Another vote for the wonderful and under-appreciated game of Go. Only takes a few miutes to learn the basic rules, and half an hour to learn everything there is to know about how to play. But learning how to play well and win will take a lifetime, and the game gets more fascinating the more you experience its intricacies and delights.
Yahoo has a very poor reputation among Go players. Too many obnoxious kids there. The best online servers are probably IGS and KGS.
But finding a real-life Go club is best, for the reasons given above. If you’re willing to give your location I’m sure someone can tell you where your nearest club is.
These are great suggestions. Thanks!
If you’re looking for two-person games, what about the old standbys? Chess, checkers, Backgammon, Card Games, Scrabble, Boggle etc.
One game that a friend and I played all summer was the word game Giotto, which doesn’t require more than a couple of pads and pens. It’s basically the same game as MasterMind, but with words:
I just ordered the Nintendo DS with Brain Age and Big Brain Academy for MrTee’s birthday. I’m going to look into the other games, espeically ones we can play together, for Chanukkah. I’m very psyched.
Giotto sounds very interesting. We like word games.
Another vote for weiqi (Go).
If you want to play but don’t have the time to sit and play for an hour or more online, go to DGS. Turn based so you don’t have to be online all the time. Start with some 9x9 games and move from there. I play there as Silas. I’ve heard enough good things about little golem that I’ll be there shortly too.
Igowin is a great little program that improves as you do. Aya is another one but plays on a full goban (19x19).
onegaishamasu
Another vote for Go. It is a great game though the learning curve can get to some people. I would highly recommend two things for Go.
First, the Go software out there isn’t all that good and it plays very different than real humans*, so playing against real humans is a good idea. No one has yet figured out how to program Go very well and the strongest program out there is supposedly about 1 K if I recall correctly. 1 K is an intermediate rank. The problem is that the Go software is very good at a couple things, like races and killing stones, that don’t happen all that often in real Go. They tend to suck at some other aspects. If you play against software all the time it can skew your playing because it can make you focus on a local fight while ignoring the whole board. So playing against real people is a very good idea. There are some decent Go servers out there. I used to play on IGS and it was usually a fine place to play.
Second, if you are going to do Go get at least one book. I recommend ‘Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go’, by Kageyama Toshiro. It is a good book for beginners and covers the fundamentals (suprise!) very well.
The beauty of Go, at least for me, is that it made me think differently. It is a great game.
Slee
I am not all that good (1 or 2 Kyu when I was playing alot) but I used to play against Many Faces of Go quite often. After a while I figured out what it would do and could beat it on a fairly high level compared to my actual strength. My Dad, who is like a 1 Dan, just owned Many Faces. He’d just destroy it.
[QUOTE=sleestak]
First, the Go software out there isn’t all that good and it plays very different than real humans*, so playing against real humans is a good idea. No one has yet figured out how to program Go very well and the strongest program out there is supposedly about 1 K if I recall correctly.
Weaker than that. Don’t confuse the claims of Go software writers with the truth.
Be aware that this is *not *a beginners’ book (it doesn’t explain the rules). It’s written for those who already know the rules and want to know how to play above the beginner level. Kageyama’s “fundamentals” are basic tactical and strategic principles, not the rules of the game.
That’s the point I was trying to make above. Computer programs are much weaker if you know you’re playing a computer. The claims for the strength of most Go programs are based on playing them on online Go servers where it isn’t obvious that they aren’t human players.
BTW, I’ve been playing Go for 30 years and am 3 dan. (This is not intended as bragging, it’s just so you know where I’m coming from in this debate.)
Oops. My first comment (Weaker than that…) was accidentally included in the quote box.
Agreed. I can beat most any software that I’ve come across on a full board and I’m around a 12-14 kyu.
Alive at Both Ends, did you get many friends hooked on the game? I’m trying to get people hooked but some people (my wife included) just don’t want to bother with the game. Especially if it means you have to put time in to learn to play well.
That’s pretty much been my experience as well. But I have taught the rules to many people who have showed an interest at my local club - including one who went on to become the writer of one of the world’s top Go software programs.
I don’t think trying to “convert” people to Go really works. You have to publicise the game and wait for people to approach you, not the other way around. Bear in mind that it can be a long wait.
You start with an armadillo, a small amount of cash, some building materials you can purchase, and a goal you have to get the armadillo into. You’ve got to stay under budget and build a contraption that will get your armadillo into the goal, and keep it there for a minimum of (I think) three seconds. The first few tut levels are easy, but it gets very hard, very quickly. It’s great to play alone, or to have a friend or two helping with, it really benefits from having more than one mind working at it. The demo is free, but the full game is cheap as chips.
And it’s mad fun, when you get fed up with the whole thing, to just fill the screen with rockets and make them explode everywhere. 
I would like to second this. I am an English-nerd but I do about 3-4 crossword puzzles a day (well, attempt to) when I was working. Now that I’m at home full-time until school starts, I only get about 1-2 a day, but they are addicting.
Plus, you get to use all those odd words in your everyday vocabulary, making you sound extra smart! heh
Brendon
How about Texas Hold’em? A great mixture of probability, and psychology, poker has incredible depth the more you get into it.