Promoting Go in the UK and beyond
BGA Software Catalogue
|
programs that play Go; internet clients and servers; McMahon draw programs; viewers and editors of Go game records; databases for Go game records; tools & fonts for Go diagrams; text about Go; miscellaneous |
The items listed here are all freeware or shareware. Some are in the BGA's collection, and some are on other web sites.
If an item is in the BGA's collection, its size is given in green; if not, it is given in black, or omitted.
Those from the BGA's collection which are programs for Dos or Windows are ZIP files. You will need PKZip, WInZip, or a similar product to use these.
Some items from the BGA's collection are programs for Mac. These all have extension .sit.hqx. You will need Stuffit Expander to decompress these. There is another list of Mac Programs.
Links that directly link to the software itself are labelled: *name*
Note that some of them are shareware, so if you decide to keep them you should pay for them.
The AGA's list of Go Software has some details of programs for other platforms (eg Linux).
The gobase.org site has a list of software sorted by platform.
Reviews of some of these programs are in the BGA Go Software Reviews
Note: we have not verified that the email addresses of authors are current and correct.
| Name | OS | File size | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIGO | Palm 3 | 171Kb |
By Atsushi Iizuka. Shareware, $8. |
| Atari-Go | Palm | 10Kb |
Plays a form of atari-Go (first capture Go) on a 10x10 board. By Tapani Raiko. Free |
| Augos | Dos | 211Kb |
By Joachim Pimiskern. Not strong. Uses AI techniques. Version 6.0 Free |
| Windows | 327Kb | ||
| Dariush | Windows | 1.8Mb | A Go program by Frdric Boissac and Eric Marchand. It’s interface can also be used to play against a number of other Go playing programs, study joseki or solve problems. The free version available for download only plays on a 13×13 board. |
|
Explorer | Mac | 430Kb |
By
Martin Müller. Recommended Mac program Described here. Free since October 2001. |
| *CW* | Dos | 186Kb |
A Go program by Colin Walker. version 2.0 $60 |
| *EZ-Go* | Dos | 150Kb |
Cut-down version of Bruce Wilcox's EGO (described in BGJ 100).
Go-playing program with personalities. Recommended Free; for $25 or £18 you can get the full EGO program. |
| *Fungo* | Windows | 3.9Mb |
By Yong-Goo Park. Plays well (for a program), but slowly. This is like the full commercial version of Fungo, except that you are restricted in the number of times you can play it. Free. |
| Gnugo 3.6 |
Unix (and Mac OS X), Linux, Windows |
Current version of GnuGo for Unix, Linux and Windows, by the Free Software Foundation. Version 3.6 (much stronger than previous versions) Free, includes source code | |
| *Gnugo 3.2* (Mac) and *source*. | Mac (Classic) | 950K |
By Hideyuku Fujiwara. Official website. C source available. Version 3.2 Described here. |
| Gnugo | Windows CE 3.0 |
24Kb (v1.2.0) 720Kb (v2.6.2) | By Ivan Davtchev. Each version is available as source code, or compiled for StrongARM, MIPS, or SH3. Version 2.6.2 plays much better, but needs up to 4Mb of memory. |
| Goban | Mac OS X | 6.2Mb |
Version 42.
Acts as a front end for GnuGo version 3.2.
Uses SGF format.
Can also be used as an internet Go client. Recommended Mac OS X program. Described here. |
|
Go game machine (Japanese) *Go game machine* English-language version | Windows | 832Kb |
From the Nihon Ki-in, and Tei Meikou 9p.
Plays only on a 9x9 board.
Reasonably strong. Very fast.
Intended as an introduction to Go, particularly for children.
Recommended Use is free, the Nihon Ki-in retain the copyright. |
| GoKnot | Windows | 1.3Mb |
Acts as a front end for GnuGo.
