
"The Go player must contend less with his opponent and more with conflicting
impulses and emotions within himself."

THE ART OF GO (tm)

From A-SQUARED DISTRIBUTIONS INC.


CONCEPTION             PROGRAMMING           ADDITIONAL CODE
James R. Logan, Jr.    James R. Logan, Jr.   Jean Tantra


GRAPHICS               SOUND                 PRODUCT  MANAGER
Dana Dominiak          David Minor           Randy Spencer


AMIGA VERSION          AMIGA MANUAL
Mike Meyer             Matthew Leeds and Anneli Meyer


ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING
Arthur Abraham
Chris Goodman

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Brian Thompson
James Palmer
James Connelly and Ishi Press
Ursala Bendixen
Sue Redding 


Copyright  1987  James R. Logan, Jr.   All rights reserved.
Developed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.

Limited Warranty: 

If during the first 60 days from the date of purchase the disk is found to
be defective, please return it to A-Squared Distributions Inc., for a free
replacement.  After 60 days send your disk and $10.00 for replacement.  To
obtain this warranty, you must complete and return your Art of Go
registration card. 

A-Squared Distributions Inc. makes no warranties, expressed or implied,
including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, and
fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed.  The seller's liability,
whether in contract, in tort, under any warranty, in negligence, or
otherwise, shall not exceed the return of the amount of the purchase price
paid by the purchaser and under no circumstances shall seller be liable for
special, indirect, or consequential damages. 


A-SQUARED DISTRIBUTIONS INC.
6114 La Salle Avenue, Suite 326
Oakland, California 94611
(415) 339-0339

Copy Protection:

The Art of Go does not use disk-based copy-protection.  The first thing  to
do is make a backup copy of the master disk and store that in a safe place.
Now you're ready to boot up the program and play. 

We hope that you'll support non-protected software by keeping your Art of
Go disk for yourself.  This will allow us to stay in business, and bring
out future products. 

Please contribute.  Don't distribute!

General Play:

The Go board that appears is a standard 19 x 19 grid.  However, Go can also
be played on boards as small as 3 x 3.  With The Art of Go, you have the
option of selecting the size board on which you can play.  Each time you
select "New" from the File menu, you'll have the opportunity to choose a
new board size. 

The program automatically defaults to "Human vs. Human", an option in the
Players menu.  To play the computer, choose "Human vs. Computer" from the
Players menu.  The computer will wait for you to move first. You move by
pointing to a position on the game board and pressing the mouse button. 
Or, you can cause the computer to move first by selecting "Begin" in the
Play menu. When the computer has moved, it waits for you to make the next
move.  Play continues, alternating between you and the computer until the
game ends. 

You are not required to play a stone on every turn.  If you don't want to
play a stone, you may decline to play by selecting "Pass" in the Play menu.

When you and the computer both pass on consecutive turns the game is over. 
You should then remove the dead stones from the board (Stones menu; see The
Menus section of this manual) and calculate the "Final Score" (Play menu). 
The Art of Go will display its own calculations for the final score in the
game window. However, as territory is often contested, it's wise for you to
practice calculating the final score by hand as well!

About Go

Go is based on the ancient board game of Chinese origin, which is very
popular today in Japan and other Asian countries.  In recent years, though,
the game has become increasingly popular in the United States, Canada, and
Europe because of its challenging nature.  The game is played with black and
white stones on a grid of 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines. 

Although the rules of the game are very simple, the strategy necessary to
win is very complex -- comparable to chess.  The game will stimulate both
analytical and intuitive thought processes. 

 
The Art of Go Lets You:

 - Play in three different modes:  human vs. computer, human vs. human,
       and computer vs. computer
 - See the computer's reasoning for each stone it plays
 - Play, unplay and replay stones
 - Keep track of prisoners and owned territories
 - Save, replay and annotate games
 - Print game boards on Preferences supported printers
 - Number the stones as they are played on the board
 - Play on different board sizes from 3 x 3  all the way up to 19 x 19
 - Display a "best guess" final score
 - Use both the Japanese and Chinese scoring methods
 - Annotate your games
 

Rules

The object of the game is to secure territory on the board.  The winner is
the player who has succeeded in occupying the most territory at the end of
the game, either by completely surrounding an area with his stones, or by
capturing the stones of the opponent. 

