Tom Go Server

    Keywords: Online Go

The [ext] TOM go server (棋圣道场) is a popular Chinese-language go server with many strong players, including professionals. The [ext] website has a daily tsumego problem as well as game records from many professional games...some game records are freely viewable.

Instructions for English users

For those of you who can't read Chinese, here are instructions for registering with TOM. I managed to figure this out with the help of Google's [ext] Translation Tools. Feel free to fill in missing details or provide clarification.

The TOM registration page has changed. I have taken the liberty of updating the instructions.

  1. Download the TOM client installer from [ext] http://duiyi.tom.com/service/TomWeiqi.exe. While it downloads, continue with the following steps.
  2. Register as a new TOM user
    1. Open this URL: [ext] http://bjcgi.163.net/cgi-bin/newreg.cgi
    2. Enter a username in the first field.
    3. Enter a password in the second field, and again in the third field.
    4. In the fourth field (保护邮箱), enter your email address.
    5. Fifth field is a "prompt question" which I presume is for when you forget your password. I did not bother to translate any of the dropdown options but if you feel inclined, go ahead. I just left it on the first option.
    6. "Prompt answer" is the sixth field. Must be 8-18 characters in length. I just made something up.
    7. The seventh field is a "credential number" (证件号码). I have no idea what this is so I just made something up.
    8. In the eighth field, input the Chinese character displayed to the right. If you are unsure on how to do so, it might be useful to find an online kanji dictionary (such as [ext] http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1R), locate the character, and copy and paste it into the field. If you have IME pad, you may instead use the Hand Writing tool to input the character.
    9. The radio button at the end asks you to agree to the TOM terms of service. Just leave it on the default.
    10. Submit the form by pressing the left button on the bottom of the form.
    11. If all goes well, you should see a page with a bunch of buttons, some blinking text, and another form -- this means you were successful. If you get a page with only a line of text, something went wrong. Copy and paste the text into Google's translation tool to find out what the problem is.
  3. Register a TOM Go Server account (you need both a TOM account and a TOM Go Server account)
    1. Open the URL [ext] http://duiyi.sports.tom.com/member/tom_register_new.html?TomUid=XXXXXX but replace XXXXX with the username you registered above.
    2. In the first field in the form on the right, enter the username you'd like to use. Make sure it is lowercase and 5 characters in length. Other combinations don't seem to work.
    3. The second field is your rank. It goes from 10级 to 1段 (i.e. 10k to 1d) -- I am unsure how this corresponds to other ranking systems. I left mine on 10.
    4. The third field allows you to upload a picture or to use an animal picture according your birth year (chicken, goat, monkey, etc.).
    5. The rest of the fields are optional so I didn't bother to fill them in. Feel free to translate them for yourself.
    6. Submit the form by pressing the left button on the bottom of the form.
  4. Install the TOM client - Part 1 of 2.
    1. If you are using windows XP, you will need to make sure the following is done before you install the Tom client, or the fonts won't appear properly.
    2. Click on start, then on Control Panel.
    3. Make sure you are displayed in Classic View.
    4. Open Regional and Language Options.
    5. On the Regional Options tab, make sure the drop down list reads Chinese (PRC).
    6. On the Languages tab, make sure both boxes are checked.
    7. On the Advanced tab, make sure the drop down list reads Chinese (PRC).
    8. You might need some of the boxes on this tab checked - I had all of them checked.
    9. Click Apply, then click Ok.
  5. Install the TOM client - Part 2 of 2.
    1. Once the client installer has finished downloading, run it. I just installed it to the default location.
    2. When it finishes installing, run the program from the desktop icon or from the Start menu.
    3. You should see a dialog box pop up prompting you for a username and password. Enter the username and password you created above, and you should be in.
    4. You're on your own now; I have no idea how to do anything other than watch games. Periodically you may see a dialog pop up, accompanied by a female voice. I assume this is for when someone sends a challenge. I don't know how to accept or decline, so I just ignore them.
    5. You can go back to The Regional and Language Options > Regional Options tab and change the language in the drop down list back to your original language now if you want.

unkx80: Too bad the Windows client is non-Unicode, and when I tried using the web client, it didn't install. Since I work mostly in English and setting the default langage of Windows to Chinese changes the behaviour of many applications, I find that I don't play on TOM.COM often.

mdm: If you are using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, Microsoft provides a tool called [ext] AppLocale that allows you to choose the "Language for non-Unicode programs"-setting on a per-program basis.

Anyway, 挑战 means challenge, 接受 means accept and 拒绝 means reject. So understanding these enables one to accept or reject challenges. Besides, one can put up challenges to either a specific player or all players.


Anon: Has anyone tried this recently, i get as far as creating the Tom user and a Tom weiqi ID. I can then login via the webpage but cannot get logged into the client. I have the same problem with Tygem and there is no response to numerous emails I have sent them for help. Anyone point me in the right direction or offer assistance please.

DangoMouse: Are you using Internet Explorer? It doesn't work well with other browsers. Tygem ignored my emails too :(. I've made a number of accounts on TOM for myself/friends in the past so if anyone needs some advice about registering ask me on KGS when i'm not busy if you like.

Spirit: It seems it's necessary to use lowercase letters when registering. Also this might come in handy: [ext] http://216.239.39.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=zh-CN%7Cen&u=http://duiyi.sports.tom.com/help/help_02.htm


ilan: It appears that tom is also a dating service [ext] http://ncnm.tom.com/

Its more like a site for everything. Like yahoo, but more.

Leslie?:I download it and when i clicked the desktop icon, it didn't do anything.So, I went to program files.I just saw Live Baduk. When I clicked it, it was all in Korean.Help! WHat should I do?

Mark.SG: Please do not use Firefox to do registration on TOM Weiqi server, it doesn't recognize the TOM ID you key in and will keep asking you to register a new TOM ID. Use IE instead. I have wasted one week on this, and registered numerous TOM IDs while trying.

Josh?: Registering in Firefox now seems to work, at least I did it successfully just now. Now if only I can figure out what everything in the client does...

Tamsin: Having attempted to register without success, because I couldn't make a workable "credential number", I used the google translation tool. It seems that this number is supposed to be a Social Security Number. If you make one up, then presumably it's actually a real person's SSN somewhere in China. I'm not sure I like doing this. What if it creates inconvenience for the person whose number you've accidentally used? I mention this because I remember reading years ago about a boy who bought an expensive item on the internet using a fake credit card number that he had made up. The fraud was only uncovered when some poor Argentinian chap looked at his statement to discover that he'd purchased a Ferrari (or somesuch)...

Tamsin, if you used the above instructions as a guideline, then you were using an outdated version. This may had caused you to enter the credential number in the wrong field. It's updated now so hopefully that will help. Anyway, don't be afraid of using someone else's credential number. It doesn't seem to check whether or not it's valid, so you can make simply enter a random string of numbers. Good luck.


This is a copy of the living page "Tom Go Server" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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