Batoo

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Batoo is a Korean variant of the board game Go. The name stems from a combination of the Korean words baduk (“Go”) and juntoo (“battle”). It is played entirely in cyberspace, and differs from Go in a number of ways, most noticeably in the way in which certain areas of the board are worth different point values. The other principal difference is that both players place three stones before the game begins, and may also place a special “hidden stone”, which affects the board as a regular stone but is invisible to the opponent. It was launched in November 2008. [1]

Go variants abstract strategy game

There are many variations of the simple rules of Go. Some are ancient digressions, while other are modern deviations. They are often side events at tournaments, for example, the U.S. Go Congress holds a "Crazy Go" event every year.

Go (game) Abstract strategy board game for two players

Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. A 2016 survey by the International Go Federation's 75 member nations found that there are over 46 million people worldwide who know how to play Go and over 20 million current players, the majority of whom live in East Asia.

Korean language Language spoken in Korea

The Korean language is an East Asian language spoken by about 80 million people. It is a member of the Koreanic language family and is the official and national language of both Koreas: North Korea and South Korea, with different standardized official forms used in each territory. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County of Jilin province, China. Historical and modern linguists classify Korean as a language isolate; however, it does have a few extinct relatives, which together with Korean itself and the Jeju language form the Koreanic language family. This implies that Korean is not an isolate, but a member of a micro-family. The idea that Korean belongs to the controversial Altaic language family is discredited in academic research. Korean is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax.

Contents

Gameplay

Batoo is usually played on an 11x11 board, although some games may take place on boards as large as 13x13. Boards in Batoo usually have plus-point and minus-point spots. When a player plays on these spots, they will either gain or lose five points. Different "maps" will have different plus-point locations and minus-point locations. Before the game begins, both players place a "base build", consisting of three marked stones. When players are making their base-builds, they cannot see their opponent's base build. If there is any overlap, a minus-point will replace the pair of stones. Base stones are worth 5 points each, as opposed to a normal stone which is worth only 1.

The player who starts is the one who makes the highest bid of points to their opponent for the privilege. This process is also known as "turn-betting". Once the base-building and the turn-betting end, both players have 25-second intervals to make each move. For every stone on the board, a player will gain 1 point. If a player takes more than 25 seconds to make their move, they lose 2 points (unless a 'special ability' character is used) and a new 25-second interval begins. If more than 3 25-second intervals are taken by any player during the game, that player loses the game. The territory each player has at the end of the game is then added to the score.

Hidden stone

The most unusual aspect about Batoo is the Hidden Stone. Once per game, every player may play a Hidden Stone instead of a normal stone. The Hidden Stone is not revealed to the opponent until they play a move where the Hidden Stone is located or until they locate it with a scan. A player may play a "scan" for 2 points, where they click a spot on the board and discover whether or not the Hidden Stone is on it. The player may make a normal or hidden stone move following the scan.

Characters, special abilities, and customization

A player can select one of three characters that grant the player special abilities. A fourth character can be bought using the in-game currency. The players can also buy different color substitutes for black stones [dark red, dark green, dark violet, dark blue] and can also buy different-looking boards with different themes with the in-game currency.

Ranking

Player ability in Batoo is determined by "levels". Learners start at level 5, and can progress up to level 35.

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References

  1. Fairbairn, John; Hall, T. Mark (2009). The Go Companion: Go in History and Culture. Slate & Shell. p. 73. ISBN   9781932001433.