IAGO News

Please support the Boardgame Geek abstract games "forum".

2010-05-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Boardgame Geek has put up a forum dedicated to abstract (strategy) games. I believe it is a good place to get into discussions regarding abstract strategy games of all type, and help give a voice to the scope of abstract strategy games, as it relates to Boardgame Geek. I believe the ability to nail down the scope of what is involved with abstract strategy games, is important, and Boardgame Geek is a key site on the internet relating to everything connected with Boardgames.

You can see the site here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamesubdomain/4666/abstract-games

Abstract strategy games leaderboard is now up.

2010-03-09T17:41:00.001-08:00

You can check the latest out here:
http://iagoweb.com/records/ratings/leaderboard

Click on a specific game on the leaderboard to see the leaderboard for that specific game. Note that this is going under testing still, so expect hickups.

The leaderboard is pulling results off SuperDuperGames, Games.WTanaka.com and also the IGGameCenter. We will be looking to add the Arimaa site also as the next one to get up and then we hope to get more sites on later.

All this is automated from a data feed from the partner sites, so no manual entry of data. Players who register at the IAGO site will be tracked this way.

Anyhow, it is still under testing but getting there. Aaron Dalton has done an awesome job here.

The process is still being tested, and signing up to get and get tracked needs to be streamlined. However, as of now, it works. Those interested in being part of the ongoing testing are encouraged to try to get help walking through this process.

Testing of new ranking and records system going on. Please be patient.

2010-03-03T21:47:00.001-08:00

There is work being done for a new ranking and rating system for IAGO. Please be patient for and delays and the website being down.

Directory of physical public venues to play abstract strategy games at is now up.

2009-12-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

If you were looking for public physical venues open to people playing abstract strategy games (Games like Chess, Checkers and Go) at them, then check this directory out here:
http://Venues.IAGOClubhouse.com

We also could use more. We are looking at what should be over 100 venues in all 50 states in the United States. We would like to get more into this directory, for not just the United States, but also the rest of the world.

On the page is a link to a guide to finding physical venues, if you need help finding one not in the directory currently. Please contact me through the abstractgamers.org forum if you have more. On the Clubhouse website is also an email address to reach IAGO.

There may be a question as to why this list is needed. As per a guide to finding venues: In the "ecosystem" of games, an essential part is physical venues to meet at. These venues serve for a way to meet new people in a safer environment, rather than the homes of individuals. Expanding and recruiting players is a challenge without having places like this to meet. Advertising and promotion of meetings is challenging also, and homes will often face space restrictions. Because of this, public venues are essential to the "ecosystem" of game players.

Simultaneous variant to Connect Four (Captain's Mistress) is playable online

2009-11-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

If you are into Connect Four (Captain's Mistress), or aren't, check out this variant sometime online:
http://games.wtanaka.com/simfour

Simultaneous move selection adds an additional level of intrigue to what is normally a kid's game.

2009 IAGO Hall of Fame Inductees are announced.

2009-10-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

You can see the full description here:
http://www.iagohalloffame.com/2009hof.html

The games inducted this year are:
Alquerque
Bao
Dots & Boxes
Fox & Geese
Halma
International Checkers
Nim
Othello
Shatranj
Tic-Tac-Toe

Visit the site above for info on each of the games. Feel free to discuss your thoughts and opinions on the abstractgamers.org website here:
http://abstractgamers.org/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=375

2010 IAGO World Tour schedule is now up

2009-10-27T00:42:00.001-07:00

The schedule for the 2010 IAGO World Tour can be found here: 2010.IAGO World Tour

2009 IAGO World Tour results are up.

2009-10-27T00:41:00.001-07:00

Results of the 2009 IAGO World Tour can be found here: 2009.IAGO World Tour

IAGO is now up on Twitter, for news updates

2009-05-22T16:48:00.001-07:00

IAGO has joined the whole Twitter insanity bit. Bite-size news regarding IAGO can be found here:
http://twitter.com/IAGONews

So, follow that, click on that, and so on.

Initial schedule for 2009 IAGO World Tour is up.

2008-11-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

There is likely more events that will be added, and dates finalized, but you can see the 2009 IAGO World Tour schedule here:
http://2009.IAGOWorldTour.com

Initial Inductees into the IAGO Hall of Fame revealed.

2008-10-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

These are the initial 10 inductees into the IAGO Hall of Fame:
1. Checkers (Anglo-America)
2. Chess
3. Go
4. Gomoku
5. Hex
6. Hnefatafl
7. Nine Man Morris
8. Oware
9. Shogi
10. Xiangqi

For more information, visit the IAGO Hall of Fame site at:
http://www.IAGOHallOfFame.com

USA wins medals at the World Mind Sports Games

2008-10-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

USA won Gold at Checkers (8x8, 3-move restriction) and Bronze at Bridge:
http://info.2008wmsg.org/en-us/Medals_NOC.aspx?D1=USA&xm=noth

The winner of the Gold, Alexander Moiseyev, also won the 3-Move restriction tournament that was on the 2008 IAGO World Tour schedule. He is the current World Champion at this event.

The 1st World Mind Sports Games is upon us!

