Strategy games should be fun!
Play go against the World Champion Program, with great graphics. It keeps track of your record and playing strength and has an on-line manual with history of go, where to buy books and equipment, etc. It plays competitively from 18 kyu to 1 kyu, so almost any player can play interesting games without handicaps. It learns from its mistakes, so every game is different.
This is free copyrighted software. You may give it away or sell it. I encourage others to link to this web page for download. You are not allowed to modify it, and if you make copies, you must include all of the component files. You are not allowed to create a key generation program.
The free evaluation includes the 18 kyu go player, an sgf reader, the go tutorial, go manual, samples of the joseki and fuseki tutors, and the first go problem set. To unlock all of the features, you can buy a registration, which entitles you to registration keys for all of your current or future computers.
You can check out some of its games on KGS. Version 12 plays under the user name ManyFaces in the social room "Computer Go".
In 2006 and 2007 a new breakthrough algorithm for computer go (Monte Carlo Tree Search), was developed in France. This new approach plays thousands of pseudorandom games each second, and collects statistics on the moves to choose where to play. With very little go knowledge, this algorithm can beat any of the traditional, knowledge-based, go programs. However the playing style of this new algorithm is strange. Many Faces of Go, version 12 is the only program to combine the new search algorithm with the go knowledge from a traditional program. This led to over 5 stones increase in playing strength. At the 2008 ICGA world championship, the pure Monte Carlo programs beat all of the traditional programs, and Many Faces of Go version 12 beat all of the Monte Carlo and traditional programs.
This is an installation file that includes the full program, help files, and small, trial data files.
If you already have The Many Faces of Go 12 installed on your computer, you need to uninstall it first. Use Control Panel Add/Rmove Programs on XP, or Control Panle Programs and Features on Vista, and look for "The Many Faces of Go 12". Your rating, saved files, and Registration code will be preserved. If you are upgrading from a very early version with a ten character code (xxxxx-xxxxx), you will hve to email me for a new code.
After you download, run it, and it will install the files in C:\Program Files\Many Faces of Go 12. When you run it, it will give you a computer ID and ask for a registration key and your name. You can buy a license for the program at the link below. When you buy it, put your computer ID and name in the PayPal message (or send an email with the computer ID to fotland@smart-games.com), and I'll email you a registration key for your computer and name. Each purchase entitles you to registration keys for all of your computers, at any time, and replacement keys if you upgrade your computer or operating system. When you upgrade you will be prompted to downlaod an installer for the full program data files.
If you like Go, you will also like Arimaa, a new two player strategy game. I've written the world champion computer arimaa program. Click here to download a free trial verision.
Information about The Many Faces of Go