Page:Smith - The game of go.djvu/50

 24 that Casino chips are the best substitute for the Japanese stones.

Originally the board used for the game of Go was not so large, and the intersecting lines in each direction were only seventeen in number. At the time of the foundation of the Go Academy this was the size of board in use. As the game developed the present number of lines became fixed after trial and comparison with other possible sizes. Korschelt made certain experiments with the next possible larger size in which the number of lines in each direction was twenty-one, and it seemed that the game could still be played, although it made necessary the intellect of a past master to grasp the resulting combinations. If more than twenty-one lines are used Korschelt states that the combinations are beyond the reach of the human mind.

In closing the description of the board it may be interesting to point out that the game which we call “Go Bang” or “Five in a Row,” is played on what is really a Japanese Go board, and the word “Go Bang” is merely another phonetic imitation of the words by which the Japanese designate their board. I have found, however, that the “Go Bang” boards sold in the stores in this country are an imitation of the original Japanese “Go ban,” and have only seventeen lines, and are therefore a little too small for the game as now played. The game which we call “Go Bang” also originated in Japan, and is well known and still played there. They call it “Go Moku Narabe,” which means to arrange five “Me,” the word “Go” in this case meaning “five,” and “Moku” being the alternative way of pronouncing the ideograph for eye. “Go Moku Narabe” is often played by good Go players, generally