🎲
🏛️Official — AGA
Loading OpenSourceSports…
Board Games
1–2 players
indoor
board, ink
10 essential rules
Go is a game of strategy between two sides, usually played on a 19x19 grid (AGA Rule 1). Known as baduk in Korea and weiqi in China, it is one of the oldest board games still played under codified rules.
A grid of 19x19 lines, giving 361 playing points where lines intersect (AGA Rule 1); Smaller boards are permitted, 13x13 and 9x9 being the two most common (AGA Rule 1); Nine marked points (star points or hoshi) are used to place handicap stones
The board starts empty; there is no initial arrangement of stones in an even game; Black moves first in an even game (AGA Rule 2); Because Black plays first, White receives komi — compensation added to White's score
Players alternate. A move is either placing one stone of your colour on any empty intersection, or passing (AGA Rule 2); Passing is always legal, even when legal placements exist; Stones do not move once placed — they are only removed by capture
Two consecutive passes normally signal the end of the game (AGA Rule 9); The players then agree which stones on the board are dead — stones that could not avoid capture if play continued; Dead stones are removed and counted as prisoners; if the players cannot agree, play resumes to settle the pos...
13x13 and 9x9 are the common smaller boards, standard for teaching and fast games (AGA Rule 1); On boards smaller than 19x19 a non-integral komi should still be used, since avoiding a drawn game is part of the spirit of the AGA rules; Japanese rules use territory scoring and treat ko and life-and...
13x13 and 9x9 are the common smaller boards, standard for teaching and fast games (AGA Rule 1); On boards smaller than 19x19 a non-integral komi should still be used, since avoiding a drawn game is part of the spirit of the AGA rules
Handicap stones let players of different ranks meet on even terms — one stone per rank difference is the usual guide; Timed games use byo-yomi (reserve periods) or Fischer increment; time is a tournament regulation, not part of the rules of play
AGA rules permit either method, chosen before the game, and both give the same result (AGA Rule 12):; Territory scoring: empty points you have surrounded, plus prisoners you hold; Area scoring: your stones on the board, plus the empty points you have surrounded
Two consecutive passes normally signal the end of the game (AGA Rule 9); The players then agree which stones on the board are dead — stones that could not avoid capture if play continued; Dead stones are removed and counted as prisoners; if the players cannot agree, play resumes to settle the pos...
The weaker player takes Black (AGA Rule 4); Black either moves first normally, or places 2 to 9 handicap stones on the star points before White's first move; Handicap games are the standard way for players of different ranks to play an even contest
Ready to dive deeper?