Go Night RSVP Website: Stone Counts, a Board Cap, and a Komi Line

A Go night breaks when six boards are set and sixteen people walk in expecting a bowl of stones, or when the grid was planned for twelve and three of those names were still a maybe on Friday. Stones, the board each pair uses, and the komi you will actually score with are set before the first play. The host does not open a seventh board because a neighbor decided to play after the sheet closed. This is the board game Go, black and white stones on a grid, not chess and not mahjong. A maybe does not hold a board.

You can create a Go night RSVP that fills the boards you will actually set out, records who is playing and who is only watching, and stops when those seats are full.

Count the players the boards can hold

Walk the room before you send the link. Write down how many Go boards you own, whether each has two full bowls, and whether a spare 9x9 is a teaching backup or a seventh game. If you can run six 19x19 boards at once, with two players on each, that number is your cap: twelve players, not a crowd leaning over one grid.

A Go seat is one player and one color. Black plays first. White receives komi. You place one stone per turn on an empty intersection, and a group with no liberties is captured and returned to the bowl. Ask whether a person who will not play can sit against the wall, and whether that person still counts toward the chairs in the room. Pick one rule and write it on the page. Watchers stay off the grid. They do not drop a stone "to help" or turn a two-player game into a committee.

Ask the last time you can change the pairing without losing the room. If the host locks the list on Wednesday for a Friday night, that Wednesday is your lock. Write the finish too: one board, two named players, stones back in the bowls when both have passed and the score is agreed. A seventh board "if a table frees up" is not a plan.

Set a capacity limit on playing seats, not on everyone who was invited to watch. When the last seat at the sixth board is taken, the form should say the night is full. If the pairing is already written, a late player is not on these grids.

The komi line is a number, not a vibe

Name the game you will play and stop there. A clear line is a 19x19 board, Chinese or Japanese rules written on the page, and komi of 7.5 for White. A 9x9 teaching game with no komi is a different night, and you should not mix them at the same table. Chess, with pieces and a clock, is a different outing. So is mahjong, with tiles and a wall.

Put 19x19 and 7.5 on the form as the game you will finish, not a vague "a few stones until people get tired." If the night is one even game on the full board, that is the line. People who want to "just try a quick 9x9 in the corner" will leave you with two games on one grid. You need a yes to these stones, this board, and this komi before you write the pairs.

Who sits where, and who can see the grid

Nights go wrong when one yes hides a second player, or when two friends both assume they have the same chair. Ask for each player's name, whether they want a quieter table, and whether they need the board on a stand they can see without standing. A guest who is only watching the count does not get a bowl.

Collect seating preferences so you know who can sit across a stronger player and who needs an end chair. Ask about accessibility needs before you assign boards: a lower table, a lamp that does not glare on black stones, and a chair someone can stay in for a long game. Write what happens if someone misses the first play: the seat goes to a standby already in the room, or the board stays covered and the late player does not drop a stone into a game that has already started.

The moment the boards are locked

The meeting point is the room you named, not "the club" with no table marked. Put your phone on the page. A message in the group chat is not a board assignment. You match names to grids.

Tie the deadline to the room, the day the seat count cannot change. After that, a late yes is a call about a cancellation, not a promise of another board. If you want names ready when a player drops, keep them as standbys and tell them they do not have a bowl until you write back. A maybe does not hold a board.

Export the list the morning you lock: attending or not, which board, seating note, accessibility note, and phone. A Go RSVP is finished when every grid has two named players, the komi line is 7.5 on 19x19, and a late arrival knows whether they are placing stones or sitting out.