Life In 19x19

A few months ago I bought a beautiful set of snow grade 36s off craigslist. They were made by Kuroki and purchased at a games store in Portland OR at least thirty years ago. While the stones and bowls appeared to be in nearly mint condition, I figured I’d wash, oil, and buff ‘em up but I neglected to count them at the time. So, bored out of my skull last week, I pulled all my bowls from their various locations. Set by set, I patiently laid out the stones on a board and made inventory notes. I was surprised to see: 1) a few stones had migrated from one set to another (How do they DO that?); 2) I’ve lost a few stones from each set (Does the Sock Laundry Monster steal go stones, too?); and, 3) I found a couple of chipped stones and moved them to an old Kuroki box where I found my original purchase receipts from Ishi Press (1982) and Kuroki (2000 and 2009).

It was a fun exercise. I’ll do it again in another twenty years.

at least thirty years ago.
...
surprised... a few stones had migrated from one set to another (How do they DO that?);

Stones migration is the natural, default state, like breathing or weeds.

You need active, conscious efforts to ensure they don't migrate.

Did you have people over to play go, needing two sets? When more than one set is used at the same time, stones are likely to get put into the wrong bowl.

EdLee wrote:

at least thirty years ago.
...
surprised... a few stones had migrated from one set to another (How do they DO that?);

Stones migration is the natural, default state, like breathing or weeds.

You need active, conscious efforts to ensure they don't migrate.

Why are there so many paper clips? They are the larval form of metal coat hangers.

Not original with me. I got from a sci-fi story many years ago, before metal coat hangers were an endangered species.