfgo.org/AGFstore.htm

If you do this again, you should check out h-mart in Federal Way. They have good mdf boards and plastic stones that are great for that use.

there not plastic -- they're glass

15in folding board and 18mm glass stones -- together for $20

I took your advice and ordered 3 sets. Now I just need to get the boards printed. Thanks a bunch for your help!

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I actually ordered a set of these, and while the stones are definitely worth the price, the plastic boxes are worthless -- you might as well be ordering stones in ziploc bags. FWIW.