Buying Equipment / in North America
Canada
Board Game Go: Located in Quebec, they ship in Canada and to the US. They occasionally sell hand-made Go boards at reasonable prices. They do not sell Go stones. as of March 2009
Calendar Club: They have seasonal stores throughout Canada opened from September to January. Check their website and look for stores that sell games. They occasionally sell the
Go flat pack in a plain white rectangular box for $25 and
Deluxe Go in a yellow square box for $35. Deluxe Go is a small thin chipwood board with small plastic stones and the Go flat pack is a large folding cardstock board with the same small plastic stones. They also occasionally sell the better looking but more expensive
Pente with a roll-up board and fewer stones. as of March 2009
Chapters: They have an online store and stores throughout Canada, but they only have a limited collection of Go books for sale. as of April 2011
Go Game Store: Located in Brampton, Ontario, they were an online store only and did not do pick-ups, but they did ship in Canada and to the US. They sold a large assortment of Chinese and Japanese Go boards and Go stones at reasonable prices. They also sold chess sets. (It looks like they gone out of business.) as of November 2011
The Glowing Stone: They sell high quality Go equipment for clubs at wholesale and ship in Canada while Ontario residents are encouraged to arrange for pick up. They also have an
ebay store that ships in Canada and to the US. (Incidentally, they get their stock from the online Chinese Go wholesaler
JWEBSHOP.) (BOTH RECOMMENDED) as of June 2011
Mind Games Express: They have stores located in and around the Greater Toronto Area and also ship items in Canada, to the US and worldwide. They sell a limited selection of Go sets at high prices. They also have an
ebay store that occasionally sells the Go flat pack and Deluxe Go. as of November 2011
Strategy Games: They have stores in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto and also ship in Canada, to the US and worldwide. They sell a surprisingly large selection of Go sets at competitive prices including tiny magnetic Go sets and Kiseido Go books. (RECOMMENDED) as of April 2011
T&T Supermarket: With stores throughout Canada, they sell Go stones in straw baskets with cheap plastic Go sheets and Go problem books in Chinese. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
Montreal, Quebec
Strategy Games: They sell a large selection of Go sets at competitive prices and even sell Kiseido Go books. as of March 2009
Ottawa, Ontario
Strategy Games: They sell a large selection of Go sets at competitive prices and even sell Kiseido Go books. as of March 2009
Toronto, Ontario
English vendors
Game and Hobby Zone: Located at 2 Bloor Street West (in the lower level of Cumberland Terrace accessible from Bloor Subway Station through the Hudson Bay Centre), Game and Hobby Zone has a small selection of Go sets at higher prices. as of April 2011
Game Trek: Located at 100 Front Street East (under the Royal York Hotel and accessible from Union Subway Station through the PATH), Game Trek has a small selection of Go sets at higher prices. as of April 2011
Hairy Tarantula Comics & Games: The downtown location at 354 Yonge Street, 2nd floor (north of Dundas Street), sells a small Go set for $25. (You may need to ask them to dig it out of storage.) as of November 2011
Mind Games: With stores in the
Atrium on Bay and the
Scarborough Town Centre, they occasionally have a Go set for sale. as of November 2011
- The
ROM Museum Store in the
Royal Ontario Museum sells Deluxe Go for $25. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
Strategy Games: Located at 701 Mount Pleasant Road (east of Yonge Street and south of Eglinton Avenue East), Strategy Games sells a surprisingly large selection of Go sets at competitive prices such as a vinyl roll-up Go set for $18 and travel magnetic 13x13 and 19x19 Go sets for $7 and $13 respectively. They even sell Kiseido Go books starting at $24 and chess clocks. They also ship items in Canada, to the US and worldwide. (RECOMMENDED) as of April 2011
Non-English vendors (Chinatown)
- Canlish Chinese Crafts & Arts: Located in the Village by the Grange at 275 Dundas Street West with both a mall entrance and street entrance, Canlish sells thin large Go stones in grey containers for $10 (with fewer stones in smaller containers for $7) and straw baskets for $25. as of July 2011
- Chan Sheung Kee Book Company: Located in the heart of Chinatown at 457 Dundas Street West, Chan Sheung Kee sells fat medium Go stones in oblong containers for $8.50. They also sell genuine Yunzi Go stones in straw baskets for $39. The stones come with a cheap plastic Go sheet. They sell dark thin and thick Go boards with Chinese chess for $19 and $27. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
