Go (board game)

Board game for two players of East Asian origin, popular in China, Korea, and especially Japan. It is said to have originated in China about 4,000 years ago, and brought to Japan about 500 BCE. Traditionally, go is played with 181 black and 180 white, flat, round stones called go-ishi on a square, wooden board called a goban, checkered by 19 vertical lines and 19 horizontal lines to form 361 intersections. More recently it is played electronically. Each player takes turns, black moves first, conquering territory by completely enclosing vacant points with boundaries made of their own stones.