- BGG rank
- BGG #239
- BGG rating
- 7.7
Go
- 2 players
- 30–180 min
- Complexity 3.9/5
- -2200
- BGG rank
- BGG #19,433
- BGG rating
- 7.0
Gonnect
2000
Rules assistance for Gonnect
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2 players
- 10+
- Complexity 3.5/5
Rules assistant for Gonnect
For 2 players
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Gonnect is a board game released in 2000 for 2 players and ages 10 and up. It was designed by João Pedro Neto and its main mechanics are Square Grid, Enclosure, and Pattern Building.
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About the game
From Wikipedia: Gonnect is a strategy board game for two players invented by João Pedro Neto in 2000. The game is played with standard go equipment (though 13x13 boards are often preferred to 19x19) and all the rules of Go apply, except that players can't pass and the pie rule is used to determine who goes first. The goal of the game is to construct a group that connects any two opposite sides. A player can also win if his opponent has no legal moves (since suicides and passes are illegal). Games between skilled players will end up temporarily deadlocked, since the square Go board allows a "four corners" configuration where neither side can strongly connect. However, since players can't pass, they eventually must start filling in the internal liberties of their groups. The player who has made the smallest amount of territory will presumably get killed first, so building more territory than your opponent is a secondary (but extremely common) means of forcing a connection and the win. So, a gonnect game between similarly skilled opponents unfolds in two stages: The board-filling stage where opponents race to connect sides until the position is deadlocked. The eye-filling stage where opponents must fill in their own eye space or destroy their opponents. Although it shares many of the same tactics as go, some players feel that gonnect has a more interesting opening and endgame than Go. Most Go players, however, feel that the eye-filling stage of Gonnect is tedious, and that the game lacks the simple elegance of Go.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- (Public Domain)
- nestorgames
Questions and answers
Gonnect supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The catalogue lists Gonnect for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Gonnect has a complexity rating of 3.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Gonnect belongs to these categories: Abstract Strategy. Its main mechanics are Square Grid, Enclosure, and Pattern Building. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Gonnect are: João Pedro Neto. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Gonnect as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.