I'm poor and I can't get a set over $40. The set I want is 19.98$ and it's plastic, which is good for an eleven year old. Here's the set. http://shop.gogameguru.com/newbie-go-game-set/ Feel free to leave critique and other cheap sets.

Just enjoy the game with your new set. You can become great at the game regardless of the value of your equipment. Cheers.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I sometimes play on a friend's vinyl board with plastic pieces and it is fine. I've also played on a plastic-esque board from China and that was a fine experience. For $20 I think this could be a good set.

There is truth to what tchan is saying here about the set not mattering. My first set was made of foam. The board and the pieces both. I still have it. When I play on it I definitely notice it's not a wood board. However, once you've been playing for about 20 moves the board and stones stop mattering so much and the game becomes what you notice.

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"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

Just make sure you're not like me....I bought the cheapest set I could find, wasn't satisfied with it, bought the second-cheapest set, wasn't satisf1ed with it, finally paid about $150 for a nice set when I happened to have a sudden windfall.

Either be really certain you're willing to settle for the set you're looking at, or wait and save. It might cost you less in the long run.

The best cheap set I've ever found was a $20 one from a Korean Supermarket. It will depend on the area you live in. If you have any around, try and ask.

http://www.hmart.com/

This is the chain I got a couple sets from.

I've gotten a good cheapie set from hmart as well. If you're in the states, you could also consider this for $25:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/toys-games-classic-go-wood-game/26781266?ean=9780594497097

^This. whenever I swing by a Korean supermarket, they always seem to have folding, regulation-size boards, along with glass/plastic stones that you can actually grip. These $40 sets are far better than anything you can find at a board game shop for equal or less.

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

Folks, remember that Suma wrote that he’s eleven, so this is about wise use of pocket money


I empathize, been there, as probably most of us, at times.

Looks quite nice to me, much better than the cardboard sets I began to play with


What Tchan001 says!

I have a few sets meanwhile (because the local Go playing evening is at my place and because I teach Go to kids at the local school even though I’m just 15-13 kyu but there are no stronger players in a perimeter of perhaps 22 kilometres) …

… but, as noted elsewhere here: as soon as the game begins, the playing gear vanishes into the background, there are only the lines and the black and white pieces, which all are “just” symbols.

To paraphrase loosely from the Tao Te Ching:

~ The denotation is not the denotate. (the word we use for a “thing” is not the thing itself.)
~ The map is not the territory. (Alfred Korzybski)
~ The picture of [X] is not [X].

René Magritte, “this is not a pipe”

So … even when I play on that old Katsura goban and with those shell & slate stones that are so precious to my ego, they vanish when the game begins and it’s just the grid and the black and white pieces.

(And it’s not even these the game is about, I think, and it’s not even the representation of the grid and black and white pieces in our minds, but what the representation in our minds stand for … the world, and life.)

I’d say … great set, get it.

But to be honest, I’d also recommend to get a cheap reversible 13x13/9x9 board together with this because (in my experience) it’s quite hard to teach beginners on 19x19 (assuming that you’ll have to teach others in order to have other players around). But that could possibly be made from a piece of plywood and with felt markers.

Good luck and lots of fun!

Tom

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“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

I want this set as it has a nice board and some stones, and still leaves me with money to save for quality stones.

And board quality does not matter! Thank you all.

Actually, it matters a little : if you dislike the sound and feeling of the stones, the set won't please you. But what doesn't matter is the price of the set : some cheap sets give nice sensations while others are really bad (I have a really horrible set of plastic stones, while I have played with really decent ones).

Here it's not possible, but for more expensive materials, my advice is to try it, especially because taste may vary between people

Might be worth the extra few dollars you'd be spending if you took Go Game Guru's advice and bought their folding go board instead. Wouldn't be a major change in quality or cost but the board would be more portable, which might useful for you.