Variants

    Keywords: Rules

Table of contents

This is a list of what can be done with a goban and stones, other than conventional Go.

Go Variants as Teaching Method

Historical or Regional Go Variants, Go with prescribed Openings

Simplified Variants

  • AtariGo - Also known as the capture game or first capture
  • Anti-Atari Go: First to capture loses. Just for fun.
  • One-Eyed Go
  • No-pass go [1]
  • Gonnect: the rules of Go apply except that there is no passing and the winner is the first to connect two opposite sides of the board (or to deprive the opponent of legal moves). The game is usually played on a 13x13 board and the pie rule is used.
  • Alter Igo - go-like game with minimalistic ruleset
  • Reversi Go

Complicated Variants

Variants with different Scoring or with Bidding

Games that model particular Aspects of Go

Variants with Restrictions and Limitations

Spiced up Variants

Go on Different Boards

Go with Special Stones

Go for 3 or more Players

% No SL page exists on TeamGo, no voluntaries were found to record feedback on this experience.

Crossovers between Chess and Go

Other Surrounding Strategy Games

Other Games with Go Board and Stones

  • Gomoku - Five in a row
  • Pente - Like Gomoku, but with a way of capturing
  • [ext] Renju - Japanese variant of Gomoku, but with extra rules to give a fairer balance between black and white.
  • Hasami Shogi
  • Philosopher's Football - also known as Phutball. A wonderful game invented by John H. Conway. On first attempts it seems simple, but after thrashing around for a while you realise that advance preparation is required. Soon you are creating massively complex tours around the board, which can even end up self-defeating.
  • [ext] Tanbo (Tanbo crudely models a system of plant roots which are growing, competing for space, and dying. The object is to completely destroy your opponent.)
  • Konane? - A traditional Hawaiian game somewhat resembling checkers or draughts. Although there is no standard board size, various web references say it is often played on an 18x18 board, i.e., on the squares of a go board. The game begins with the board filled with stones alternating black-white. The first player (black) then removes a stone from either the center or corner. White must then remove an adjacent stone. Then the game proceeds with black jumping over a white stone, landing on the open square immediately beyond it, and removing the white stone. White must then re-capture then same way. Only capturing moves are legal. A player may (but doesn't have to) capture multiple stones in a straight line (no 90-degree turn) when such stones are lined up with one empty space in between. The object of the game is not to capture the most stones, but to deprive your opponent of legal moves.
  • Connect Four - On IYT this is called [ext] stack4. IYT has also invented a variant called [ext] stack 4x4, which is basically the same (i.e. the object is still to get 4 of your counters in a row - horizontally, vertically or diagonally), the difference is that counters can connect to any of the 4 sides, as opposed to just the bottom side. Stack4 and stack 4x4 can be played on the squares of a 9x9 board.
  • Connect 6 - On littlegolem - Black starts by playing a stone at tengen. After this each player plays 2 stones on their turn. The first to make a line of 6 stones (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) wins the game.

Other Go-related Games

Go Variants Collections

Don't know where to put it, might just be regular 9x9 go


[1] Robert Pauli: Hmm... actually pretty much normal go: rules simplified, but not the game.


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