The British Go Association (BGA) took a stand at the first ever combined London Anime and Gaming Convention on Sunday February 9 at the Rocket Complex, part of the London Metropolitan University. It was expected that some anime fans would have a passing familiarity with go from Hikaru No Go and might like to learn more about the game.
The demo was the initiative of BGA member Ben Murphy of Billaricay Go Club, Essex, who first made contact with the London Animecon and ran a stand there at the August event last year with Tony Atkins (see Go Goes To London AnimeCon, EJ 08/02/13 ). This year BGA VP and AGA member Francis Roads provided a dan-level presence.
They showed people how to play, then engaged them in a 9 x 9 game. Roger Huyshe, the BGA’s seller of books and equipment, provided them with starter go sets with combined 9 x 9 and 13 x 13 boards and copies of the book Teach Yourself Go, by Charles Matthews, and they sold three sets and four books. One man who bought both said he was in the Navy and was looking forward to teaching and playing with his shipmates.
“I really enjoyed doing the demo and I played a few games against Francis Roads and it was an amazing experience teaching people,” said Murphy, adding, “I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone at London Anime and Gaming Convention and the British Go Association for helping me with the demo. Many people enjoyed playing go and I think we made a good number of go fans during the day.”
Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal. Graphic courtesy London Animecon.
