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Little Go app for iPhone and iPad


4.8 ( 8528 ratings )
Games Board Strategy
Developer: Patrick Näf Moser
Free
Current version: 1.7.1, last update: 1 year ago
First release : 23 Dec 2011
App size: 32 Mb

Little Go is a free and open source iOS application that lets you play the game of Go on the iPhone or iPad. You can play against another human (on the same device), or against the computer. The computer player is powered by the open source software library Fuego (http://fuego.sf.net/). The minimum requirement for running this version of Little Go is iOS 9.0.

Features:
- Board sizes between 7x7 and 19x19 (start a new game to change the board size)
- Let the computer player suggest a move or immediately play the move for you
- Calculate the score at any time during the game (area scoring is the default, territory scoring can be selected at the start of a new game)
- Adjust the computers playing strength and resign behaviour by selecting from a number of presets, or by fine-tuning advanced settings
- Play even games, or games with 2-9 handicap stones (fixed stone placement)
- Select from 5 pre-defined rulesets when you start a new game, or adjust game rules to your preference (komi, ko rule, area/territory scoring system, number of passes to end game, resume play by alternating/non-alternating play, four passes end game)
- Place arbitrary black and white stones for initial board setup before a game starts
- View board positions for moves played earlier during the game (no support for game variations, though)
- Discard moves (aka "undo")
- Display move numbers and coordinate labels
- Zoom & scroll board
- Create and edit board and move annotations (e.g. good/bad move, good position for black/white, etc.) and add textual notes to a position
- Mark intersections on the board with symbols, markers and labels, and draw arrows or lines on the board
- Display player influence (aka territory statistics) for an estimate who owns an area
- Computer vs. computer game for entertainment
- Save & load games to/from the archive
- Use iTunes file sharing to transfer saved games to/from your iOS device
- Import/export game files from/to other apps on your device (e.g. Mail, DropBox)
- In-app user manual (text-only)
- Submit bug report email from inside the app (yes, this *is* a feature :-))
- For the technically inclined: Watch what happens behind the scenes when Little Go and Fuego talk to each other over the Go Text Protocol (GTP)

Your contribution in any form (coding, UI design, testing, bug reports, creating an app video preview, website design) is welcome - please contact me or visit the support website to find out more.

A note about the project state: Several years of development have gone into Little Go since its inception in January 2011. The app now has a feature set that is, I believe, quite nice :-) for a free program. My main focus therefore lies on fixing any remaining bugs (of which I am sure there are plenty) and keeping the app running under future versions of iOS.

Little Go is released under the Apache License 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).

Pros and cons of Little Go app for iPhone and iPad

Little Go app good for

Very good app for begginer like me who does not need an expensive pro app. Fuego is largely strong enough for me. Open source rocks! Thanks à lot!
Thank you for the great fuego skin for the iPhone. Will you offer a oss chess as well?
Really nice implementation of the Go boardgame. No advertising, good difficulty! Thanks
My first comment was wrong, made a mistake Sorry. This is a nice implementation of GO
Dear Patrick, thanks a lot for offering this App on the App store. I tried some of the very few Apps that there are for Go, but only this one was really convincing. It is possible to configure all standard rules and board sizes. The grafics look nice and especially it is really fun to play. This is probably (next to email and photo) my most frequently used App. If i could make a wish for improving the App i would wish, that there should be a "solve go problems" modus.
Very Nice app! Please bring back the offset to place stones without magnifying glass!

Some bad moments

Im a GO beginner so I was looking for a simple game to learn how to play. So I cant speak to how well the computer algorithms match up to advanced players. But I can say that after a week Ive removed the game because figuring out how to pass, score, start new games, replay plays, etc is difficult and, once its figured out, not very convenient.
The AI will play moves that are not allowed. If the human player makes the same move the game will not allow it
The computer is quick and decisive and its free... Its rare enough to find an app for go, rarer still for it to be free. Only problem is, touch calibration is pretty off, fix that and its a 5/5
Yes, finally an actual GO game and not Reversi or GoMoku! :) I must also agree with the comment below about the touch detail.
I have searched and searched for a free go app with a solid ai and all the board sizes! I think its even better than the pay go apps!
0.7.0 crashed a lot, but 0.7.1 hasnt crashed on me yet. The stone not appearing under your finger is configurable in settings, but I prefer the default. This and "Aya Go Free" are the best two free iOS apps.