The game is played between two players alternately placing black and white
stones on a game board.  The game board consists of a grid 19 lines wide and
19 lines high.  Stones are played on the points where lines cross on the
board, not on the squares.  Once stones are placed on the board, they cannot
be moved unless they are removed by capture. 

Customarily, the weaker player uses the black stones and moves first.
Players take turns placing stones on the game board.  Either player may
decline to play (pass) on any turn. 

"Groups of stones" are stones of the same color that are connected along the
lines on the board.  Stones do not connect diagonally.  A group of stones
cannot be captured if it has two "eyes", where an eye is territory that is
completely surrounded by stones that cannot be captured.

Each stone, or group of stones, must have at least one empty neighbor. These
neighbors are called "liberties". Stones with no liberties are "smothered"
and are removed from the board immediately.  A stone cannot be played if it
will result in no liberties for itself or for its group. 

One more rule, the rule of "Ko", forbids playing a stone that causes an
exact repeat of any previous pattern of stones on the whole game board.  A
common example of this is when one white stone is played and captures one
black stone, black must wait at least one turn before recapturing the white
stone that was just played (if indeed the white stone can be recaptured). 

The opening moves in Go have about the same importance as the opening moves
in chess.  The corners of the game board are the easiest place to surround
and defend.  Therefore, most games begin with the players placing stones
near the corners of the board. 

When both players decline to move (pass) on consecutive turns, the game is
over.  At the end of a game, dead stones are removed from the game board. 
"Dead stones" are any stones or group of stones that do not have sufficient
territory for two eyes.  If there is any question about the life or death of
stones, simply continue playing until the outcome is clear. 

There is a situation called "seki", which means "dual life".  A seki occurs
where two opposing groups of stones share one or two mutual liberties, and
neither group has enough territory to live by itself.  Either player commits
suicide by playing a stone on one of the mutual liberties, so both groups of
stones live. 

The Menus

Here is a list of the menu items and their uses. 


The File Menu

New (Amiga-N)
"New" begins a new game of Go.  You have the option to change the board size
(and add handicap stones automatically to a 19 x 19 board), or to use the
current board size each time you choose New. 

Open (Amiga-O)
"Open" is your key for opening The Art of Go's On-line Tutorial.  Just
select "Open", and then select "Tutorial" from the file requestor.  The Art
of Go is now ready to lead a novice player through a trial game.

"Open" is also used to open and replay a saved game.  Only one game file can
be open at any time. 

As soon as a saved game is opened, it begins to replay stones on the board. 
To stop this, hold down the Amiga key along with the period or click
anywhere with the mouse.  You can then back up and start re-playing from the
beginning. 

Note: The comments which are displayed in the game window are not retained
from one play to the next.  Therefore, you cannot back up or unplay stones
to see previous comments. 

If the saved game contains comments, then the game action will stop when the
comments appear in the annotation window.  When this occurs, you can select
one of the following two options in the annotation window to resume the game
action or stop play from the game file. 

"Continue"
This option causes the saved game to resume playing until it comes upon the
next comment. 

"Quit"
This option stops the play of a saved game.


Annotate (Amiga-A)
"Annotate" opens a new game file and begins recording comments and play
actions.  First, make a "New" board (File menu).  Second, start an
annotation file.  Finally, "Open" a saved game.  You'll see the first
stone played as soon as the annotation window appears. 

The annotation window has 3 options that you can select: "Save", "Skip" and
"Quit".  These options determine whether or not text in the annotation
window is saved in the game file.  They don't affect the sequence of
stones being played.  The position and size of the annotation window is
saved along with the comments.  A functional description of these options
follows:

"Save" 
This option saves the window characteristics and all text from the
annotation window into the game file.  Saving text this way is the only way
to cause a game to be paused when a game file is replayed. 

"Skip" 
This option ignores text in the annotation window and proceeds to the next
play.  This option is most useful when you are simultaneously replaying a
game file and annotating the game.  Select this option when you
don't wish to comment on the last play. 

"Quit"
This option terminates the annotation of a game and saves the annotation
file.

Note that the comments from a game file are not retained from one play to
the next, so you cannot back up or unplay stones to see previous comments. 
However, if you do back up, you can show the results of several branches in
strategy from a single point while adding in new comments. 


Save (Amiga-G)
"Save" opens a game file and immediately writes the current game sequence
into a game file.  Usually you will select this option at the end of a game.


