Yes! As of our last site update (September 16, 2025 1:00 AM CST), we are still meeting regularly. If we ever stop meeting regularly, this site will be updated to reflect that - and likely deleted, because no one wants to pay the hosting fees for a defunct club.

Yes. Most of our members are happy to walk you through the rules and basic strategy, and new players attend all the time - both to learn the game and meet and play against other new players.

No, we have plenty of sets of boards and stones (around a dozen). Each board is full-sized, with a medium 13x13 board on the back side. We also have a few 9x9 beginner boards. Please return any boards and stones you use to the storage closet when you are done with them.

IMPORTANT: Dropping the stones and scattering them sucks, especially if it's because the last person to put them away didn't properly close the container. When closing the stone containers, please ensure the lid is fully attached and flush with the container - you will generally need to hear it snap twice, not just once.

The club is free for all, but donations are accepted and welcome. See below.

On Tuesdays that fall on Independence Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, we generally do not meet. We also do not meet during the week of the annual US Go Congress, as many members are away attending that meeting. All cancellations are announced via our mailing list.

The boards and stones are stored in the closet at the back of the store, just around the corner from the cashier. If you need to grab another set for use - or return a set when you're done - and the door is locked, just ask a staff member to open the closet for you.

Anyone is welcome to use the boards and stones for a game at OMi outside of normal meeting hours. Please do not remove the boards and stones from the premises.

With the board and stones, in the closet (see above).

Yes, feel free to borrow any of our books that you are interested in. We have multiple copies of some books - feel free to keep, for your own, any such books.

The club is paid for entirely out of pocket by its members, with no outside sponsorship or funding. Our annual costs range from $120 to $200, depending on the year's needs.

Besides your attendance and patronization of the host cafe, you can support the club financially by making a monetary donation to help with our costs. Donations can be made in-person or via Paypal (reach out to this site's administrator for Paypal details).

Donations pay for the equipment (boards, stones, containers, etc.) and for hosting the website (which brings in the bulk of our members for their first meeting).

Yes. Please reach out to this site's administrator to make a donation.

Your name will be included when we have enough recent data on games that you've played. Be sure to submit the results of any games - wins or losses - that you play in the club! In the meantime, just confer with your opponent and make your best guess for how many handicap stones you should play with.

Competitive (i.e., non-teaching) games played on a full 19x19 board should be submitted, assuming they were played with the handicap suggested by the club's online calculator (if any suggestion was available). You can of course also submit results of games that you play with members outside of club meeting hours, to further refine the results of the handicap calculator.

Besides being good sportsmanship and preventing the discouragement of weaker players, playing and submitting games with the right number of handicap stones helps keep the handicap calculator accurate - both for you and for other players, as the results of your game will have a cascading effect on the calculation of handicaps for other players in the future, even in games you are not involved in.

Players often assume that submitting results from games played with an incorrect number of handicap stones will still help refine the handicap model - but generally, the opposite is true. When a player doesn't grant or take enough handicap stones as appropriate for their strength, any inaccuracies in the model are further distorted and perpetuated.

When faced with a larger number of handicap stones, stronger players may often feel overwhelmed - and their first instict will be that it is too many stones. But more often than not, the game is still quite close, with the initially-overwhelmed player frequently winning regardless.

Naturally, the same is true for recently-improved players who are used to taking more stones and may feel intimidated by not having enough handicap stones on the board.

If you feel the number of handicap stones suggested by the calculator is genuinely incorrect, it's generally caused by one of two factors - either one of the players has been on a long winning/losing streak or some players have not been submitting their game results diligently, introducing uncertainty into the calculation. The quickest way to correct this is to nevertheless play with the number of stones suggested. Attempting to "course correct" by playing and submitting results with a handicap of your own choosing is more liable to backfire, increasing uncertainty and distorting inaccuracies in the model even further.