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The Ideal Go Environment
Keywords: Culture & History, Clubs & Places
What is your idea of the ideal place to play Go? Do you play outside in the sunlight, or by candlelight (or outside at night, by candlelight)? Do you like to hear music while you play? Do you prefer a large room, or small? With other people around, or just you and your opponent? What do you like to wear when you play? Do you have a "lucky charm" or some other item that you enjoy keeping nearby? Do you have any rituals associated with play? Do you prefer to talk with the other person, or remain silent? For those who play in Go clubs, what are the buildings like? What accomodations have been made to suit the players? Obviously, the answers to these questions will vary from person to person. My responses: I think the ideal goban would be located in a room near a river with many large windows. I prefer a comfortable, stable environment (playing by the fire is especially nice), with some quiet music, sans lyrics. I enjoy classical music, but to get away from the sway of adagio vs. forte, I often play ambient techno (the best of which maintains a relatively constant volume, tempo, etc). I like having a lot of space around me when I play, but living in a basement apartment as I do, this is tricky. The same is true about sunlight. I tend to wear the same thing all the time (jeans and a t-shirt), and it suits Go just fine. I like to drink tea, partially because I enjoy the taste and partially because of the cultural association. I don't mind having a conversation during play, but I appreciate having an opponent who recognizes when I'm trying to concentrate. I enjoy having other people around, althought mostly so far it's been people who don't know how to play (and it makes me feel smart). --Stefan: Our go club is in just about the worst possible environment. It's a rather noisy bar, with some loud alcoholists around, the waitress still doesn't remember our names and messes up our tabs, and there isn't enough light. The music is of a degree of bad taste that has become pretty rare these days, and it's usually the same 60 minute tape all evening long. When you leave, your clothes stink of cigarette smoke up to the point where my wife has decreed very specific conditions under which I am still allowed to enter the bedroom. As the place is being redecorated in January, we have high hopes that it will be even worse afterwards. As you can imagine, being used to these conditions, we're pretty near invincible in the national interclub competition. :-)
TakeNGive: The Seattle Go Center has a "tatami room", very nicely done in traditional Japanese style, centered on a big block floor goban and expensive stones. It is beautiful to look at, but so far I've been too timid to play in it. Much of my playing is done in artsy coffeehouses, where the owners' taste in music is ecclectic and loud. Not ideal, but as Stephan has observed, tournaments are a cakewalk in comparison.
Given a choice, I prefer lively music played semi-quietly -- Bach, Vivaldi, Public Enemy, RATM, local band I recently discovered a wonderful cement block fountain in my town, built to resemble a stream cascading down a mountain. People love to clamber over it, jumping from block to block. Weather permitting, I'm going to try playing a game on the top block. I hope you don't end up with people clambering over your game, jumping from goban to cement block. The Pi soundtrack features a track from Autechre; the album from which this track is taken, Incanabula (I think that's the proper spelling) is marvelous, especially for Go. -- Scartol Dieter's top 3:
This is a copy of the living page "The Ideal Go Environment" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |