YMI Magnetic 19x19 Go Game Set, 14.6 in

Purchased as gift. My adult son loved it. Especially appreciated the magnetic board that may help prevent lost pieces.

Purchased it for learning Go and considering the immense depth that this game provides, assuming one may or may not like to play it; this is a reasonably priced product that you won't regret getting. Quality wise it's not of heavy quality but the board and go-ishi (convex) are solid build. Instruction manual that comes with it is also very in-depth; though I would recommend watching some videos for deeper understanding and tactics. Go is a very complex game and often seen as more complex than Chess. Give it a go if this is your cup of tea. Also for beginners, start with 9x9 area on the board as bigger size would make game really long (+1 hour).

I give this product 4 and a half stars. First, the product concept is extraordinary for this price range. Upon opening the box and taking out the go board, I see the folded board and the quality seems very high for a $23 board. The inside of the board has upper and lower groves to keep the plastic containers holding the stones snuggly in place. The board does click closed together but I would have preferred there to be a clasp of some sort to securely keep the board closed even if I decided to toss this board in the back seat of my car or if it were to fall to the ground while I'm driving. The magnetic surface is well made but it scratches easily from the magnets attached to the bottom of the pieces which isn't a big deal for this price point. The board does not lay perfectly flat however and there is a minor separation and rise in the middle of the board where the two pieces meet but it's very minor so you won't notice it unless if you were purposefully looking for imperfections. The stones are probably my biggest complaint. About 15 to 20 percent of the pieces had magnets on them which were not on the pieces perfectly flat. This caused me to have to apply pressure to them one by one in order to have the magnets on correctly. I hate extra work so I found this annoying but at least there is a simple fix. The magnets look snug enough into the prices so that I couldn't imagine them falling out of the pieces. The prices themselves feel a little too small for me and are awkward to hold when placing the stones but for a travel set at this price point it's hard to complain. All in all a great go board for the road or for use at windy outdoor locations. Great for kids as well but would not recommend this board for your main board to use at home because the pieces are too small to hold easily with any kind of satisfying click.

Nice little go set for learning. You probably couldn't do much better for the price, but there are a few signs of cheap. My surface had a few marks out of the box, the sticker isn't -perfectly- aligned. Some of the stones took a little work to get apart, some of the magnets need to pushed back into the slots (where they stayed great once in place), some have fiddly bits of plastic hanging off, but overall nice. Others have said it, but thank goodness for the nice firm snap of the board to hold the stones (the containers themselves don't snap shut, so if the board opened, it'd be chaos). Little slots inside to hold the containers into place so they don't bounce around. The magnets aren't strong enough to make it tough to move them, but stay in place really well when the board is jostled around. Only possible gripe for me is that I wish there was some padding to hold the board in place a little better on surfaces (but you could just throw some moleskin or something on it to the same effect). Also, a little booklet jammed in there with instructions on how to count, the rules, maybe handicap methods, that sort of thing, would bump up the value of this board for me. It's nothing too hard to learn, but I didn't realize I don't remember how to count a physical board until I finished my first game! If you need a nice set, good sound, real stones, any of that, spring for a good set. I just need one to have one, and one I won't feel bad about forgetting in someone elses car or a hotel, so this works great for me. EDIT DEC 2018: bumping this up to 5 stars. This set has bounced around the backset of my car, been crushed under books, put through some crap and still lived. I constantly find stones in my laundry and on the ground and still never run out. I still wish I would have bought a real set, and would still say a person should probably buy a real set as their first set, but I'd be lying if I said this set isn't perfect for what it is.

Great product

This portable go/baduk/weiqi set is perfect for actually playing the game. It comes with everything you need, including containers with lids for storing the pieces. Packs up nicely and feels sturdy. The 14.6 inch board and pieces are big enough to hold comfortably and see clearly; I personally find smaller ones are too small. It's attractive yet unpretentious, just small enough to easily carry around in a typical bag yet just big enough to feel like a "full sized" implementation of the game. Perfect for everyday use!

