Hand and Brain
How to Play
Hand and Brain Go (also "Brain and Hand" Go) is a variant dreamt up at the Seattle Go Center
Two players collaborate to make moves, the "Brain" says the Shape or Move name and the "Hand" plays that move anywhere on the board
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Move name examples: Hane, One-point jump, Knight's Move, Diagonal Move, Stretch, Bump, Peep, Block (and so on)
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Shape name examples: Ponnuki, Tiger's mouth, Table shape, Square, Stretch, Throwing star, Honeycomb shape (and so on)
- In the
early game the Brain may say play in a corner, side extension, corner approach, approach star-point or
tengen
- It is considered "Cheating" to explicitly tell the Hand what you are thinking, similar to
Pair Go (teammates speak in Shapes)
Teaching Shape
- This
variant can be a very effective
teaching tool between Student and Teacher
- The Student attains a deeper understanding of Shape, while the Teacher can better understand the Students ability
Players
- This can be played 2 vs 1 with another human or computer opponent
- Alternatively this could be played 2 vs 2 similar to Pair Go
Thanks
Credit goes to players from the Go Center for the idea