Go Player Population / Most Played?

[BenEllis]

I've seen several websites (including senseis.xmp.net (http://senseis.xmp.net/?FunGoFacts)) claim that go is either the most played game in the world or one of the most played games in the world yet none of these seem to have any references.

I've seen from a few sources the estimated number of chess players in the world is between 600-700 million of which 7 million are rated.

The only source of information I've seen for go is an article in the wikipedia entry for go players (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_players) which states that in 2002 there were 24 million people world wide who play go. It is not clear if this is the rated or unrated population of the world, and furthermore looking at the referenced article there are many countries with "-" against the number of players, countries in which I know there are go players (such as Hong Kong and Singapore).

So unless the 24 million figure is the number of rated players then I don't believe go is anywhere near one of the most played board games in the world.

Does anyone have any better sources to substantiate the claims that Go is one of the most played games in the world? (i.e. in the top 5?)

[Bill Spight]

How do you count players? In 1968 AGA membership was around 600, I believe. However, Richard Bozulich, doing market research before launching Ishi Press, found out that that year 100,000 go sets had been sold in the Eastern US. Does that mean that there were hundreds of thousands of go players in the US then?

Edit: FWIW, the 24,000,000 figure sounds low to me. At the same time, the 700,000,000 figure sounds high, unless you are counting Western chess, Chinese chess, and Japanese chess together.

[Boidhre]

700 million sounds like they're defining chess player as someone who can play chess above an absolute beginner level.

[paK0]

700 million sounds like they're defining chess player as someone who can play chess above an absolute beginner level.

I doubt that you could find 700 million people that know how the chess pieces move.

Does anyone have a source for these numbers? I looked around a little, but all I found were some claims that were all over the place and nothing based on serious research. I've read somewhere that a lot of Europeans and Americans recognize chess pieces as chess pieces, but being able to play is another matter.

[Boidhre]

700 million sounds like they're defining chess player as someone who can play chess above an absolute beginner level.

I doubt that you could find 700 million people that know how the chess pieces move.

True enough.

[moyoaji]

http://en.chessbase.com/home/TabId/211/PostId/4008392 - According to this study there are around 192 million chess players in the UK, USA, Germany, Russia, and India (people who have played at least 1 game in the last year).

If we extrapolate these numbers to the rest of the North America and Europe and assume that roughly 15-20% of people play chess and then add in those from India, then we are looking at around 274-338 million chess players in the world.

[jts]

Survey methodology
The US survey was conducted using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov Plc US panel of over 1,000,000 individuals who have agreed to take part in surveys. An email is sent to panelists selected at random from the base sample according to the sample definition, inviting them to take part in the survey and providing a link to the survey. [The sample definition could be “US adult population” or a subset such as “US adult females”]. YouGov Plc normally achieves a response rate of between 35% and 50% to surveys, however this does vary dependent upon the subject matter, complexity and length of the questionnaire.

The responding sample is weighted to the profile of the sample definition to provide a representative reporting sample. The profile is normally derived from census data or, if not available from the census, from industry accepted data.

The UK survey was conducted using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov Plc GB panel of 350,000+ individuals who have agreed to take part in surveys. An email is sent to panelists selected at random from the base sample according to the sample definition, inviting them to take part in the survey and providing a link to the survey. [The sample definition could be “GB adult population” or a subset such as “GB adult females”]. YouGov Plc normally achieves a response rate of between 35% and 50% to surveys, however this does vary dependent upon the subject matter, complexity and length of the questionnaire.

The responding sample is weighted to the profile of the sample definition to provide a representative reporting sample. The profile is normally derived from census data or, if not available from the census, from industry accepted data.

The methodology for the UK, Germany, Russia and India surveys was the same as for the US, conducted using online interviews administered to members of the YouGov Plc UK panel of 350,000+ individuals who have agreed to take part in surveys, the YouGov Plc German panel of 120,000+ individuals, the YouGov Plc Russian panel of 77,000 individuals, and the YouGov Plc Indian panel of 8,000+ individuals.

NB: All figures, unless otherwise stated in the footnotes, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample sizes were 4,161 adults (UK), 2,024 adults (US), 953 adults (Germany), 2,013 adults (Russia), and 1,000 adults (India). Fieldwork was carried out between 16 to 18 May (US), 30 March to 02 April (UK), 02 July to 06 July (Germany), 09 to 23 July (Russia), and 03 to 12 July (India). All surveys were carried out online. All sets of figures for the UK, US, Germany and Russia have been weighted and are representative of each country’s adults (aged 18+). The figures for India are representative of the online Indian adult population.