Life In 19x19

Guys,

I found myself explaining Go to a 6 yo kid earlier this month, and, just the way things developed, I ended up summarizing two rules (and, very lightly, efficiency) in a single idea: "you're both here to have fun, don't waste your opponent's time."

The rules would be suicide and Ko. It looked like he understood that much better than he was understanding the abstract (which I didn't press; you don't press certain things on children when you see certain body language).

Just sharing in case a) Someone finds I'm way off b) Someone finds it useful.

Take care.

Hi Ferran, Congrats on introducing Go to a 6-year-old.

have fun, don't waste your opponent's time.

Nice...

The rules would be suicide and Ko.

Did you connect 'no suicide' with 'having fun' ?
And 'not wasting time' with 'no infinite take-backs' ?

EdLee wrote:Hi Ferran, Congrats on introducing Go to a 6-year-old.

He actually "got introduced" during the 2d or 3d game of the Transatlantic, when he saw me watch it. I have to consider it good that almost 6 months later he's still curious. During winter and spring we did some capture-like games two or three times. This August we did something closer to real go. If you're curious, we took turns, and the goal was getting a continuous line from one side of the 13x13 board to the other. [*]

(And, frankly, I'm beyond words that I've managed myself to keep at it for about the same time [a little bit over]; my history with Go tends to be interrupted pretty savagely.)

Did you connect 'no suicide' with 'having fun' ? And 'not wasting time' with 'no infinite take-backs' ?

Both statements are one. If you waste your time, and your opponent's, you're not having fun. If you play soccer and you keep scoring in your own goal (suicide), the other team will get upset (not as much as your own, but...).

Many of the rules in Go (even handicaps) are predicated on the idea of "having a good game"; in 6-yo terms, fun. An infinite loop is not fun. Suicide is not fun. And our time for Go is limited, so wasting people's fun is not fun. So instead of having several rules (no ko, no suicide, no...) that are, basically, prohibitions (and, apparently, our brain doesn't like those and starts setting barriers up), you set up a single "rule" that fades with the background ("having fun" is not a "rule", it's why I'm here!) and makes the kid think positive (Look at all the fun I'm having!) instead of negative (There are so many things I cannot do! And each has a name!!).

Then, once you have that as a base, you add another level and "Not wasting time - having fun" extends to "move efficiently".

I hope my coffee has kicked in enough for all that to make sense. If not, don't hesitate to ask.

Take care

[*] With Go capture rules, simply starting on one side and adding stones up doesn't work. A bit later, he was getting into capture races and knowing it.

Hi Ferran, thanks for explaining. Good to know you found a way to teach the child.

An infinite loop is not fun. Suicide is not fun.

Seem to be personal judgement calls, thus, each could go either way;
but again, good this works for you. Enjoy.

EdLee wrote:Seem to be personal judgement calls, thus, each could go either way;

I'm not sure we're talking about it at the same level. Sure, the threat of Ko can be thrilling. Now, however, imagine a "short" game, say the NHK cup. 1 hr - 1.5 hrs of game. Now imagine 45 minutes of back and forth Ko. Pure Ko, no change in the board at all. Would you find that fun? What's more important, here, is: would a child find five hundred repetitions of the exact same two moves fun?

Imagine you're a kid and you're watching friends (or grown ups, for that matter) play. They said it was a fun game, would you like to learn? It goes like this... And 45 minutes of repetition... Would you join?

That's the level I'm targeting. Not the experienced player's (or watcher's) understanding of rules and nuances and social interactions. A 6 yo child who now has a single, positive, rule to remember instead of two prohibitions.

Does that make sense, beyond personal taste?

Take care.

Now imagine 45 minutes of back and forth Ko.

Take care.