you just know

im trying some new games at LG and there are games that just trying it...you just know.

for example, once again im trying "reversi" and even that is a good game...i dont know...i dont "feel" excited...i dont feel nothing.

is not a bad game...but there is something about it that doesnt do it.

now...im trying "hex" for the 1rst time...and i just like it!

apart from the stategy and calculation...there is the struggle, the excitement and the way the stones squeeze and runs.

im not saying that hex is better than GO (but sometimes i felt deja-vu) but i can see that is better than chess.

i know i will be losing all the games at hex...but is a great game...

i just know.

I understand how you feel. I also fell in love with Hex the first time I read about it, while I was more skeptical about Othello (Reversi). But in my first Othello tournament in 1990, I won a book on Othello strategy as the best (and only) new player. I was surprised to see how beautiful the strategy of this game is, and got hooked. (And in another thread I was being negative about Othello...maybe I have just played it too much, hehe.) You can find some strategy tips on www.reversi.se.

Different games have different strategies -- I find hex's basic strategies are not so different to the strategies in go. Perhaps that is why you like it. I find Othello's to be a little more like chess, though intuition seems to play a larger role than it does in chess.. But don't write off othello too fast -- it is really quite a good game and I find it a refreshing break from go.

Oh, If you do find you like hex, I invented a variant which I find fun. Play hex on a 19x19 square board (not hex), but you can capture stones using the rules of go.

I've only trialled it at the go club (all opponents at least shodan at go) but it seems to hold up fairly well. Standard hex swap sides option is used instead of nigeri. If anyone wants to try it, just start a 19x19 game of go -- you're welcome to challenge me to a game (make sure you put something in the notes so I know you don't want a game of go ;-)

Understanding the rules of Othello doesn't mean you understand what the game is about. I've looked at your Othello games, pitirre, and I don't think you recognise the struggle in an Othello game. The constant fight for mobility, controlling the diagonals, spoiling moves, aiming for stoner-traps, setting up wedges, the dilemma of taking early edges...

Oh, well...

Having not seen your games, I agree with klaashaas that othello has lots of nice strategy. Imagine the difference in go between 'capture go' (first person to capture a stone wins) and territory go. I know I began to understand the game a lot more when I played an experienced person and they freely gave me a corner in exchange for erasing some of their bad aji.

I think the first step to understanding othello is realising that the fewer pieces you have, the better you're doing. (Note to experienced othello players, I know this is a gross simplification with many exceptions, but I find it is the first step towards understanding; actually, I think it is a beginner's approximation of the mobility strategy)

corrin, you are right when u say that hex is something like GO...sometimes i felt a lil paranoid when i saw all those "hex stones" surrounding me and i have to say to myself; "wait, this is not GO!".

klass, i dont think you are understanding me. im not saying that "reversi" is a bad game but it doesnt do nothing for me "emotionally"...too insipid.

i know i dont know the fundamentals of reversi but i dont know nothing about hex...and somehow i can "feel" something.

td, thanks for the site of reversi u pointed out. i will check it.

and this topic isnt about what is a better game...is about "feel".

so calm down.

but there is something about it that doesnt do it.

Oh, so you meant I don't understand the game, I see. Sorry I got that wrong :-p

I enjoy playing alomst all the games here. I think everyone has games to which they are attracted right from the start, and games which they have to develop interest in. I've been playing dots and boxes for a few weeks now, and I liked the game from the start. It's fast and full of interesting strategy. But I think the real reason I liked it so fast (and still liking it) is that I got some very good strategy tips from the Master (I had the same with Go, allthough I only understood about 10% from what the master told me :-). I wonder if I would have enjoyed those games so much if those Masters didn't show me what the game was all about. How could I ever judge a game without knowing what it's about?

klaas, a question;

when u are reading me, are u seating down?

please, stand up...maybe u understand better.

Though I play Twixt and Amazons here actively, I still think that there is nothing "like Go" and nothing comparable to Go in deepness. Go simply has so many aspects (in this respect I think chess are good too, but then, I "don't feel them" ;).

As a side note, I don't quite find any resemblance of Go in Hex. I'm a medium-level amateur Go player (3--4 kyu here), but I lose _all_ Hex games.

Hi, Paul, most of the Go players whom I know learned Hex fairly quickly.

Similarity between strategies of Go and Hex includes:

(a) Try to avoid our opponent' thickness, (b) do not injure our own group of stones, (c) try not to "help" our opponent, (d) watch out the flaws of our own groups and our opponent's groups.

I have confidence in you. :) Your website is also very impressive. Thank you for sharing it with us.

re: tim

except that i dont know what you mean by "thickness" i'ld say your rules apply to pretty much any game :)

another general rule: it doesn't matter so much where your pieces are, but where you threathen to play

Hi, Alkosan, "thickness" is referred to the immense crowdiness and density of a group of stones. Like in a battle, if our enemy amasses 100 thousand soldiers at a river bank, we, with only 10 thousand soldiers may want to stay as far as possible away from that river bank. :)

Well, maybe I'll try to give Hex another try some day, but not now. Among connection games I prefer Twixt, which I discovered only here. If only because I have some success playing it ;)

[offtopic] That's not exactly my site, rather the site of my project. But thank you anyway. [/offtopic]

i just finished a game in igs where i won...and even so i was winning easy my heart was beating loud.

i love that sense of "rush", of excitement.

there are other games than GO that give me that "rush";

1) backgammon; i know this game have some elements of luck but a good player have to play the stones to increase the posibilities of good position...and that increaes, for me, the level of excitement.

2) chess; there were a time (before GO) that chess was very emotional for me...is still does but i have to play very open, sacrifices and combinative (like a madman) to get that feeling.

3)hex; i started to play this game a few days ago and already gives me much excitement.

there are other games that are good "thinking" games but lack that emotional element for me; reversi, gomoku, four in a row.

there is a game that im still a lil ambivalent about it and that is (i think is called) "twixt", it is too a game of connection.

im going to give more time to that game...i still dont know

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