Let’s ‘Go’! Columbia City all-ages/family-friendly meetup

We play/learn* 围棋(wěiqí)/i“go”/baduk together! The cohosts usually bring boards and stones but you are welcome to bring your own. (There is always a board stored at Bananas that you can ask for at the counter, should your fingers itch for stones between meetups.)

This meetup is cohosted by a lifetime member of the Seattle Go Center, which was started by Iwamoto Kaoru to spread international peace and understanding: https://www.seattlego.org

What is go? Go is a zero luck yet very aesthetic/spatial two-player game (though we at Bananas like every chance to pair up into two teams to play with extra chaos and humor). https://www.seattlego.org/history-of-go/

*Part of the beauty of go, is that we are always learning. We are happy to teach/share what we know, and play with you! All skill levels and ages welcome. The game has lasted thousands of years for a reason (and remained a holy grail for AI until 2016, two decades after chess).
We also have folks who just come for the company/conversation/food, and one who plays amazingly without ever learning the rules 😅

With a free meetup account I can only create 2/4-5 weekly events each month, capped at 10 people. Please feel free to use the waitlist feature to let us know to expect you and/or just plan to come! We have historically consistently (95%+) maintained a weekly presence, and will communicate otherwise.

Ethos & pathos:
This meetup was inspired in memory of our friend John ‘Boy’ Richards, who ran weekly outreach at Couth Buzzard consistently with a wide smile, gentle humor, and passion for his late to life ‘calling’ of teaching go. John was a friendly and welcoming anchor both at Couth Buzzard on Thursdays, and the Seattle Go Center Tuesdays and Saturdays. We hope to create at the Bananas meetup a similar space where the day and world can fade into the background a bit for you, to allow into the foreground joy, contentment and/or connections.