Appendix C. Go programs and servers
This appendix covers various ways to play Go offline and online. First, we show you how to install and play against two Go programs locally—GNU Go and Pachi. Second, we’ll point you to a few popular Go servers on which you can find human and AI opponents of various strengths.
Let’s start with installing Go programs on your computer. We’ll introduce you to two classic, free programs that have been around for many years. Both GNU Go and Pachi use classic game AI methods we partly covered in chapter 4. We introduce these tools not to discuss their methodology, but rather to have two opponents that you can use locally for tests—and to play against them for fun.
As with most other Go programs out there, Pachi and GNU Go can speak the Go Text Protocol (GTP) that we introduced in chapter 8. Both programs can be run in different ways that prove useful for us:
- You can run them from the command line and play games by exchanging GTP commands. This mode is what you use in chapter 8 to let your own bots play against GNU Go and Pachi.
- Both programs can be installed to use GTP frontends, graphical user interfaces that make it much more fun to play these Go engines as humans.