Net Go

    Keywords: Variant

The Rules of NetGo, Ver. 0.1

NetGo is one of the Variants of Igo. These rules are inspired by the Japanese Rules of Igo from 1989. Changes are marked with bold letters.

Table of contents Index of sub-pages

Article 1 (a game of NetGo)

NetGo is a game in which n players compete in skill on the board, from the beginning of the game until the game stops according to Article 9. One or more players who play the same stone color build an alliance. Each player can be in several alliances. It is to see which alliance can take more territory. A game refers to the moves played until the end of the game.

Comments to Article 1

NetGo allows more than two players who can build alliances. The alliances take the role of the players in the standard Igo rules. Addition: Other alliances between players with a different stone colors are possible and can change during the game. To distinguish them from the color alliances, they are called non-color alliances. The evaluation of the non-color alliances is not (yet) part of these rules and has to be defined before the game starts. A player in a color alliance can of course play in favour to another color alliance, but it could only be an advantage for this player, if rules for counting of territory for non-color alliances are defined. If there are no non-color alliances, this player just reduces the chances to win.

Article 2 (play)

The players play in an unchanging player sequence one move at a time or pass in the sequence. Each player can be at more than one position in this sequence and plays at each position always a stone of the same color.

Comments to Article 2

For example the players A, B, and C play in a sequence ACBC. A plays red, B green, and C green at position 2 and red at position 4. (C leads or disturbes the game of A and B)

Article 3 (point of play)

The playing net is a net of lines which connect the points where stones can be placed. A stone can be played on any unoccupied point (called an empty point) on which Article 4 permits to exist. The point on which a stone is played is called its point of play. A connection line can have a direction marked with an arrowhead.

Comments to Article 3

example nets:

Each point can have one, or more connection lines. Each connection line has of course two points. Points with two connecting lines, which are in an (almost) straight line, have to be visualised with an small open circle. The net is called general graph in mathematics.

Article 4 (stones that may exist in the net)

After a move is completed, a chain of one or more stones belonging to an alliance exists on its point of play in the net as long as it has adjacent empty points, called a liberty. No chain of stones without a liberty can exist in the net. If a connection line has a direction the liberties of a point are only in direction of the arrow.

Comments to Article 4

One ore more stones which are directly connected by lines are called a chain. One or more chains can build a group. This is useful to distinguish connected from non-connected stones, which may be alive only as a group.

Article 5 (capture)

If due to a player's move, one or more of another alliance's stones cannot exist in the net according to the preceding article, the player must remove all these stones, which are called prisoners. In this case, the move is completed when the stones have been removed.

Article 6 (ko)

A shape in which the players can in the sequence capture and recapture one opposing stone is called a ko. The point with the captured stone is prohibited to play until the same position in the player sequence is reached.

Article 7 (life and death)

  1. Stones are said to be alive if they cannot be captured by another player, or if capturing them would enable a new stone to be played, that the other player could not capture. Stones which are not alive are said to be dead.
  2. In the confirmation of life and death after the game stops in Article 9, recapturing in the same ko is prohibited. A player whose stone has been captured in a ko may, howerver, capture in that ko again after passing once for that particular ko capture.

Article 8 (territory)

Empty points surrounded by the live stones of just one alliance are called eye points. Other points are called dame. Stones which are alive but possess dame are said to be in seki. Eye points surrounded by stones that are alive but not in seki are called territory, each eye point counting as one point of territory.

Article 9 (end of the game)

  1. When all n players pass in succession, the game stops.
  2. After stopping, the game ends through confirmation and agreement by all n players about the life and death of stones and territory. This is called the end of the game.
  3. If a player requests resumption of a stopped game, all players must oblige and the first player who passed apart from the player who made the request has the right to play first.

Article 10 (determining the result)

  1. After agreement that the game has ended, each player removes any opposing dead stones from his territory as is, and adds them to his prisoners.
  2. Prisoners are then filled into the territory of the corresponding alliance, and the points of territory are counted and compared. The alliance with more territory wins. If two or more alliances have the same amount the game is draw between these alliances.
  3. If one player lodges an objection to the result, all players must reconfirm the result by, for example, replaying the game.
  4. After all players have confirmed the result, the result cannot be changed under any circumstances.

Article 11 (resignation)

During a game, a player may end his participation in the game by admitting defeat. This is called resigning. The other players continue the game, if there are at least two alliances with participating players left. If there is only one alliance left, it wins by resignation.

Article 12 (no result)

When the same whole-net position is repeated during a game, if the players agree, the game ends without result.

Article 13 (all players lose)

  1. After the game stops according to Article 9, if the players find an effective move, which would affect the result of the game, and therefore cannot agree to end the game, all players lose.
  2. If a stone on the board has been moved during the game and the game has proceeded, the game continues with the stone returned to its original point of play. If the players cannot agree, all players lose.

Article 14 (forfeit)

Violation of the above rules causes immediate loss of the game, provided the result has not yet been confirmed by all players.

Similar rules with two players are defined in [ext] GeneralGraphGo

-- Doraguma


Net Go last edited by PJTraill on May 27, 2018 - 02:29
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