GO

Black and white stones are placed on a grid with a click. This is Go - a game that's familiar to virtually everyone in Japan. Currently, there are an estimated 3 million GO enthusiasts in Japan.
The board on which GO is played is called a GO-BAN. And these black and white stones are placed on the GO-BAN. The rules are simple. The game is played by two players, and the object is to gain more territory than your opponent. The board consists of a grid of 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines. The players place their stones on the intersections of these lines in turn. Once you put down your stone,you can not move it. The size of your territory is calculated by the number of unoccupied intersections surrounded by your stones. So the aim is to have more of these than your opponent. GO is said to have originated in China, some 4000 years ago. On a grid of 19 lines in each direction, the total number of intersection is 361. Because this is close to the number of days in a year, It is though that GO once had a close link with astronomy and astrology.

GO was popular with SUMURAI warriors in the feudal days. The game is all about strategically expanding your territory, so it was seen as a valuable pastime for generals aiming to expand their conquests through war. The 17th century saw the emergence of professional GO players. They vied with each other to demonstrate their prowess at the annual competition held in EDO castle. Around the same time, special GO houses where common people could play against each other were set up one after another. This was how the level of play in Japan took a giant leap forward. Today, with the spread of the Internet, you can play GO online against all kinds of people. And there are GO enthusiasts all around the world. Right now, GO is played in about 70 countries and regions, by more than 40 million people.