Life In 19x19

Not sure if anyone has posted about this already, but I thought it looked pretty neat. I first saw this about 2 weeks ago, but I forgot it's name until I read an article about it in "Catch a Wave".



It's a 4x4 go game designed for children. You can look at the Amazon page by following this link: Yonro no Go. Chang Hsu (9P) helped design this game.

They've recently made versions of shogi and chess for children as well.

Interesting.
Do you know more about this puzzle?
I suspect from the name, puzzle, that one is not supposed to play go with it. So how to play it?
And, for what age is it designed?

/Mats

mohsart wrote:Interesting.
Do you know more about this puzzle?
I suspect from the name, puzzle, that one is not supposed to play go with it. So how to play it?
And, for what age is it designed?

/Mats

I looked it up a little bit online, and it looks like problems come with it. Yonro no go likely corresponds to 四路の碁, that is, 4x4 go.

According to what I read online, the problems included are a little bit easy, but I don't know the strength of the guy that posted that.

It also looks like, originally, Cho U introduced Yonro no go (or something similar, at least) in the newspaper.

Yonro no go was, apparently, originally intended with the purpose of giving a chance for Cho U's 4-year-old (at the time - I don't know how old she is now) daughter Kosumi to enjoy playing go. He would make 4x4 problems, which were easier since the board was smaller (though complex problems can still be made on a 4x4 board).

As a side note, it also looks like you can get "四路ワールド" with Go World these days: http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/publishing/4ro_world/

It seems to be a compilation of 4x4 problems.

tl/dr: The puzzle linked by the OP comes with a collection of 4x4 problems, but they may be simple to solve.

Yeah, I don't really think this would be a puzzle most people on this forum would play since it is rather easy, but an interesting game for introducing children to GO.

It's been getting some recognition by Japanese newspapers because it has been a popular gift for elderly people who want to play GO with their grandchildren. They say over 300,000 sets have already been sold around Japan.

I might pick it up just for fun and trick my students into playing GO with me

Well, my interest was not for me, but for my yet to be born daughter :)

/Mats

mohsart wrote:Well, my interest was not for me, but for my yet to be born daughter

/Mats

Well, if Cho U knows what's best for kids, you might as well buy it.

Google translate tells me it's only available in Japan though.

/Mats

mohsart wrote:Google translate tells me it's only available in Japan though.

/Mats

I don't have a lot of experience with using amazon for international orders. You can try to see if you can ship to your address via the English amazon link:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-langu ... uage=en_JP

But when I try to set the shipping address to where I live now, yappari it doesn't seem to shippable to my address.

You can try your address with the link above. Otherwise, maybe you can make your own set.

Kirby wrote:You can try your address with the link above. Otherwise, maybe you can make your own set.

From the page...
Shipping: We're sorry; this item can not be shipped outside Japan

You can try to order from Rakuten's international store.
http://global.rakuten.com/en/search?st=&t=new&tl=0&t=new&k=%E3%82%88%E3%82%93%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AE%E3%81%94

If that doesn't work and you still really want one, PM me and I can ship you one if you'd like.

I just got the set. The difficulty of the final problems resemble that of mid-high kyu tesuji. In any case, I could solve them at a glance. The accompanying booklet is a really easy introduction to go rules, and also contains tidbits of culture at the bottom of each page. The set itself is nice enough: cardboard board, with wooden apple pieces.

If anyone was looking for Cho's difficult 4x4 problems, you might want to pick up the Jan and Feb 2011 issues of Monthly Go, as they both contained mini problem booklets.

I've attached one of his problems ranked 4dan+. Solution is 15 moves long.

I'm sure there is a better way to post a diagram of it, forgive my ignorance.