Also an SGF editor and internet Go client. |
| Go169 | Palm OS 5 | 37.7Kb | Go playing program from Tapani Reiko in Finland. Replaces Go81. |
|
HandTalk 9*9 version | Dos | 1355Kb | A version of Professor Chen Zhixing's HandTalk, the program which was 1997 FOST world computer Go champion. This version plays only on a 9-by-9 board. |
| *Igo* | Dos | 427Kb |
Free 9*9 version of David Fotland's Many Faces of Go. Recommended as the best free introduction to Go for those who have Dos but not Windows. Includes an introductory tutorial about Go. Now includes the GOVIEW program for viewing games in Ishi format. No version number. Dated 1995. Free |
| Igowin | Windows | 786Kb |
Free 9*9 version of David Fotland's Many Faces of Go.
Strongly recommended as the best free introduction to Go for those
who have Windows.
Includes an introductory tutorial about Go.
Supersedes Igo, above. Version 1.0. Dated 1998. Free |
| *Lumpy* | Mac | 376Kb |
A simple Go-playing program, based on Wally. Described here. |
| Many Faces of Go | Windows | - |
Demo version of David Fotland's program Version 11 |
| *Minimago* | Java | 156Kb |
Free 9*9 version of ImaGo by Robert Rehm Described in BGJ 98 version 1.0 |
| Moyoman | Dos | 650Kb | An open source project aiming to develop a dan-strength program |
| *Peirson* | Dos | 153Kb |
Shareware Go-playing program by Steve Peirson Version 1 £14.95 personal; £30 club |
| Peter's Go | Windows | 220Kb |
Shareware Go-playing program by Peter Raffelsberger Version 3 is English Different board-sizes and levels of difficulty |
| Quickie Go | Mac | 1.6Mb |
A nice 68k- and Power- mac interface to the Gnugo playing engine by Jeremy Harris. Free (Open Source) |
| SmartGo | Windows/Vista | 12Mb | Free 15 day trial, then becomes Viewer only, version 2.6 of SmartGo. By Anders Kierulf. |
| *Star of Poland* | Dos | 108Kb |
Free version of Janusz Kraszek's Star of Poland. Only plays 50 moves version 4.0 That email address does not work. But nor does any other. |
| *SW1* | Dos | 20Kb |
Free, cheap-and-cheerful, go-playing program Good if you want something small and simple |
| *TMW* | Dos | 239Kb |
Shareware go-playing program by Tristan Wooster. version 5 $ 20 |
| *TurboGo* | Dos |
318Kb |
Shareware Go-playing program by Arnoud van der Loeff. Includes an
English-language tutorial. Recommended version 2.0 described in BGJ 94 25 guilders |
| Turbogo | 32-bit Windows | 1.14Mb |
Shareware Go-playing program by Arnoud van der Loeff.
Includes an English-language tutorial. Recommended Version 5.0 (released 2000-08-20) 25 guilders |
| *Wally* | Dos - any | 39Kb |
A simple Go-playing program by W.H.Hewman, with C source. described in BGJ94 Free |
| WinHonte | Windows | 229Kb |
By Fredril Dahl. From JellyFish AS in Norway, publishers of the leading backgammon program, Jellyfish. Free for download, but not re-distributable. "WinHonte uses several different neural nets for different tasks. Some nets are trained from self-play, while others are trained from pro games. It also uses alpha-beta search to solve local well-defined problems like connectivity and life-and-death." |
| *Wulu* |
Windows 95, 98, NT. | 980Kb |
13x13 Go-playing program by Jimmy Lu (Lu Jinqiang).