This is the second time I've bought "this" product (quotes intentional). The first time I purchased, Yellow Mountain Imports fulfilled my order. I received the product in a timely manner, and it was exactly as pictured here. The board is large for a travel board, making it great if you just want a decent board for home (or for work to play at lunch time) with magnetic pieces so they don't scatter easily. I'd only had it a week and only played with it a few times, but I decided I wanted a second (one for home, one for work). The second time I purchased, Asian Home Outlet fulfilled my order. I received a different board entirely. It is about two thirds the size of the one pictured here, and the stones are about the size of a thumbtack (the head, not the sharp part). This board is actually much more suited for traveling as it almost seems to snap shut instead of being loosely open like the larger one. In addition to its smaller size, the smaller board appears to stay shut fairly well, making it even more suited for travel than the larger counterpart which will slide open of its own accord. I was rather disappointed upon receiving this second one as I was looking for two large boards - one to leave at work for lunch time and one to leave at home. I gave this product a three star rating simply for the surprise in not knowing what I was getting this second time around. Nonetheless, the smaller board looks like it's great if you ARE looking for a travel board. In conclusion, if you want the larger board pictured here (and I can't guarantee that they won't send you something else) specifically choose your order to come from Yellow Mountain Imports. If you're looking for a smaller board more suited to travel, purchase from Asian Home Outlet.

Really liked the board so far. It folds in half and has these two tubs that hold the go pieces. We use the lids to collect enemy captures. The stones are magnetic, so they stick to the board really well. The problem lies in taking pieces off the board, my hands are pretty big so i mess up positions sometimes while removing stones that are captured. Besides that, since the board is magnetic it can sometimes track dirt or rocks that are magnetic and it kind of keeps itself dirty. Though I could probably do better on that part myself. Besides that, I really like it and fully recommend it to anyone who enjoys a really fun board game. Provided you have someone to play with. Another thing, if you're a beginner and want to do more speedy games because a full board game takes me and my friend like an hour, get a smaller board like a 9x9 or 12x12 board size. The full-size board which is standard 19x19 (this one) isn't as noob friendly, but it does provide the full scope of the game. Cheers and good games.

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Full-size 19x19 board, locks nicely flat when opened. Stones well-made, storage containers tight and lock into circular frames inside the board. Three very minor bits of wistfulness rather than complaints. (1) It would be nice to have the 9x9 (at least) and 13x13 layouts chalked out on the board. [Such a board is available from YMI, which I also bought]. (2) The magnets are not *quite* strong enough to prevent a bit of sliding around, I suspect if you folded it and took it for a drive the floor would be scattered with little black and white stones. (3) For my course in Evolutionary Genetics, I had hoped that the stones would stick to each other only back to back, and with sufficient force to stay together. This allows simulations of 'bean bag genetics', where appropriate numbers of B & W alleles (stones) should come together at random to simulate Hardy-Weinberg proportions. Also, a sack can be seeded with an excess number of BB or WW combos, so as to simulate inbreeding, populations structure, F-statistics, and chance deviation. The stones are not quite able to do this, although I continue to experiment. [I do play Go, but this was my real reason for buying a magnetic set. So it goes]. 4) Many many years ago I read a magazine story about Go. Inspired, I laid out a 19x19 grid in pencil on a piece of pine board, and got a couple of sheets of black or white mosaic pieces at the craft store. Held on to it until my father moved into independent living. Wonder if anyone still has it?

Mooi product

Fun simple game, build quality is good for the price. Great to play for any circumstance. All kit folds into the board when done so is very convenient

Das magnetische Go-Brett ist ideal für Anfänger und als Einstieg geeignet, da das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis im Vergleich zu anderen Go-Brettern absolut in Ordnung ist. Man bekommt ausreichend Steine, die ebenfalls magnetisch sind. Theoretisch könnte man also sogar unterwegs im Auto spielen – was ich allerdings nicht empfehlen würde. Fällt nämlich einmal die Steinschale herunter, sucht man bei 180 Steinen ewig, und einige davon findet man vermutlich nie wieder. Das wäre dann ziemlich problematisch. Trotzdem ist es sehr praktisch, dass das Brett magnetisch ist und alle Magnete zuverlässig funktionieren. Ich kann dieses Produkt daher uneingeschränkt weiterempfehlen. Es ist solide verarbeitet, auch wenn es vollständig aus Kunststoff besteht. Doch in Anbetracht des Preises und der Ausstattung mit Magneten findet man so schnell nichts Vergleichbares. Ich habe außerdem zwei weitere Bretter derselben Firma bestellt – eines für chinesisches und eines für japanisches Schach – ebenfalls magnetisch und ebenfalls solide verarbeitet. Damit lässt sich hervorragend trainieren. In jedem Fall: eine klare Kaufempfehlung.