Save Setting (Amiga-S)
"Save Setting" saves the current program settings as defaults.  The saved
settings include the following parameters:

 - Checkable menu options in the Players, Stones and Display menus;
 - Parameters and weights in the Settings menu.


Print
"Print" outputs the game board and stones on Preference supported printers. 


Quit (Amiga-Q) 
"Quit" terminates The Art of Go, after asking whether or not to save any
game in progress. 


The Play Menu

Begin/Resume (Amiga-B)
"Begin/Resume" causes the computer to move if the computer is one of the
players checked in the "Players" menu.  The primary purpose of this item is
to continue play after "Pause" has been selected or the computer has been
interrupted with either a mouse click or Amiga-period.  Furthermore, use
"Begin/Resume" to start the computer's first turn. 

Pause (Amiga-.) 
"Pause" temporarily stops the program from playing a game until
"Begin/Resume" is selected, or until you make a play.  You can also use
Amiga-period or a mouse click to interrupt the computer when it is thinking,
moving or replaying a game. 

Pass (Amiga-P)
"Pass" indicates that you decline to play this turn, and the opportunity to
play moves to the opponent. 

Change Sides (Amiga-C)
"Change Sides" causes the color of stones being used by the players to be
switched.  Therefore, if you were playing black, you swap bowls of stones
with your opponent and begin to play white.  If you are black and it is your
turn, changing sides does not affect the fact that it is still your turn. 
This will prove helpful in setting up problem scenarios. 

Forward One Move (Amiga-])
"Forward One Move" replays a stone from the current game record only if
stones have been unplayed or the "Back Up One Move" item has been selected
immediately before.  Stones are replayed in the same order that they were
originally played. 

Backward One Move (Amiga-[)
"Backward One Move" unplays the most recently played stone in the current
game.  This can be either black or white.  To move back one complete turn,
you must select this twice.  Selecting this item only once effectively makes
you change sides with your opponent as well. 

Final Score (Amiga-F)
"Final Score" displays a suggested final game score.  Usually a game ends
when both players pass.  Dead stones are then removed, and the final score
is decided upon by both players.  Therefore, you may not always agree with
computerized scoring.  We advise you to practice tallying the final score
yourself. 


The Players Menu

Human vs. Human  (Amiga-1)
"Human vs. Human" indicates that both black and white stones are played by
pressing the mouse button. 

Human vs. Computer (Amiga-2)
"Human vs. Computer" allows you to play against the computer.  If you want
the computer to move first select "Begin/Resume" in the Play menu.  Clicking
anywhere with the mouse interrupts the computer's turn.  Select
"Begin/Resume" in the Play menu to continue. 

Computer vs. Computer (Amiga-3)
"Computer vs. Computer" specifies that the computer plays against itself. 
To start the game select "Begin" in the Play menu.  Clicking anywhere with
the mouse interrupts the game.  Select "Begin/Resume" in the Play menu to
continue. 


Mouse Menu

Play Stones
Clicking the mouse button plays and unplays stones when this item is
selected.  To play a stone, point the mouse cursor at a vacant position on
the game board and click the mouse button.  One stone or more will be
unplayed if the mouse is pointing to a stone on the game board when the
mouse button is clicked.  The unplay feature can be disabled by selecting
"Disable Unplay" at the end of the Settings menu. 

Handicap Stones 
Clicking the mouse button adds and removes handicap stones when this item is
selected.  On a 19 x 19 sized board, handicap stones can be automatically
placed on the handicap positions indicated by the black dots.  Try starting
a "New" game (File menu) with 5 handicaps and see what happens.  The weaker
player should receive enough handicap stones to make the game a close
contest.  If you choose only one handicap point, then the traditional
Chinese handicap is set.  For 2 through 17 handicap points, Japanese
handicaps are used.

Symbol Stones
Symbols are useful for annotating games and preparing instruction material. 
Select "Symbol Stones" and click the mouse button to add symbols.  Symbols
are chosen by pressing any key on the keyboard. Mouse clicks can only add
symbols to the board.  In order to remove symbols, use the "Back Up One
Move" feature from the Play menu. 

Dead Stones
To remove dead stones at the end of a game, select "Dead Stones". Clicking
on a group of stones removes it from the board and adds the number of stones
in the group to the prisoners.  Do this only at the end of a game.  You will
not be able to undo any removal. 