Plays slowly. ver 1.88.01.99E Shareware Recommended |
| GoDraw V6 | Windows | 1Mb |
The latest version of Geoff Kaniuk's
program to run McMahon Tournaments. Used in most UK tournaments. Approved by the BGA If you use it, please consider a donation to the Castledine-Barnes Trust. |
| GoDrawD | Dos | 192Kb | Old version of GoDraw. Use the new version above instead. If you would like a copy of this version, please email Geoff Kaniuk. |
| MacMahon | Windows 95 or better | 172Kb |
Christoph Gerlach's program to run a McMahon draw. You must notify Christoph if you use it. |
| Dragon Go Server | Apache webserver, PHP | See also its Sourceforge project. | |
| Cgoban 1 | Unix, X11 | 336Kb |
An SGF viewer and editor by William M. Shubert. Supports the Go Modem Protocol. It is also a client for some Go servers. Free, includes source code. |
| Cgoban 3 | Java Virtual Machine | 6Mb |
Kiseido client only, by
William M. Shubert. It is also an SGF viewer and editor. Free, replaced cgoban2. |
| CompoGo | Windows | 865Kb |
SGF viewer, editor and database. Interfaces to GnuGo and Dragon Go Server. Free. |
| gGo | Java Virtual Machine | Full SGF editor and internet go client. By Peter Strempel. Free. | |
| Go for PalmOS | PalmOS | 14Kb | By Adorjan Kiss. An interface for playing and replaying Go on a Palm. Uses SGF format. |
| Go2000 | Windows | 1844Kb | By Changmei Hwung. Allows you to record games and positions, store them in a database, and index them on moves that you select. Uses SGF format. Shareware: $50 to register. |
| Goban770 |
Maemo (Nokia N770/N800) | 62Kb | Can be used to record and replay games. By Jarmo Ahosola. |
| GoBoard | Psion series 3a/c/mx | 11Kb | An "intelligent go board" for 2 players by Austin Wilkinson. It supports: saving of games (own format only); indefinite undo; prevents illegal moves; replays games; automatic removal of dead stones; score counting. |
| GoGoD95 | Windows | 188Kb |
A game record reader by
John Fairbairn.
Reads and writes SGF and Ishi format. |
| Go-Heaven | Windows | 500Kb |
By Markus Stahlberg. Supports SGF and Ishi forrmats. Available in English- and German-language versions. |
| *GoMax* | Dos | 153Kb |
Go Maximizer, by John Fairbairn.
Views game records in its own format. Comments, but no variations.
Only two game records included - others are charged for. version 2.0d |
| Gome | Java Mobile Phones and PDA. | 100Kb |
Records and replays game records, Go library, IGS client. English, French and Japanese. version 1.0 4.95 euro (7-day free trial). |
| Gomo | Mac (old 68k machines, PPC, and OS-X). | ? |
By Henk Eskes.
Records and replays SGF-4 game records. Supports comments and variations. version 0.95 Freeware |
| GoSuite |
Pocket Pc Smartphone | Game recording/editing and GNUGo interface by Ashley Nathan Feniello. | |
| GoView | Dos | Handles Ishi format game records. [ now incorporated in Igo ] | |
| Hibiscus | Windows | 1088Kb | By zjev ambagts. Uses SGF version 4, also Ishi format. Can produce RTF diagrams. |
| Jago | Java Virtual Machine. |
By Rene Grothmann. An SGF editor and internet go client. | |
| JiGo Replayer | Java Virtual Machine. | 741Kb |
By Dave Jarvis.
Displays SGF format games etc. Source code (java) also available from the same site. Version 2.0.82. |
| Miniban | Pocket PC |
By Sebastian Helm. Record and replay Go games with a Pocket PC. Free. | |
| MultiGo | Windows | 2Mb |
By Rui Jiang. MultiGo is designed to view/edit SGF records. Free. |
| *My Go Tutor* | Dos | 70Kb |
Displays games, problems, etc. in SGF format: the data files
normally supplied with MyGoTutor are not included, but supplied
separately as MGT-W. version 2.3 Described in BGJ 92 Free |
| PalmGo | Palm 2 | 21Kb |
Can be used to record and replay games. Also (formerly) known as GoBoard. Shareware: $8 |
| PilotGone | Palm Pilot | 31Kb |
By Brian Brunswick. Can be used to record and replay SGF game records. version 0.7.0 Free |
| PocketGo | Pocket PC with StrongARM processor |
Brian Dewey's SGF viewer
and editor. You can now add/delete/edit variations and comments.
Also has simple documentation in .LIT format. Free. | |
| *Pon Nuki* | Mac | 141Kb | Pon Nuki Go Viewer |
| qGo | Linux, Windows, Mac OS X | 2Mb | Written in C++, using the Qt library, by Peter Strempel and Johannes Mesa. Free. |
| *RP* | Dos & Windows | 182Kb |
Robert Parker's Go Programs, with C source.