- J&L Department Store: Located across the street from Chinatown Centre at 251 Spadina Avenue, J&L sells fat medium Go stones with cheap plastic Go sheets in oblong containers for $8. They occasionally sell thin Go boards with Chinese chess for $6. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
- Sun Wa Book Store: Located in
Dragon City at 280 Spadina Avenue with both a mall entrance and street entrance, Sun Wa sells fat large Go stones in oblong containers for $20 and thin large Go stones in straw baskets for $27. They also sell fat medium Go stones in boxes for $30 and a magnetic Go set for $17. The stones come with a cheap plastic sheet or a paper sheet. as of December 2011
Non-English vendors (Scarborough)
- Dollar Cool: Located near the up escalator on the second floor of
Market Village behind
Pacific Mall at 4390 Steeles Avenue East (at the northeast corner of Steeles Avenue East and Kennedy Road), Dollar Cool sells fat medium Go stones with a cheap plastic Go sheet in oblong containers at $10. as of November 2011
- Easy Kids: Located in the food court of
Market Village behind
Pacific Mall at 4390 Steeles Avenue East (at the northeast corner of Steeles Avenue East and Kennedy Road), Easy Kids sells fat medium Go stones with a cheap plastic Go sheet in oblong containers at $8. as of November 2011
- Far East Arts Co.: Located near the east side entrance of
Market Village behind
Pacific Mall at 4390 Steeles Avenue East (at the northeast corner of Steeles Avenue East and Kennedy Road), Far East sells fat large Go stones in oblong containers for $13 and thin large Go stones in straw baskets for $28. The stones come with a cheap plastic Go sheet. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
- Grand East Books: Located in
Metro Square at 3636 Steeles Avenue East and found nowhere else, Grand East occasionally sells unique thin large plastic Go stones with a paper Go sheet in boxes inside a display case for $9 and thin Go boards with Chinese chess near the display case for $5. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
- Sup Book Store: Located in the International Gourmet Street plaza behind the No Frills Supermarket at 633 Silver Star Boulevard (at the southwest corner of Steeles Avenue East and Midland Avenue), Sup sells fat large Go stones in oblong containers for $18 and thin large Go stones in straw baskets for $28. The stones come with a cheap plastic Go sheet. They also sell thin, but heavy Go boards with Chinese chess for $15 and a small folding magnetic Go set for $20. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
T&T Supermarket: With stores throughout Canada, their Toronto store at 222 Cherry Street, south of Commissionners Street, and their Warden store in the New Horizon Centre in Markham at 7070 Warden Avenue, northeast corner of Steeles Avenue East and Warden Avenue, sell Go stones in straw baskets with cheap plastic Go sheets for $29 and also sell Go problem books in Chinese from $8 to $16. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
- Wen Hua 99 cent store: Located in Scarboro Village Mall, unit 14 at 3280 Midland Avenue, Wen Hua sells fat medium Go stones with a cheap plastic Go sheet in oblong containers for $9. as of November 2011
Non-English vendors (Other)
Galleria Market Place: With a location at 7040 Yonge Street (just north of Steeles Avenue), Galleria occasionally sells Go stones for $12 in the housewares section. as of August 2011
P.A.T.: With locations in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, the downtown (Toronto) branch at 675 Bloor Street in Koreatown and the Thornhill branch at 7289 Yonge Street (north of Steeles Avenue) at Glen Cameron Road both sell medium-sized folding Go boards with Korean chess on the other side and Go stones in the housewares aisle. Go boards cost $23 and Go stones cost $20. (RECOMMENDED) as of November 2011
Sanko Trading: Located at 730 Queen Street West, Sanko sells genuine Japanese-made Go stones and Go boards at higher prices. Items are hidden behind the counter so you will have to ask the cashier to see them. as of April 2011
United States
Internet
AddAll.com will search all major online book retailers for availability and the lowest price on Go books if you can provide the name, author or, preferrably, the
ISBN. A total price per book (including estimated shipping and handling) is provided with the search results. If you specify your state, the site will also add any applicable state taxes.
Amazon.com Japan - buying directly from Japan seems to be the most economic way to buy Japanese books at the moment. (Note that only shipping to USA by air is available)
ArtOfGo at CafePress features shirts, mugs, hats, and other items with 3D raytraced Go artwork.
