Ideas

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The Seattle Central Go Club is not supported by the Seattle Go Center. 

All club equipment and club managements are provided by the hosts (Derek & Cassandra) or member donations.

• Hosting a Go version of Chess Boxing (video). Any kind of mix between Go and something a little physical sounds fun, even something far lighter like a sports game with motion controls (Wii/Switch/&c).

• ‘Life-Sized’ or ‘human’ Go modeled after the Ningen shogi event put on in Tendo, Japan. Obviously, something more manageable, like a 9x9 game is fine. On a shoestring budget, we can simply select  “stones” (volunteers) to wear predominantly Black or White, but I've found White and Black parasols online for a couple of dollars each.

• Pure spectacle, but overall, low difficulty—hosting a Go version of this beta fish “playing” Pokemon. If Alpha Go was open source we could combine it (fish “selects'' from, say, top 5 moves) for AlphaBeta Plays Go.

• A Tournament for online go content creators. Invite Go players with sizeable YouTube, Twitch, &c channels to compete against each other in a tournament. I’d most like to see this hosted in-person, but doing this completely online would be, for the most part, easier, and could also build up interest for an in-person version at a later date.

• A Four Noble Arts Expo. I’m confident that here in the Seattle area this would be fairly easy as there are groups for all of them:
  
  Qin players (the guqin, a stringed instrument, 琴), and/or guzheng players (the guzheng is the 21 string version of 7 string qin).
  Weqii players (the strategy game of Go, 棋)
  Shu artists (Chinese calligraphy, 書)
  Hua artists (Chinese painting, 畫)

It'd be great to see them all come together and demonstrate or share their talents.

• Let’s bring in some theater! I’d like us to reach out local theater places like this local Kabuki Academy to put on Go themed performance. I also think it could be a lot of fun to have a Castle Games re-enactment in period dress.

• Death & Taxes. Inspired by this Jay Strategy video, players can sign up for a number of problems and promise to donate a nominal amount ($1-$5) for each wrong answer. Problems can be grouped by difficulty (25-15 kyu, 14-5 kyu, 4kyu-5dan), and of course the max contribution would be tied to the number of problems. We could also add time limits (Fischer/per problem/total).

• Tsumego-a-thon. Similar to the above, but positive reinforcement : ). Probably best done with kids who (I think still) do these kinds of things for their schools. Participants start with easier tsumego and attempt to complete problems of increasing difficulty until they get a certain number wrong.

• “DDK’s Revenge": put the strongest volunteer players in a dunk tank or auction off pies to the face.

• "Atari" (based on “Jeopardy”): 1-2 rounds of non-skill based, Go themed trivia. Each round is 5 questions in 5 categories, plus a bonus third round consisting of a single question. 3 simultaneous participants at a time. Possible resources:https://buzzinga.io/, https://jeopardylabs.com/.

• "Who Wants to be a Shodan!?" (based on ”Who Wants to be a Millionaire!?”): 1 participant answers up to 15 questions for the top prize. Questions increase in difficulty (up to a 1dan difficulty) and value. Every 5th question set the least a participant can win should they answer incorrectly. Participant may also stop at anytime to take current earnings. Questions will be multiple choice (4), best move questions. Participants can use lifelines to get hints, 50/50, Poll the audience, and Phone a friend.

• Game based on “Deal or No Deal”: 1 Participant at a time. Mostly a game of chance, with a little statistics. Perhaps you could use Goke with stones instead of briefcases. Alternate name: "Money or Moyo", "Pass or Capture", "Weqi or Walk", "Baduk or Bargain"…

• "The Points Are Right“ (based on" The Price is Right”, or at least the “Item Up for Bid” segment):Participants are shown moves and asked to estimate the value of said move. Since this one is an incomplete modification, it can be run twice. May or may not be limited to endgame.

• "Wheel of Weiq" (based on “Wheel of Fortune”): 3 simultaneous participants. Essentially unchanged from the traditional game, but words and phrases are Go themed; famous players, terminology, proverbs, &c.

• Badges, or Trophies (Discord) that are meant to encourage play and experimentation; achievements that are unrelated to game outcomes or skill level.

I believe badges can be implemented the same way server ranking is on discord, except not automatically. They will have to be submitted and reviewed, but it should not be a complicated task.

I believe it would not be much more work to also create levels for these badges, for example, let’s say there is a badge for Keima Cutter, for cutting an opponent's keima shape x times in one game. This one badge can come in levels, say bronze (cut 4 times), silver (cut 6 times), and gold (cut 7 times). I thought about “...and win” perhaps being a condition for gold, but I think that would go against my main intention with these, which is to encourage practice and experimentation over winning or losing any given game.

Other examples can include:

- Peer reviewing a certain number of games for other members, “The Tutor” or “The Mentor”

- Playing the most games in one day, over one week, or during the season, “The Marathoner”

- Being voted the most friendly, or convincing the most people to join the server, “The Ambassador" or “The Negotiator’, or “The Recruiter”.

- “Team Player”, the most rengo games in a day/week/season.

- “Variant Virtuoso/Veteran”, the most Go variants played in day/week/season.

- “The Classicist”, only play 3-4 for x consecutive games, or x times

- “Shin fuseki”, only play 3-3, 4-4, and/or tengen for x consecutive games, or x times

- “The AI”, or “How do you like it!?”, ignore your opponents 3-3 and immediately invade a 3-3 of theirs x times.

- “The Revivalist”, make a comeback x times.

- “Oulipo Keima/Atari/Shoulder hit/Capture/&c”, play an entire game or x games without playing a Keima/Atari/Shoulder hit/Capture/&c, or for the first x moves.

- Do not respond locally to your opponents first x moves.

- “Cosmic Style”, do not play anything below the 4th line for your first x moves.

- “Mine”, do not play anything above the 3rd line for your first x moves.

- (This one may be too easy to cheat for) “The Calculator”, three times during your game, between moves 1-50, 51-101, and 151+ estimate the score and be within the Ai’s assessment 2 of those times.

- “Following Hands”, only play in the quadrant your opponent played in last.

- “Not with a ten-foot-pole”, never play in the same quadrant as your opponent’s last move.

- Net/Ladder/cross-cut/bamboo joint/make seki x times in one game.

- “Blimpy”, make one territory worth 50+ points (excluding captures).

- “Legion”, complete a game where none of your groups are worth more than 10 points.

- &c…