These programs use Ishi-format data files. version 4.0 |
| *SGView* | Dos | 83Kb |
Torsten Harling's program for reading SGF format files. version 1.12 |
| Shodan | Mac OS X | Interactive study of games and problems. | |
| Smart Game Board | Mac | Uses SGF format. | |
| *Smart Go* | Mac | 464Kb | Uses SGF format. |
| stmgt | Atari ST | Available to members of gobase.org only. | |
| TI-Go | Texas Instruments TI-89 | 7Kb |
Two programs for the TI-89. One to record games in
Ishi format, the other to read them back and display them.
Available in English- and German-language versions
files. By Alexander Nittka |
| Went | Psion-EPOC32, Series 5, 5mx and Ericsson MC218. | 48Kb |
Reads and plays through games in SGF format.
No comments or variations. Now allows save and load. version 1.3.2. Free. Source will also be free. |
| WinMGT | Windows | 1.09Mb |
Windows version of My Go Tutor, written by Hui Huang Uses SGF format. version 0.87 $30 |
| *Yago* | Windows | 161Kb |
Windows program by
Denis Lambot,
to display game records. Handles both Ishi and SGF format. Now handles comments and variations, but not the current version of the format. version 0.9 beta. Free |
| *1739ch-i* |
requires any Ishi-format reader | 61Kb |
Ten commented professional chinese games from 1739. Posted to usenet by jzy.
(same games as 1739ch-m) Free |
| *djgames* | 605Kb | 883 uncommented professional games, provided by Dave Jarvis | |
| *japt-i* | 148Kb |
About 100 uncommented Japanese title games (same games as japt-m) Free | |
| *Ishi* | 141Kb |
Games etc.
Described in BGJ92 Free | |
| *Kyu-level games* | 209Kb |
Commented games involving kyu players. Free | |
| *1739ch-m* |
requires any SGF-format reader | 61Kb |
Ten commented professional chinese games from 1739. Posted to usenet by jzy.
(same games as 1739ch-i) Free |
| *japt-m* | 99Kb |
About 100 uncommented Japanese title games
(same games as japt-i) Free | |
| *various* | 678Kb |
Games etc. normally distributed with "My Go Tutor".
Described in BGJ 92 Free | |
| *reviews* | 755Kb |
More game records Free | |
| Arnoud's joseki tutor | Windows 95/98/NT + shockwave | ? |
by Arnoud van der Loeff,
the author of TurboGo above. A joseki database and tutor. |
| BIgo Assistant | Windows | 35Mb |
A populated fuseki and joseki database, built from over 24,000
game records and 340,000 variations. By ?. This "tiny" [sic] version is shareware, but disables itself after 50 runs unless you pay the fee of $35. |
| *GI Demo* | Windows? | 742Kb | Demonstration version of a database of Go games. Contains 100 recent professional games, which you can use it to play through. |
| Jacoto | any Java Virtual Machine | 53Kb |
"Java Collection Tool" Helps managing SGF-files. It displays their properties in a table and allows manipulating it in several ways. By Steffen Glückselig Free |
| Kogo's Joseki Dictionary | Any system with an SGF browser | 186Kb |
An SGF file containing a large variety of joseki. Free |
| kombilo | Any system with Python support. |
A Go database program. As supplied it is unpopulated (i.e. there are no game records in it), you populate it yourself with game records in SGF format. By Ulrich Goertz. Free. | |
| *15x15* | Windows | 81Kb |
Andrew Grant's GIF images for constructing diagrams of go boards in html.
Suitable for use with Simon Goss's GoFigs, below.
Each set includes 266 images of black and white stones numbered up to 100, empty points, lettered points, etc. The numbers 15x15 etc. refer to the size in pixels. |
| *19x19* | 92Kb | ||
| *27x27* | 113Kb | ||
| *39x39* | 150Kb | ||
| *55x55* | 191Kb | ||
| Corrinax Go Control | 32-bit Windows | 537Kb | A Go publishing tool, which generates high-quality Go diagrams in an unspecified format from SGF files. Free |
| GoEdit | Mac OS X | A diagram editor in ascii format with the Weiqi font. | |
| *GoFigs* | Windows | 23Kb | A simple and very useful program by Simon Goss. Version M2. It allows you to draw a Go position, and export the diagram as a bitmap (.BMP), as a Windows metafile (.WMF) or as HTML using small GIFs. The diagram may be full-board or any rectangular part of a board. Stones and points may be marked or numbered. Suitable for use with Andrew Grant's GIFs, above. |
| *GoFonts* | Windows | 82Kb | Robert F. Nutter's five Windows fonts for drawing Go diagrams. With instructions for installation and use. See also here. |
| *GoType* | Windows | 27Kb |
Andrew Grant's Go font for Windows.