Analyze Point
Clicking the mouse button on any point or stone displays information about
that position.  The display information includes the number of liberties,
number of eyes, and the results of simple ladders. 

Disable Unplay (Amiga-U)
When "Disable Unplay" is selected, the unplay feature of "Play Stones" is
disabled.  This mode is useful for tournament play, so that you don't
accidently unplay several stones. 

When this item is not selected, you can click on any stone, and the computer
unplays that stone and all stones which came after it. 



The Display Menu

Marble Board
"Marble Board" displays a marble game board with blue and red stones as an
alternative to the traditional wooden board with black and white stones. To
return to the wooden board, deselect "Marble Board".

Columns and Rows
"Columns and Rows" displays the traditional column and row symbols at the
edge of the game board.  The computer refers to the stone positions using
these designators. 

Stone Numbers
"Stone Numbers" displays numbers on the stones indicating their order of
play.  This number is also referred to when displaying the reasons for the
computer's move.  In order to renumber the stones beginning at, say, stone
number 25, hold down the Amiga key and click on that stone.  Now stones from
1 through 24 will be blank, and stone 25 will be number 1. 

Blink Last Stone 
This causes the last stone that the computer played to blink.

Beep After Play 
This causes the program to beep after the computer plays. 

Stone Sound 
This causes the program to simulate the sound of a stone hitting the surface
of the game board when a stone is played. 

Cursor Shape
When selected, this changes the cursor shape to a circle when the computer
is waiting for your move. 

Reasons for Moves 
This displays the reasons that the computer used to play a stone in the text
window.  The stones are referenced by column and row. 

Title Bar (Amiga-T)
This causes the standard Amiga screen title bar to be displayed for the GO
screen.


The Settings Menu

Parameters...
Select this to change program settings that affect the computer's playing
algorithms, change display options, or change sound options. A later section
in this manual contains a description of the parameters. 

Weights...
Select this to change the relative weights of patterns that the program uses
to choose the best move.  The next section of this manual contains a
description of the weights.  

Restore Factory Settings
This causes all of the program settings to be reset to the preset factory
values. 

Lock Settings (Amiga-L)
Use "Lock Settings" to avoid accidently changing the program settings for
parameters and weights.


About Game Weights

The Art of Go game weights determine the way in which the program plays. 
Moves are based on a value that is computed for each position, and the value
is the sum of the weights for that position.  You may change the weights as
listed in the Settings menu, thus altering the personality of the computer. 
They may be altered between any two turns. 

A short description of the weights in the program follows:

Atari
Computer moves to atari the opponent.

Attack
Computer attacks small opponent armies near the edge (row 2 or 3).  At least
one other computer stone must be present on the board, and the size of the
opponent army must be only one or two stones. 

Capture
Computer moves to capture an opponent army (group of stones). 

Circle
Computer moves to the center of an area surrounded by at least one computer
stone and one opponent stone.  (Same as "Space Empty", but covers a slightly
larger circle.)

Connect
Computer moves to connect two stones diagonally because an opponent stone is
nearby and the opponent threatens to cut. 

Corner Guard
Computer moves in its own corner to protect its territory. 

Cut and Connect
The computer moves to an area surrounded by computer stones and opponent
stones so that the computer stones will be loosely connected and the
opponent stones will be loosely "cut" apart. 

Cut
The computer moves to a position that neighbors on two opponent armies,
threatening on the next move to cut the armies apart. 

Cut Prevent
The computer moves to protect against an opponent stone that would loosely
"cut" two areas of influence apart. 

Edge Atari
The computer moves to the edge to atari the opponent at the edge. 

Edge Attack
The computer moves on row 2, near an opponent's stone to increase the
computer's territory at the edge of the game board. 

Edge Connect
The computer moves to connect under an opponent stone at the edge. The
opponent stone must be on row 2. 

Edge Cut
The computer moves to prevent the opponent from connecting under a computer
stone at the edge. 

Edge Guard
The computer moves to protect the edge of its territory.

Eye Shape
The computer moves to make 3 stones into a half-circle shape. 

Invade
The computer will only move into an opponent's "eye" if this threshold is
exceeded by the sum of a position's weights. 

Protect
The computer moves to protect an army from capture. 

Push
The computer moves to push into an enemy-held territory.

Retreat
The computer moves to protect an army from being a victim of its opponent's
atari. 

