Charlie wrote:
I watched it and I think there is some wisdom, there. Here are my thoughts on their main points:
I watched it too. Nicely done, and fun.
A few comments, based on my experience with go and other games, including contract bridge, golf, poker, and pool.
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0. Homework before they show up
AFAICT, nobody who taught me to play any game seemed to have done that.
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1. Know the Game You're Playing Back to Front
The people who taught me go did not know about Bent Four in the Corner, and I was a dan player before I did. As for contract bridge, poker, golf, and pool, many people, if not most, play those games without knowing all the rules.
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3. Ground them in the Game Immediately: How they win
This is something that I have often watched ambassadors of Go neglect and, in fact, it is simply explained.
"We are fighting over space; the winner is the player who controls more of it at the end of the game."
Unfortunately, the description of the game's objective can easily lead to a tangent on how the end of the game is reached - "end by agreement" is a concept with which new players appear to have great difficulty.
This is something that I have often watched ambassadors of Go neglect and, in fact, it is simply explained.
"We are fighting over space; the winner is the player who controls more of it at the end of the game."
Unfortunately, the description of the game's objective can easily lead to a tangent on how the end of the game is reached - "end by agreement" is a concept with which new players appear to have great difficulty.
I was simply told, "The game is over. Those stones are dead. Now we fill in the dame. Now we fill in territory with prisoners and count the score." It wasn't long before I could tell when the game was over, myself.
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I think there is a need for a well rehearsed idea of turn structure, too.
Tangent: Turn Structure
I have often observed beginners struggling with the idea that captures are effected before the anti-suicide rule is applied.
Tangent: Turn Structure
I have often observed beginners struggling with the idea that captures are effected before the anti-suicide rule is applied.
I played go for many years without knowing that there was an anti-suicide rule. And then I heard that the Ing rules allowed suicide.
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Tip A: You don't have to play with all the rules, first time round
I don't think any of the rules can be omitted, in Go, but there are some that can definitely be deferred until they actually occur. For example, I never explain the Ko rule until a Ko appears. At that point, the need for a rule to govern the situation is usually apparent and the explanation makes sense. Seki can also be deferred. You'd be mad to explain bent-four or why there's such a thing as a 1000-year Ko to a newbie.
I don't think any of the rules can be omitted, in Go, but there are some that can definitely be deferred until they actually occur. For example, I never explain the Ko rule until a Ko appears. At that point, the need for a rule to govern the situation is usually apparent and the explanation makes sense. Seki can also be deferred. You'd be mad to explain bent-four or why there's such a thing as a 1000-year Ko to a newbie.
As I mentioned above, in a number of games players do not play with all the rules, because they do not know all the rules.
Go did without fully codified rules for centuries, if not millennia. If there was a rules dispute, the players might appeal to a stronger player as an authority.In all of the games that I mentioned above, if a situation came up to which a rule applied that I, as a novice, did not know, other players explained it to me. E. g., "You have to face the hole and drop your ball over your shoulder," "You can't make a string bet," "You have to call the pocket," "You don't put down the dummy until after the opening lead," "You have to play somewhere else before you take that stone back."
As for playing a simpler game without all the rules, I scoffed for a long time, but now I am a fan of starting with the Capture Game, followed by Capture-Two, Capture-Three, etc.
I have long advocated teaching absolute beginners on small boards. I even start with the 3x3. It teaches what an eye is, what dead stones are, even how to end play by agreement. Depending on the play, it can teach about ko and anti-suicide.