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I read the rules of Go, bought some books on it, watched some videos, and played several games. I never had a clue what I was doing. Was I winning or losing? I

I read the rules of Go, bought some books on it, watched some videos, and played several games. I never had a clue what I was doing. Was I winning or losing? I couldn't tell. I had very little strategy. Even as a child, chess was so much more straight forward. Bridge has always seemed similar to Go IMO from a "what in the world" kind of view. I started going to a bridge club and took a few classes. I kinda understood bidding, but never what was going on. I know people actually figure it out, but I honestly felt like it was some kind of cosmic joke on me lol.

ngcc_hk 4y ago
Get a free app and 9x9 should not be hard. For the real 19x19, need a teacher I think.
smohare 4y ago
Interesting. Most folk I know fairly rapidly develop a basic intuition around Go as at the initial phases one leverages basic pattern recognition, which humans are good at. I think the issue you raise though is fundamental to the beauty of the game, which is that subtle differences in play have drastic emergent consequences.
- 7thaccount 4y ago
  You're not making me feel better :) Maybe the pattern recognition just takes awhile. It took me quite a few games for "Set" to become natural.
tomcam 4y ago
Fine, since you came out of the closet, I will too. I don’t understand Wordle, solitaire, bridge, or minesweeper. I can write a compiler soup to nuts… But I can’t figure out minesweeper.
- relaxing 4y ago
  That’s interesting. Maybe the games are unique in that they ask you to make inferences about the hidden state of the world, whereas the compiler has the entire program available. Still, both problems (compilation, minesweeper) can be solved through the logical repetition of a basic set of rules.
  - tomcam 4y ago
    I am going to claim that the documentation for all of these games tends to be so self referential that I think it only helps if someone has already showed you the ropes. I’m also 100% willing to accept a diagnosis that is much less in my favor
    - relaxing 4y ago
      Minesweeper is definitely frustrating in the way it presents you with the game board already in play and asks you to intuit the rules on the fly.
      - tomcam 4y ago
        THANK YOU
catach 4y ago
Regarding Go, I'd say playing fast games on a 9x9 board is a good way to build confidence in understanding.
v-erne 4y ago
>> understood bidding, but never what was going on I would blame your teacher for this (im guessing that there was one in club?) The relation between biding and then strategy of trick taking is something that requires a good teacher that can show where the real game is (the communication in biding and standard language of bidding is especially important and then the understanding of the probability aspects of the game makes it kinda clock for eveybody) On the other hand - chess ... I really never understood it (the deep game strategy aspects of it, openings and final board positions less so)

ngcc_hk 4y ago

Get a free app and 9x9 should not be hard. For the real 19x19, need a teacher I think.

smohare 4y ago

Interesting. Most folk I know fairly rapidly develop a basic intuition around Go as at the initial phases one leverages basic pattern recognition, which humans are good at. I think the issue you raise though is fundamental to the beauty of the game, which is that subtle differences in play have drastic emergent consequences.

7thaccount 4y ago
You're not making me feel better :) Maybe the pattern recognition just takes awhile. It took me quite a few games for "Set" to become natural.

tomcam 4y ago

Fine, since you came out of the closet, I will too. I don’t understand Wordle, solitaire, bridge, or minesweeper. I can write a compiler soup to nuts… But I can’t figure out minesweeper.

relaxing 4y ago
That’s interesting. Maybe the games are unique in that they ask you to make inferences about the hidden state of the world, whereas the compiler has the entire program available. Still, both problems (compilation, minesweeper) can be solved through the logical repetition of a basic set of rules.
- tomcam 4y ago
  I am going to claim that the documentation for all of these games tends to be so self referential that I think it only helps if someone has already showed you the ropes. I’m also 100% willing to accept a diagnosis that is much less in my favor
  - relaxing 4y ago
    Minesweeper is definitely frustrating in the way it presents you with the game board already in play and asks you to intuit the rules on the fly.
    - tomcam 4y ago
      THANK YOU

catach 4y ago

Regarding Go, I'd say playing fast games on a 9x9 board is a good way to build confidence in understanding.

v-erne 4y ago

>> understood bidding, but never what was going on I would blame your teacher for this (im guessing that there was one in club?) The relation between biding and then strategy of trick taking is something that requires a good teacher that can show where the real game is (the communication in biding and standard language of bidding is especially important and then the understanding of the probability aspects of the game makes it kinda clock for eveybody) On the other hand - chess ... I really never understood it (the deep game strategy aspects of it, openings and final board positions less so)