What's that game you play? Sudoku?

Cartoon courtesy of KoFight Club

AAARGH!!

"What's that game you play? Sudoku?"
"No, it's Go."
"Well, you did say it was some Asian game and that it uses a grid. Sudoku was invented in Japan, you know."
"No. Magic Squares were, technically, invented by the Arabs centuries ago in a form know as wafq. The current form you play was invented by Dell in New York."

That conversation took place with a coworker at my office.

When my brother came to have me prepare his taxes, he referred to my goban as a "Sudoku board".

Go is so unknown outside of East Asia that many of us have had a difficult time explaining the game. I once chatted with a fellow who doesn't even risk bringing it up in light conversation unless the other person is Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Such is the obscurity that some of us humorously endure.

I've decided to explore your frustrations with my Spring 2006 Poll which is now posted to the right. Given the variety of experiences most people have, multiple responses are allowed for this poll and a results table is shown below it.

I've listed the more common games that people confuse Go with, but you may have your own bizarre story to share in the comments section.


Results of the Winter 2005 poll

The Winter 2005 Poll asked if you were planning on buying a goban in 2006. Here's a tabulation of your responses.


My thanks to everyone who responded. Roughly 63% of you are in the market for a new goban this year and it's likely that some of you have already acquired one. Another 23% don't need one while the remaining 14% have too many boards.


This chart helps show the breakout of the responses.


More Go videos on Google


Petronius found three teaching videos on Google Video (along with the video montage created by the Warriors Go Academy). You can follow the link to try them out.