New Equipment

A few weeks ago, I finally made the decision and gifted myself a fine set of go bowls and a 2.4" shin kaya single piece go board. REALLY beautiful!

Although I expected to hear a harder CLAC when placing a stone, it felt quite soft... but hey, it's probably me not placing the stones properly!

Additionally, I bought a sample pack of slate and shell stones, to be able to compare them with the ones I already had. I must admit that the slate stones deceived me a bit, or maybe it's the glass stones I already have that are so beautiful, that they don't make a difference with the slate ones. In fact, I didn't toss them in the bowl with the rest fearing I couldn't tell them apart.

I don't think paying a lot more for these stones is really worth the money. Although if the shell stones were sold apart from the slate stones, then I would think of buying shell stones.

I bought them at GoGameGuru, and guess what, I paid with bitcoins! I was having trouble paying with my Visa credit card for some unknown reason. To my surprise, they accepted bitcoins so now I have two reasons to celebrate: my new go equipment and my first purchase with bitcoins.

Clic here for a great review of the bowls.

Stone simulation

Prior to buying my Go stones, I did some research and bumped into this crazy site. It's a Go board and stones simulation project by a guy named Glenn Fiedler. If you're into physics and programming you'll find it an interesting read.

You can watch the end result here.

Stones

I never imagined that stones other than the cheap plastic ones I've been using could make such a huge difference. It's the look, the feel, the weight, the size, the temperature, the sound...

It was a tough decision when buying the stones, primarily because there are no stores where I live, so I had to choose by pictures, and we all know the huge gap between a picture and the real thing. I wanted good quality stones, after all they would probably follow me for the rest of my life, but I couldn't exceed my budget.

There are also so many sizes to choose from! In the end, by July this year, I decided to buy these 6brothers size 36 double convex stones from GoGameGuru for usd 75 with shipping. I had no references with regards to shape, brand or size, but I trusted the site, and I'm so happy with them!

Unpacking the stones