Includes empty points, plain stones, marked stones, stones numbered
up to 100, and lettered points. Also instructions on use.
New version, 2001-02-28. |
|
SGF2DG (was SGF2TEX) | Unix or Dos |
Daniel Bump and Reid Augustin's tool for
converting SGF-format files to TeX. Version 3.0. | |
| *intergo* | any | 11Kb |
C source files, and documentation, for interfacing to Ishi-format files. Free |
| *text* | any | 328Kb |
Various text files from internet sources on Go, etc. Described in BGJ 92 Free |
| Arnoud's screensaver | Windows 95/98/NT | 359Kb | by Arnoud van der Loeff, the author of TurboGo above. When your PC is not in use, it plays through professional games on the screen. If the PC is in an office, this is a way of interesting your colleagues in Go. |
| *Bakaban* | Windows | 240Kb | Bakaban is a free Windows program, which allows you to play Go on a variety of surfaces (for example a torus or a klein bottle). Produced by David Bofinger. Review from BGJ 135. |
| BIgo OCR | ? | 848Kb |
BIgo OCR is a program for scan and recognition of Go diagrams
and fast manual input (linear input) of Go games. BIgo OCR is info-donationware. |
| *flips* | Windows | 358Kb |
Reverses Ishi-format game records that have been recorded the wrong way up.
Dos, Windows 32S, & Windows versions. Described in BGJ 94 Free |
| Goban Screensaver | Linux | 530Kb | Go screensaver for Linux. Free and open source. |
| *GoBase* | Dos | 204Kb |
Utilities from Dieter Garling
for converting file formats. E.g. converts
from SGF (=MyGoTutor) format to Ishi format. version 2 Described in BGJ 94 |
| goDummy | Unix? | Bill Shubert's user-interface to a Go-playing program. This is a complete Go-playing program, without the move-generating bit. So if you want to write your own Go-playing program for Unix, you can start with this and just write the interesting bit. It supports the Go Modem Protocol. | |
| GoGameOnline | Java phones, Symbian, Windows CE, Palm | Various problem collections for study on phones and hand held devices. Also available for Windows. | |
| *Gomoku* | Dos | 29Kb | Two programs to play gomoku |
| *Gomoku* | Windows | 45Kb |
Gomoku, by P.S.Neeley. Requires VBRUN300.DLL. version 1.0 $ 10 |
| *IGoNet* | Windows | 358Kb |
IgoNet, by David Atkinson, allows two players to play Go
over the net. version 2.0 |
| JText2Sgfs | any Java Virtual Machine | 4Kb |
A utility to extract SGF game records from from a single text file. By Steffen Glückselig Free |
| OpenGo | Windows, or Linux/Unix |
By Jeffrey Greenberg.
This is the source code for a Go-playing program, but
without the actual Go-playing engine. Thus, it allows
a would-be writer of a Go-playing program to get on
with the interesting bit, the actual move-generating
engine, while OpenGo handles the tedious stuff of
displaying the board on the screen, collecting the
user's mouseclick for where he wants to play,
supporting the Go Modem Protocol, etc. It does in
fact come with a few weak move-generating engines. Version 5.0. Free. | |
| *Procishi* | Windows | 17Kb |
A program by Steve Bailey,
for manipulating and rearranging game records in Ishi format. Version 3. |
| SGFsaver | Windows | 161Kb |
By Francois Mizessyn.
Screensaver for Windows that displays Go games. Free. |
| uliGo | Any system with Python support. |
A program to practice solving Go problems. By Ulrich Goertz. Free. | |
Last updated Tue Jul 15 2008. If you have any comments, please email the webmaster.