Gonnect
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Gonnect is an abstract strategy board game invented by João Pedro Neto in 2000. The game is played with standard go equipment, and basically uses the same rules as go, however the goal of the game is to construct a group that connects any two opposite sides. Gonnect belongs to the family of games commonly called connection games; its relatives include Hex and Havannah.
The game is usually played on a 13x13 or 15x15 board. All the rules of go apply, except passing is not allowed. A player loses if they have no legal moves. The pie rule is used to determine who goes first.
Games between skilled players often end up temporarily deadlocked, since the square go board allows a "four corners" configuration where neither side can strongly connect. However, since players can't pass, they eventually must start filling in the internal liberties of their groups. The player who has made the smallest amount of territory usually loses first, so building more territory than your opponent is a means of forcing a connection and winning.
Thus, a Gonnect game between similarly skilled opponents generally unfolds in two stages:
- The board-filling stage where opponents race to connect sides until the position is deadlocked.
- The eye-filling stage where opponents must fill in their own eye space or destroy their opponents.
Although it requires similar tactics as Go, some players feel that Gonnect has a more interesting opening and endgame than Go.
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