A little advice for proper go rules contagion, from SUSD

[shapenaji]

I love these guys, and what they have to say ...might... be relevant to our game?

See what you think!
http://player.vimeo.com/video/92337137

[Charlie]

I watched it and I think there is some wisdom, there. Here are my thoughts on their main points:

0. Homework before they show up

I do wish I had something really nice and professional to give to new players. See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10068

1. Know the Game You're Playing Back to Front

Goes without saying.

1.5. Give People Something to Play With

"No, you can't eat the stones!"

2. Ground them in the Game Immediately: Who they are

"You are black. No, it's not a racial thing. Yes, the colours might be analogous to good or evil or opposing armies or something like that but Go is more of an abstract game ..."

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.

4. Ground them in the Game Immediately: Why it is going to be fun

"... this leads to a desperate conflict between us. To defeat me, you must unleash the power of your mind and emotions against me without reservation. Be aware that I will do likewise."

5. Rehearse. Become Efficient.

This also goes without saying.

You can distil the rules of Go such that they only take a few seconds to explain and you can quickly move on to examples such as capturing and unconditional life.

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.

In far more complicated games, turn structure is a numbered list on a cheat-sheet or the back of a rule book. ("Untap; Upkeep; Draw...") Perhaps, in Go, beginners should be taught a three-phase turn: Place stone; Remove captured stones; End turn.

I have often taught new Magic [The Gathering] players to recite "Untap; Upkeep; Draw..." as they play through their turns. As an experiment, I'd like to try teaching a new Go player to recite "Place; Remove; End" as they play.

The details of the 'End' phase could be deferred - see my comments under Tip A, below. When the time comes to explain the anti-suicide rule, one could simply state that the 'End' phase may not determine should any of the current player's groups have no liberties. Stating that the 'End' phase may not determine should the whole-board position be identical to that during the current player's previous 'End' phase would adequately explain the Ko rule. (This would require the option to revert to the beginning of the turn, 'Place', should a stone have been placed illegally - an allowance that I would make for a beginner. Since capturing more than one stone will never be an illegal move this should not be problematic.)

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.

[Bill Spight]

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.

0. Homework before they show up

AFAICT, nobody who taught me to play any game seemed to have done that.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[emeraldemon]

My spiel for the end of the game usually goes something like this: You get one point for every empty point that's surrounded by your stones, so for example this would be two points for black:

$$B
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X . . |
$$ +---------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X . . |
$$ +---------------+[/go]

You also get one point for every stone of mine you capture. That means if I play inside here, and you capture my stone:

$$W
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X 1 2 |
$$ +---------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X 1 2 |
$$ +---------------+[/go]

You still have two points, one point of territory and one from the capture. Usually the game reaches a point where everywhere on the board is pretty obviously controlled by one player or the other. When you feel like there's nowhere left for you to play, you can pass, and when both players pass the game is over. It can be a little confusing at first so we'll play a few quick games and I'll help you when we get towards the end. (if they seem confused when I'm describing this I'll make up a contrived example of an end position, to show how it might look.)

[moyoaji]

As for "1.5 - Give People Something to Play With" I unexpectedly discovered this a few months ago.

My university hosted a Japanese cultural event and the Go and Chess Club was there to teach go and shogi. A group of 4 girls came over and wanted to learn go. While I was explaining the rules a few of them were messing with the stones. At first I was somewhat annoyed, but then I realized that they were having a lot more fun working with the stones than if I was just sitting there explaining the rules.

Not to mention that, since these were my double convex yunzi stones, I got to show them the cool "the black stones are green" trick.

[Bill Spight]

My spiel for the end of the game usually goes something like this: You get one point for every empty point that's surrounded by your stones, so for example this would be two points for black:

$$B
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X . . |
$$ +---------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X . . |
$$ +---------------+[/go]

You also get one point for every stone of mine you capture. That means if I play inside here, and you capture my stone:

$$W
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X 1 2 |
$$ +---------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ +---------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X X X |
$$ | . . . . X 1 2 |
$$ +---------------+[/go]

You still have two points, one point of territory and one from the capture.[/go]

You could add, "And if you don't have to capture my stone, it is dead and you get three points."

[tj86430]

contract bridge, golf, poker

Interesting, that you mention these. I play (or used to play) all these myself. For bridge and poker I believe I pretty much know the rules, but I certainly don't know what the penalties for breaking them are - that is why there is a tournament director, or dealer, or brush.

As for golf, I don't know all the rules anymore (I play so little nowadays, and I don't enter competitions), but I used to know them pretty well (and always carried a rule book). In golf knowing the penalties is an essential part of knowing the rules. There is a handy rule though: If you are unsure about the correct procedure (assuming there is a limited number of possibilities), you play two (or more) balls - according to different possible interpretations - count the score with both and ask later.

[xed_over]

I like Bill Camp's advice on teaching Go: "never answer a question that hasn’t been asked"
http://www.usgo.org/news/2014/04/seattl ... portunity/