Run From Edge
On row 2 or 3 only, build a wall extending out from the edge to prevent the
opponent from trapping the computer at the edge.  This requires one
neighboring opponent stone. 

Run To Edge
On row 2 or 3 only, build a wall to the edge to keep the opponent from
invading the computer's territory at the edge.  This requires one
neighboring opponent stone. 

Space Empty
Computer moves to the center of an area surrounded by at least one computer
stone and one opponent stone.  (Same as "Circle Shape", but covers a
slightly smaller circle)

Squeeze Run
The computer moves to help a small army from being surrounded by opponent
stones.  This move is designed to run toward the center of the board. 

Surround
In a close battle with few liberties left, the computer moves to surround an
opponent's army. 

Territory
The computer moves to an area where no other stones are present. 

Undercut
The computer moves to undercut an opponent stone on row 2 or 3 from the
edge. 


About Game Parameters

The Art of Go game parameters affect the way the program plays and affects
visual characteristics of the program as well.  They may be altered between
any two turns. 

The following is a listing of Game Parameters.

1st Libs Max
A threshold beyond which The Art of Go will stop counting primary liberties.
"1st Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses to select a
move. 

2nd Libs Max
A threshold beyond which The Art of Go will stop counting secondary
liberties. "2nd Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses
to select a move. 

3rd Libs Max
A threshold beyond which The Art of Go  will stop counting tertiary
liberties. "3rd Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses
to select a move. 

Blink Speed
This controls how quickly the last stone played blinks if the "blink last
stone" feature is selected.

Blink Times
This controls how many times a stone blinks when it is played by the
computer.

Crowded Area
A threshold that, when exceeded, indicates that a position on the game board
is crowded with other stones.  This threshold is compared against a count of
stones in a 5 x 5 square around a given position. 

Invade Value
A threshold that must be exceeded before The Art of Go will attempt a move
that invades an opponent's area. 

Komi
A value that is added to white's score at the end of a game to offset the
advantage that black has by moving first. 

Livable Area
A threshold of potential area that must be exceeded before The Art of Go
will attempt an invasion of area under the influence of opponent stones. 

Position
When The Art of Go is selecting a move it considers the resulting score and
the relative value of the position.  These two values are added together and
the sum is compared against the sum for other positions. "Position" is a
value that is multiplied against the value of a position before adding the
resulting score. This is to increase the influence of the value of a
position in the selection process. 

Replay Speed
Determines the minimum time, in 60ths of a second, that must pass before The
Art of Go takes the next sequential action from an open game file being
replayed. 

Search Time
Specifies the maximum time, in 60ths of a second, that The Art of Go may use
to play ahead as it searches for the best sequence of moves. 

Small Army
A threshold that, when exceeded, indicates an army's size is no longer
considered small, thus affecting computer strategy. 

Unplay Verify
A threshold that, when equaled or exceeded, causes a dialogue window to be
displayed to confirm that the operator really wants to unplay the indicated
number of stones.  This value is only valid if "Disable Unplay" in the
Stones menu is not selected. 


For More Information:

The following are suggested reading for novice Go players:

 - "The Way to Go" by Karl Baker, which we have included in The Art of Go
 - "Steppingstones to Go" by Shigemi Kishikawa
 - "Go for Beginners" by Kaoru Iwamoto
 - "In the Beginning" by Ikuro Ishigure
 - "Basic Techniques of Go" by Haruyama Isamu and Nagahara Yoshiaki
 - "The American Go Journal" published by the American Go Association
 - "Go World" published by Ishi Press

The American Go Association (AGA) is dedicated to the promotion of Go.  It
supports projects designed to encourage more people to learn about and enjoy
this remarkable game.  It provides assistance to clubs and players
everywhere. 

The AGA publishes the American Go Journal and Newsletter, maintains a
listing of sources for Go equipment and books, distributes annual listings
of all American clubs and AGA members, encourages and sanctions tournaments,
maintains computerized national rankings, organizes the annual US
Championship Matches, organizes tours by professional players, and manages
US participation in international Go events. 

Go players from all over the American continent and overseas belong to the
AGA.  For membership information you may contact:

American Go Association
Box 397, Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113


Technical Notes:

The Art of Go for the Commodore Amiga was compiled using optimized,
ANSII-Standard, Manx Aztec C, version 5.0.
