Go is a classic game, where the objective is to imprison the opponent's stones by assailing them with black or white rocks. The one with higher score wins the game.

If you are a registered user of Playray and have logged in with your nickname, you can start playing right away. If you want to become a registered member, you can sign up here for free.

In case you haven't registered yet, the game will assign you a random visitor nickname. A wavy line (~) will appear automatically before your name in order to inform other players that you are not a registered player. By this we make sure that your nickname won't be confused with those of registered users.

After having logged in, you can chat with other people in the lobby, challenge other players to a game, or join an existing game as a viewer. On the left of the chat area that is located in the lower part of the lobby, you will see a list of the players who are currently in the lobby.

Challenging:

Starting a normal game is quick and easy. Simply choose an opponent from the list of players who are at that moment in the lobby and click the "Challenge" button. The challenge will then be sent to the opponent you have chosen, and you will have to wait until the opponent either accepts or rejects the challenge. You can cancel a challenge by clicking the "Cancel challenge" button.

If you want to change the game settings, you must do it before clicking the "Challenge" button. You can, for example, give a name to your game. If you don't want to give a name to your game, the game will automatically be called by a name that consists of a combination of your nickname and your opponent's nickname. Naming a game is usually necessary only in tournament games and when you don't want other users to know who are playing.

You also can choose the size of the game board. The normal size is 19*19. The 13*13 board is good for playing a quicker game. The 9*9 board is suitable for beginners and for those who want to play an extra quick game.

Komi is a compensation that the white player receives at the end of the game. This is so, because the black player will start the game and therefore has advantage. However, this advantage can be seen only in games played by professionals. The most common komis are 4½, 5½ and 6½ points. However, in Playray the default komi is only ½ points because most of our players are not professionals. Komis are usually "the number of points + half a point, because the half prevents the game from ending as a draw.

You also can choose a time limit for the game. Once the time limit option has been activated, two new menus will appear from which you can choose how many stones must be played within a certain time frame. The normal time limit is for example "25 stones in 5 minutes". If a player runs out of time, (s)he loses. After the 25 stones have been played, the time starts from 5 minutes again.

Accepting a Challenge:

When another user challenges you to a game, you will get a notification of this and the settings of the game in question will be displayed on the screen. You can either accept or reject the challenge by clicking the "Accept" or "Reject" button. In case you don't want to accept any challenges from other players, select the "No challenges for me" option. If you want to hear a sound signal when someone challenges you, select the option "Signal when challenged"

The game begins as soon as your opponent accepts your challenge or you accept someone's challenge.

Joining the Game as a Viewer:

From the list showing the games that are going on, you can choose a game you want to join as a viewer. Choose a game and click the "View Game" button. Please note that all games can not be viewed. These games are displayed in grey on the list. Once you have joined a game as a viewer, you will see the same game area as the players do, but you, of course, can't influence the game. You can, however, chat with the players or other viewers.

Go Game in Brief:

One player plays with black and the other with white stones. The black player begins. The players take turns placing one stne on the board in any empty intersection of lines (not in the squares). If a player manages to completely surround his/her opponent's stones by the stone s/he has just placed on the board and the stones that were already on the board, the opponent's stones that have been surrounded will be removed from the board ("captured"). Whether stones are removed or not, the turn goes over to the next player. A player can any time choose not to place stones on the board by clicking the "Pass" button.

There are only two situations in which it is forbidden to place a stone in an empty intersection of lines:

1. If a player's own stone would be immediately surrounded by the opponent's stones and would then be captured. In other words, "suicidal moves" are not acceptable.
2. If placing a stone would result in a situation that has already occurred during the same game. Repetition of the same position is forbidden during one game.

When both players click the "Pass" button after another (neither one of the players wants to place more stones on the board), the next stage of the game begins: choosing dead stones. You can click on any stone on the board and turn it into a dead stone (transparent stone) or a living stone (looks like a normal stone). The purpose of this stage is to choose the stones that would inevitably be captured if the game continued. Once the players have chosen all dead stones, both players are asked whether they accept the situation on the board. If a player does not accept the situation, which means that the player haven't reached an agreement on which stones are dead, the game proceeds in a normal way. If both players accept the situation on the board, the game ends.

After the game has ended, the points will be counted. Three factors influence the number of points a player receives:

1. How large areas the player has conquered on the board. These are areas that have been surrounded by the player's stones and there are no opponent's stones (living ones) in the areas.
2. The number of stones captured from the opponent.
3. Komi (that was chosen in the lobby before the game started).

All these three summed up are the total points. The winner is the player who has more points.

Go in more detail:

The basic rules of Go are very simple, but it takes time and patience to become a really good player. More detailed rules of Go can be found for example here: http://playgo.to/interactive/finnish/

Chat: In the bottom right corner there is a chat field in which you can chat with your opponent and the possible viewers. If you want to have viewers in your game, choose the "Allow viewing" option. Viewers will be able to enter the game when both players have clicked the button in question. In case viewers enter the game, their names will be displayed on the list shown on the right side of the chat area.

Player information Information on both players is displayed above the chat. name, possible time limit, current score etc.

Moves list: On the right from the player information there is a list of moves in which every move will be entered. Below the list there is an options box "Copy text". When you activate this, the moves list will appear as a traditional text box from which it is possible to copy the list for example.

Function buttons: Above the board you can see different buttons depending on the game situation. During your own turn the buttons "Pass" (for passing your own turn) and "Give up" (accept that the opponent has won) are displayed. Above these is the "<- Return to the Lobby" button which takes you back to the lobby. Next to this there also is "Play Sound Signals" options box from which you can choose whether a little "knock" can be heard after a move has been made.

Game Information: At the upper part of the screen a couple of lines of text are being displayed that indicate what is currently going on in the game. For example "Your turn", "White didn't accept dead stones, the game continues", "Black gave up" etc. This makes it easier for beginners and viewers to follow the game.

You can quit the game and return to the Playray front page by clicking the "Quit" button in the bottom right corner of the starting menu.