2008-10-02T16:13:00.001-07:00

The event runs Oct. 3rd through the 18th in China. You can see the English site here for it:
http://www.2008wmsg.org/en/

I believe they will be showing the games over the web. Will need to see regarding that. If hundreds of millions visit this website, we may get an off chance of the event getting greater noticed for it in 2012 in London.

Initial Inductees for IAGO of Halll of Fame to be announced October 20, 2008

2008-09-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

As of now, October 20, 2008 (Monday) the initial Inductees into the IAGO Hall of Fame will be released. The information will be released here:
http://www.IAGOHallOfFame.com/

The initial list will consist of abstract strategy games. Books, and people will look to induct later.

IAGO Clubhouse site is now up!

2008-09-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

We now have a place to list sites that people can play games at! You can see it here:
http://www.IAGOClubhouse.com

There are over 700 games people can play at these Clubhouse partner sites right now.

Longer term plans for the Clubhouse include searching by game stored in a database, so that people can find a particular site that has a game hey are looking for, and also to store physical locations that are friendly to having abstract strategy game players. Please view the site for more details.

Two events round out the 2008 IAGO World Tour

2008-08-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

These three events round out the 2008 IAGO World Tour:

GoldToken Round Robin
Pacru, Azacru & Shacru Championships

The Round Robin consists of Pente and Gomoku, and is over the Internet at Goldtoken.com

Pacru, Azacru and Shacru are modern abstract strategy games that all are part of the Pacru game set. This event will take place at the 12th MSO in England.

Please click on the above links for specific details.

Gipf Series Championship will take place October 2008.

2008-08-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Gipf series, the will be a Gipf Series Championship at the 2008 Mind Sport Olympiad (different event than the MSO in England). It will take place in Prague, CZ. for information on the other events at the even in the Czech Republic, visit here:
http://deskohrani.cz/cgi/mso/index.pl?telo=akce.pl&text=organizatori.htm&jazyk=en&rok=2008%20

For more information on the Gipf Series Championship, please visit: http://www.gipf.com/news.html#championship

Due to timing, this event will miss the IAGO World Tour. It is mentioned here, due to the importance of the Gipf series to the world of abstract strategy games.

New email address for IAGO News.

2008-08-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Just a head's up here. The IAGO News sent via Feedburner tracking, was a defunct email address. I just noticed this now. It has been updated to a new email address:
news [at symbol] IAGOWorldTour.com

Please make a note of this.

The North American Chess Association's G30/G60 events join the 2008 IAGO World Tour

2008-06-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

The G30 and G60 events are championship events. They will take place June 28-29, 2008. For more information on the events, visit:
http://www.nachess.org/g30/
http://www.nachess.org/g60/

For the complete 2008 IAGO World Tour schedule, visit:
http://www.IAGOWorldTour.com

The "Gene Lindsay" 3-move U.S. National (ACF) Joins IAGO World Tour

2008-04-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

The "Gene Lindsay" 3-move U.S. National is the main event in the United States for professional checkers (American Checker Federation). It is open to all people. This events joins the IAGO World Tour. It will be July 21-25, 2008 in Las Vegas. For more information on the event, visit:
http://www.usacheckers.com/tournamentannouncements.php#184

Three more events added to the 2008 IAGO World Tour

2008-04-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

These three events have been added to the 2008 IAGO World Tour:

CV Potluck 2008
This begins April 14, 2008. It is a series of Chess Variants in an Athlon format. It is run by ChessVariants.com .

Boardspace.net Summer 2008 Hive + Mosquito Tournament
This event begins June 1, 2008. The creator of Hive will be awarding a trophy and introducing the new Mosquito piece.

Boardspace.net Zertz Beginner's Tournament
This begins June 1, 2008. It is a beginner's tournament for the game Zertz. It is run by Boardspace.net .

June 1, 2008

Internet (Boardspace.net)

IAGO website will be down intermittantly for the foreseeable future.

2008-02-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

I received from the web hosting people, the message below. This should be from now until April. They are doing work, so expect the site to be down periodically. IAGO World Tour site, and this news site should be be up as usual (they are hosted on a different server.

The message:
No specific times, but after I finish retooling my wood shop (very hopefully by the end of this week) I will be building a new, more reliable server cluster (the current cluster is an alpha cluster used to test technologies). As such, there will be periods of down time for all of our hosted sites, including this one. I will do my absolute best to keep the outages brief and hope to not have a single overnight outage. I will also do my best to post if an outage will be longer than an hour, but no promises. The majority of the outages will occur mid day (between 8:30am - 2:30pm Pacific / 11:30am - 5:30pm Eastern), but there may be some in the evening.

Temporary forum for IAGO and IAGO World Tour is up

2008-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

This is the forum to use to post in event that the discussion forum is down:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/IAGO/

The forum, as of this moment, is up.

The 2008 IAGO World Tour invades Noncon 2008

2008-01-24T11:17:00.001-08:00

The 2008 IAGO World Tour will be having multiple events at Noncon 2008. You can learn more about these events by visiting the 2008 IAGO World Tour website at:
http://www.IAGOWorldTour.com

Information on Noncon 2008 can be obtained here:
http://noncon.vassar.edu/

Noncon is held at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY

IAGO discussion forum is back up.

2008-01-22T23:12:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the inconvenience everyone, and the time it was down. It is currently back up.