3D Go

I don't play Go often but I do understand the rules...

I don't think that a 7-layer 7x7 board would work. First of all, for practical purposes the thing would have to be around 30 inches tall (to allow for reasonable room for your hands to squeeze in there between layers and place/remove stones)

Then it would kinda have to be transparent, or at least transluscent, so you can have some sort of freedom of observation. Even so, I still think that you wouldn't be able to "line up" stones in the centre regions of the boards visually so that a grasp of the developing srategy would come smoothly. That's a lot of layers.... perspective won't come easily. Even by looking straight down through the top through transluscent layers means that any stones in place will block your vision of whatever's below.

Also, you're suggesting a major tweak to the rules of an otherwise closed system that has proven to be functionally perfect. 6-way liberty would require me to devote many more pieces to capture yours than before. In standard Go, I would need a minimum of 4 pieces to surround 1 of yours. In your version I would need a minimum of 6. The offensive value of each stone has now changed dramatically for the worse.

The 4-of-6 liberty surround system doesn't fly either. The rule for Go is not "Place stones in the 4 liberties of an enemy stone or chain to surround and capture it." It's "Place stones in ALL of the liberties of an enemy stone or chain to surround and capture it." This is a vital diference. Remember, you're not necessarily capturing one enemy stone at a time.

Now, I'm not saying that a multi-layer AbStrat along the lines of Go couldn't work, or isn't a good idea.... it just doesn't seem to me like a direct Go translation to multi-level would be functional and still retain all the qualities that make Go the balanced and pure system that it is.

~Josh