Asuka Go Boards Selection of Go Boards, Stones, Bowls for easy online purchase. (Dead link - as of 28 2011 November)
BoardGames.com carries an inexpensive $19.99 Go set.
ChessNGames.com sells beginner and affordable Go equipment, along with exclusive Korean products.
GameKeeper.com carries a large selection of Go equipment from Korea and China.
- Go4Go
Ishi Games has a selection of equipment and more (SL page:IshiGames) but it is unclear if they are active or if this is an abandoned site. This shop is not related to Ishi Press. appears defunct for go
Jzool.com have a very nice range and do a lot of other Japanese items as well.
- Kiseido
Mingzhou Oriental Imports
Pocket-Go Oriental Offers the same products as Mingzhou Oriental Imports but without the $100 minimum order requirement.
- Samarkand sells both equipment and books (SL page:Samarkand). This online store is owned by Janice Kim. (Only Whole Sales now)
Shogun's Gallery offers a unique selection of antique Go equipment imported from Japan!
- Shodan Imports sells higher-end Japanese Go Equipment, including traditional handmade boards. AGA Members are eligible for a
3% discount.
- Slate and Shell
-
Toy and Game Warehouse carries some Go sets.
- Yellow Mountain Imports sells Go equipment and slate and shell from Ogawa Goishi. Their best deals are their
auctions on eBay. ChiyoDad has a series customer experience posts and links on
his manufacture.blog|
http://chiyodad.blogspot.com] (see posts from 05-12-03 to 05-12-16). He also has [photos of their
Yunnan Arts sells high-end Chinese Go Equipment. Clicking on the "products" link is currently the best way to see the equipment available.
- Yutopian sells Ing boards and stones as well as regular equipment, books, and software.
- Zen Goban
http://www.zengoban.com importer of Go equipment based in Winter Garden, Florida
- Many game stores will carry one or more Go sets. (Game stores as in board games; often found in malls. Such as
Wizards of the Coast)
Austin, Texas
Great Hall Games Decent selection of both go books and go equipment, as well as materials for many other games.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Games People Play Decent selection of both go books and go equipment, as well as materials for many other games.
Melbourne, Florida
- There was Japan Go Imports, (www.japangoimports.com), but its website seems to have gone for now.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
San Francisco Bay Area, California
- Fun & Games (Milpitas, Great Mall of The Bay Area) sells small (estimated at 14x14 inches) wooden gobans complete with glass semi-convex stones for $19. They also carry portable sets with vinyl boards. No website. Call 408-945-5745 for more info.
-
Game-a-lot in Santa Cruz carries a basic non-folding board and small stones which are flat on one side. Apparently makers of the cheaper korean glass stones have not been shipping here or to Games of Berkeley for a while.
Games of Berkeley has a considerable selection of books and gear. Their book selection vastly exceeds that of Kinokuniya Bookstore in San Francisco and includes titles from Yutopian and Slate & Shell.
Kinokuniya Bookstores is a good place to get Japanese and English Go books; mostly from Kiseido Press. Prices are at regular retail plus CA sales tax. They infrequently stock small magnetic sets. Directions to their San Francisco and San Jose branches are provided on
the Kinokuniya US map page.
Milpitas Square (South Bay/Silicon Valley) has two Chinese bookstores which carry a small inventory of portable magnetic sets, plywood gobans, and stones. Yunzi stones are sometimes sold in the bookstore on the north wing of the mall. Ask for weiqi as the retailers do not refer to the game as Go.
San Francisco Chinatown stores carry portable magnetic and non-magnetic Go sets ranging from about $20 to $40. You can also find sets of
functional single-convex glass Go stones for $4 instead of the regular $20 (about 120 irregular stones of each color - so buy two sets). Inventory and availability varies by shop. Check the stores deeper down the main street to find the best prices on everything.
San Francisco Japantown antique stores will sometimes carry used gobans in the range of about $500.
San Jose Japantown has two shops which carry basic Go equipment (full-sized folding boards, plastic Go stones and goke). Check
Nichi Bei Bussan and Kogura's (No website, call (408)294-3184).
New York City, New York
Kinokuniya Bookstore on 6th Ave. between 41st and 42nd Sts. stocks magnetic travel sets and a large selection of Go books.
Syracuse, New York