This is my favourite hobby. Playing 'Go' ^^;
It's a board game that was invented in China and spread to Japan and Korea. Its know as 'Weichi' in China, 'Go/Igo' in Japan, and 'Baduk' in Korea.
Go can be played in different board sizes, the standard sizes being 9x9, 13x13, and 19x19. Most beginners start out with the 9x9 board and then progress upward. Go is played by two players alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a 19 Г— 19 grid board. The rules of Go are relatively simple and easy to grasp, but once the rules are learnt, how to put it to use is the hard part. The lowest official rank is 30 kyu, and as the players get stronger the number decreases (that is a 10 kyu is stronger than a 20 kyu). after 1 kyu, comes the dan ranks in which the numbers increase along with the increased strength of the player.
Two good tutorials on Go
http://playgo.to/interactive/http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/index-e.htm (The official Nihon Ki-In site)
Computer program for Go:
ftp://www.telgo.com/igowin.zipWiki links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)
http://senseis.xmp.net/Viewers of Ranma 1/2 might have seen Ranma's and Akane's parents play another board game called Shougi (and even play Go in one of the episodes, one with Combat Shougi) which is vaguely similar to Go.
My avatar is also a game played by a very famous Go player called Honinbo Shusaku.
